Experience Live Music
I have always been interested in music; I even tried my hand at a few instruments to see if I could make my own. I can’t. That does not stop me from enjoying music. Our CD collection must be around 1500 CDs now. I just find music to be so powerful and evocative. I am in awe of the talent that some musicians possess. Music is great to have on CD, but experiencing a talented musician live in a small intimate club is top of the pops for me. Last night was no exception.
Kathy & I had tickets to go see Harry Manx at the Regina Performing Arts Centre. Incredible. He has mad guitar skillz for sure. Not to mention, the banjo, vocals, song writing, and a fusion guitar-sitar instrument. He blends East Indian influences into his blue music to create a unique and engaging sound. Kathy & I were both very captivated by the show. The amazing thing is that I had never even heard of Harry Manx until a coworker lent me a CD about 9 months ago. Wow. The CD got a lot of airplay, and we ended up buying 5 more CDs at the concert. It is great to support live music. It is such an honour to have talented musicians come to Regina.
Harry Manx
It amazes me that I have not heard of Harry Manx until recently. It also amazes me that I almost missed hearing about this concert. If Junior from OHanlans’ had not scooped up tickets this concert would have blown in and out of town unannounced. I need to to a better job of monitoring venues and upcoming events.
Over the years, I have been blessed with some amazing musical performances. Some have highlighted tremendous musical ability and instrumentation, others have shown great depths of song writing with lyrics that paint a picture, and some shows have simply been just a lot of plain old fun. Just off the top of my head, the highlight reel includes:
Garnet Rogers (Regina)
Roger Waters (Chicago)
Jeff Healey (Small pub in Halifax before he broke into mainstream)
Billy Idol (Halifax)
Harry Manx (Regina)
Crash Test Dummies (Concert on the Hill – Halifax)
Tina Turner (Halifax)
Luther Wright & The Wrongs (Regina Folk Festival)
Hawksley Workman (Regina Folk Festival)
Michael Franti & Spearhead (Regina Folk Festival)
Paul Lawson (Halifax)
Chris de Burgh (Halifax)
…and many more that I cannot think of right now.
How blessed am I that I have had the opportunity to enjoy live music. I am feeling very humble this morning as I write this. All this week, the details of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan are unfolding and it makes all of these reflections and gratitude much more poignant. I truly & deeply am grateful for so many things. With the concert from last night still in my mind’s eye, I bow and give thanks.
Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes