I often downplay the significance of entertainment; with, I believe, good reason. I think we, as a society, have grown to place far too much importance on being good at performing silly songs or playing make-believe. However, a few times Ive experienced, as a performer, situations that have given me the chance to play a role in an important part of someones life. Tonight was one of those. We had a great gig going at a new venue and some good press helped to fill the joint with a lot of people who we havent seen in a while. Halfway through the first set, I recognized a guy who used to come see us with his wife. His ex-wife and boys were long time clients of Beths, and his ex wife, as well as he and his second wife, were clients of mine. He and his wife used to love to see live music and would regularly look us up but that stopped when she became too ill to go out. It was cancer and, after a long battle, she passed. I hadnt seen them for several years but knew about her illness via Beth, as her company still did work for him. It took a bit to recognize him tonight as he looked a bit gaunt and was dressed down quite a bit from what I was used to. He looked like he had aged much more than the two years since Id last seen him. When our first set was over, I made a beeline for him and we caught up. He told me that his wifes funeral had been a year ago to the day and that, in that time, he had only worked late, gone to the gym, and stayed home. Approaching the one year anniversary of her funeral, he saw the piece on us in the Post and decided to get out of the house and have some fun. Would he have taken a step to break out of his funk if he hadnt come seen us? Sure. Was coming to see us the only thing that would have helped him? Certainly not. Did seeing us play make everything alright for him? Not by a long shot. But in some small way, we helped. Even for a guy who can blather on with the best of them, I cant begin to put into words how that feels.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 06:26:26 +0000
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