Tag: music

I’m feeling very lucky at the moment, sitting in a deep bath after a night out seeing three incredibly talented singer-songwriters share the stage at the Listening Room in Nashville: Twinnie, Tenille Townes, and Bonner Black. Stream their music—I certainly will be doing so. They sang songs about love and heartbreak and birds and goldfish and Nashville’s neon lights obscuring the stars. Hailing from the UK, Alberta, Canada, and Hot Rock, TN respectively, these three smart, charming, and velvet-voiced women fulfilled my Nashville dream.

Meanwhile, the walk to the venue down Broadway was all cowboy hats and Bon Jovi covers and testosterone and excess. Loud music poured out of every building and food truck. It was A LOT.

Speaking of testosterone, we hung out in a Memphis dive bar last night listening to five local musicians perform soul and blues covers and banter with each other and the audience. The singer, A.B., had an astounding voice and an ease with people. Other young musicians in jeans and baseball caps clustered by the bar, one of them jumping up on stage to cover from the bass player when he lumbered off to pee at the beginning of a number. The original bass player, an older guy who wore his baseball cap tilted to the side, much to the amusement of the young crew by the bar, worked the room carrying a silver tip bucket. The show was unpolished and soulful and very entertaining. We left smiling ear to ear.

It’s a joy to watch people being really good at their craft. Humans are wonderful. And awful.

I was reminded of that fact wandering around the Civil Rights Museum, which is located in the Lorraine Motel where MLK Jr. was murdered. Owen and I spent over three hours inside, reading about all these brave souls who fought for justice, paying a steep price but also embodying goodness and righteousness and love and hope in the face of hate and violence and evil. The museum really drives home the fact that everyday people have the capacity to change society,and that we all have a moral obligation to do so. It’s a powerful place that I hope Diego and Pele can experience someday.

Today, we had our first mapping snafu. Instead of the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, I somehow managed to route us to a neighborhood called Hermitage which, incidentally is not far from where that asshole Andrew Jackson lived. We drove almost twenty miles out of the way in rush hour traffic, ending up in an unpaved parking lot amidst various strip malls. It was frustrating, especially since it lengthened our drive by about an hour and a half, but we also laughed. Humans (me) are sometimes dumbasses. Machines are dumbasses too.

In Memphis, we saw piles of dirty snow on the ground, remnants of last week’s ferocious storm, and on our drive to Nashville, we saw tons of broken trees, their branches snapped by the icy cold and strong winds. Nature is not to be trifled with. I wish we were better at heeding that message and giving our natural environment the respect it deserves.

A friend in North Adam called to inform us that the Massachusetts weather has turned the sidewalk in front of our house into a treacherous block of ice covered in snow. She suggested we hire her neighbor to help us out. He sounded very friendly on the phone (and his little baby was very chatty), and when he gets back to town in a couple of days, he’s going to help us out.

Humans are cool and kind. I hope we can figure out how to be better to each other and the world. As Tenille Townes, my new Alberta crush, sang tonight: we could all use a little more of the kind of love that envelops everyone inside of it. (I’m paraphrasing.)

Take a warm bath and listen to some beautiful music and know that there are many people across the country caring about and looking out for each other, even if that’s not what we’re told and shown.

Good night, y’all.