I didn't finish "I.O.U" by Lanchester yesterday so I'm going to write about a concert I'm going to attend with my wife today.We are going to see John Fogerty who authored numerous hits with Creedence Clearwater Revival in the 60's and 70's.It is my understanding Bruce Springsteen might play a few songs with him and I sure hope he joins him.I saw Creedence forty-one years ago as an opening act for the Rolling Stones in MSG.(N.Y.) That was 1969 and I remember the group had one or two hits by then.
This outdoor concert will take place at HITS,Inc,a high quality,international level hunter/jumper horse show located in my hometown of Saugerties,N.Y. This horse show has a premiere Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix which will be the largest equestrian show jumping event in the history of the U.S.Bruce is going because his daughter has been involved in equestrian shows for a long time and I believe might be participating in the big event. The concert is a fundraiser for Family,Inc. which has numerous safety net programs in Ulster Co.
I only saw Bruce perform once before.He joined a show with Ringo Starr close to his home in Homdel,N.J. I'm the same age as Bruce and remember $3.50 shows at the Filmore(NYC) in the late sixties and early seventies.I saw numerous big time groups there and refuse to pay $100 to see him or anyone today...especially if it's at a large facility. I saw Dylan a few years ago($50) and had seats in the back of a large arena.I almost got arrested for tyring to find ways to get up close.If I go to see anyone these days, I want to be very close to the action.
I go to see jazz groups as much as possible. They play better and improvise throughout the show. The shows are in small clubs where you can see the notes and chords played by the artists. I always had a taste for jazz but I really started to buy records and follow different artists in the late seventies when I listened to WBAI in NYC. It was a great radio station back then with numerous talk and music shows. I listened to a lot of classical and jazz shows during this period. Woodstock,N.Y. had a good station when I first moved to the country. They had special classical and jazz shows similar to WBAI. I started to record shows on cassette tapes and still have them stored away for future use. Today, I can listen to jazz from numerous stations around the world through the Internet...wonderful invention.
I think about celebrated artists(my age) that are still playing music today. They are still playing their hits for large sums of money.Why do they continue? Obviously,Keith Richards doesn't need the money.I know they love to play music(I play a little and enjoy it immensely) but why do they continue to put on big, expensive tours and sell it to the public. Do they enjoy the limelight or is it a job that fulfills them like the typical person in everyday life. I believe I would get a little bored by it all. Bill Wyman (Stones)quit about ten years ago and went and played with a jazz band in London. I think I would want to explore something different like Wyman because almost anything we do can become routine. Teaching is very routine and scheduled. It drives me crazy even if everyday is really different. Most of us(myself included) are not enlightened enough to practice Zen Buddhism in their daily lives and disregard duality(judgement of what is good or bad..see that everyday is completely different).We set ourselves up to look into the future and dream about a different place to be with various new activities to entertain us. Most of us are in the past or future and stray from the present because it is difficult and demanding.
I also find it interesting that celebrated artists are ordinary people with the typical problems and character faults of everyone else. We elevate them because they can perform a set of skills better than the common person but a ten minute conversation would show( I believe) that they are vulnerable to the same maladies as us. I have read that artists, with great lyrics concerning human relationships, live far differently than their lyrical insights.Are they self-centered,ego thirsty souls who get caught up in their celebrity that hinder creativity? Why do so many celebrated artists live on songs from the past? Is it only youth that springs creativity?
Bruce,Dylan and Jagger/Richards can still write and have something to say but they also get very repetitive. The public is very nostalgic(myself included). I know I will appreciate and enjoy the songs today by John Fogerty.I hope he improvises with his guitar work in his hit songs by changing it up so something new comes from them. If Bruce appears, I know I will be excited because he is America's greatest popular artist today. He is a political symbol for what has gone wrong with America today and his best songs reflect those sentiments.He is a fabulous showman and a very good rock guitarist. I just want them to play straight rock and roll and move us to another place. This collaboration should take us to a new reality if they become free enough to explore and create from the child within.
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