MANY WORLDS ( August 2002 )

Latest Thoughts - Page 1

In my CD player
Un-named Yes live CD.....(it may be bootleggged)

Reading
Not much lately...but for some reason I want to recommend "Bridge Across Forever" by Richard Bach.

I turn 37 on Friday. Yay.

In case you were wondering, that was not sincere. I'm not thrilled about the fact that I've been in a different survey category for two years now. I'm on the back-end of society's statistics. Yippee. Well, at least NOW I fit into the crowd when I go to see YES perform live.

This is what I did in celebration of my birthday. It was wonderful. It was weird. It was goofy. It was and could only ever be - magical for me. I am a YESFAN. The strange thing about this is that I always considered my biggest musical influences to have been Queen, Kate Bush, David Bowie etc.....Yes didn't hit my life until I was at least 17. Even then, I had heard Jon Anderson before any Yes material, ("Olias Of Sunhillow".) I saw them at Radio City Music Hall, which made this outing less of a struggle than it might normally be. You see, I am concert-phobic. I GO OUT OF MY WAY to never attend live <rock> concerts. I'll pay good money NOT to have to attend a concert. I nevertheless enjoyed this one immensely. I loved watching the other fans jump out of their seats at the start of each "favorite song" and I loved watching the band respond to this. I loved hearing Jon Anderson and Chris Squire sing the same way they did when they were 30. So what's my problem? None, I suppose. The music will always prevail. But I do have the disadvantage of knowing what being "the band" is like (to a small extent.) I also know what it's like to want to soak up a significant, musical experience and have it sullied by the beer-drinkin' fool in the row just in front of you, who believes the band is somehow going to SEE him if he waves his arms spasmodically, throughout every freeking tune, yelling, "Wooooooooooooo!!" This venue had nice seats that were bolted to the floor - seats which implied that sitting was the expected posture for the concert. Many people complied. That's why I was able to stay until the end without breaking into hives. Everyone was for the most part, respectful and just happy to be there. There were only a few oblivious dingbats who were completely unaware that there were other people watching the show too.

They stood up at the start of the first song with their arms folded across their chest, even though not another soul was standing and stayed that way until someone politely asked if they would sit. This caused the dingbat to gripe and angrily push their finger in the face of the innocent ticket-holder. You take your chances when you insist on being able to actually <see> the show you paid $90 for. I sound "old" - I know. But the truth is, I've always felt this way about concerts. I felt this way when I went to see Queen at the age of 14. I could never get my head around people spending that much money to go to an arena where the sound is awful and you see more of the person's butt in front of you, than the band. That happened one time at a Bowie concert. Someone stood on their chair in front of me and never came down for the entire show. Those are the experiences I remember and that's why I'm not a good concert-goer. It's so great though, to enjoy your favorite band live. Especially when you realize that they may not ever do it again. It's like the cast of Star Trek......sure there's a tenth movie coming out but it could be the last. "Data" would probably like to do some theater work and "Ryker" isn't always going to fit into that uniform. I'm amazed and grateful that the members of Yes have continued to play. There aren't many other bands from that era still touring. I guess it's time to wrap this up. My cat just jumped up and is obscuring the computer monitor. My cats could obscure the sun. There'll be no more typing apparently. Goodbye.

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