I have just enjoyed a phenomenal 10 days of music! First was a trip to Nashville–we left the kids with grandma and spent four days in Nashville, Tennessee with eight of our closest friends. It was a true music safari, and I was blown away by the quantity and quality of musicians we heard. The main strip, Broadway, is known as The Honky Tonk Highway and it lives up to its name and reputation, with live music pouring out from every floor of its multi-storied bars from morning to late-night. Some venues, like Robert’s Western World, focus on the country music that made Nashville famous; cowboy hats and pedal steel provide authentic flavor to the scene, while many other venues cater to a more rock-oriented sound, with cover bands blasting through hundred song repertoires in four-hour gigs. Every bar has a great band and everyone is having a great time! As easy as it was to enjoy ourselves on that ten block stretch, we ventured further afield to seek out some other shows; at 3rd and Lindsley, we found a 15-piece band covering Donald Fagen’s “The Nightfly” for its 40th anniversary, then playing a set of complimentary songs from 1982. It was table seating with an older and seemingly local crowd, loving the Michael McDonald “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” and Toto “Africa” that the band delivered with sonic perfection. We also took the opportunity to venture just over the Cumberland River to Nissan Stadium for Garth Brooks! 73,000 people singing along to every word and Garth was channeling that energy into an ecstatic performance. We then found ourselves at Bourbon St. Bar in Printer’s Alley with an absolutely amazing R&B Band that made our trip with a rendition of Ginuwine’s “Pony” for Megan’s birthday. And a few food jaunts out to East Nashville felt like visiting Brooklyn, Tennessee.
The vacation was incredible with the caveat that half of our crew came down with COVID, which was to be expected given the nature of the venues we were visiting. It seems that everyone has survived and I can still claim it as one of the best trips I’ve ever taken!
This week was the rescheduled Phish shows from New Years, and I was lucky enough to find tickets for the first two nights. I have been following this band for about thirty years and have seen close to forty shows, and I can definitively say that they are playing as well as I have ever seen them. The music sounds incredible and the light show continues to evolve and has been taken to a new level over the past few years by the master, Chris Kuroda. The rig is now multi-dimensional and levitating! Besides looking cool, his timing is impeccable and articulates the music beautifully. While I couldn’t attend the next two nights, I did watch the webcast and witnessed the beautiful under-the-sea set featuring a raised stage with projections, waterfalls, flying dolphins and whales. This is the most creative ensemble I have had the pleasure of following for most of my life and I am already looking forward to their return for Summer Tour, when I have tickets for shows at Bethel Woods (original Woodstock venue) and Jones Beach, where they will perform in front of sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.
And that would’ve been enough music to put it at the top of my best weeks ever, but as a bonus, I went to The Blue Note last night for the end of Marcus Miller’s residency, where he invited three of the best electric bassists alive to join him on stage for an incredible bass jam; Derrick Hodges, MonoNeon and my personal bass hero, Victor Wooten, showed up and demonstrated the state of the art of the bass. I had seen many amazing musicians over the past week, but these instrumentalists are truly the very best in their field and are pushing music to new heights. I am lucky to have to opportunity to experience all of this amazing music and am inspired to create my own!