Dear Patrons,

Dear Patrons,

I hope this message finds you safe and healthy. Just doing a little check in with you. 

The times are turbulent. And very necessarily so. My screen time spent reading the news is at an all time high. I've seen some of the most hopeful and positive things happening around the world, and also seen the most shocking and terrifying things happening. I'm trying my best to tune in and navigate all of the information. I must say it's causing some whiplash of feelings, from being positive and hopeful for humanity, to confused and infuriated, then back again. 

During times of uncertainty, I've always turned to music to help me "make sense of it all." Sometimes it's to educate myself on other points of view. Sometimes it's to search for comfort through the universal themes in music. Other times it's just to give me some sonic safe space for my brain to process things. 

Music has always been a wonderfully connective energy in my life. It can help me feel better when feeling low, or bring people together when they're feeling separate or alone. 

It reminded me of a concert experience I was lucky enough to witness many years ago and how that experience is keeping me positive about all that's going on right now. 

This concert took place in the mid 1990s and I was still at college. A friend got me tickets to go see Maceo Parker.  

I was aware of the name Maceo Parker from his appearances on James Brown and Parliament Funkadelic records. But I'd never seen him perform live.

I was doing the math in my head on the way to venue thinking.. "Wow, he must be in his mid to late fifties maybe. I wondered what the show would be like?" I didn't really have any expectations... but I would leave forever changed.  

When we got to the club, I scanned the room and saw a sold out show of people from all backgrounds and age demographics: Older P-Funk fans in their 40s, hip hoppers in their 20s and 30s, grandparents, candy ravers, college kids, families, even touristy music festival industry types playing the wall with their festival pass laminates. 

The band all walked on stage, confident, dressed in suits. They picked up their instruments and stood there facing us. But unlike most bands (my own band included) where we would just hit the stage with a bang playing the loudest fastest song in the repertoire to set it off, this band was different.  

It just started with hi-hats. Like 10 minutes of hi-hats. As Maceo welcomed us and began to introduce the band and get acquainted with the crowd. 

I looked around a little confused, is this the show? Everyone just stood there staring at him. Nobody was really dancing (yet)... We were enjoying ourselves because Maceo is an incredibly charismatic performer... but we just didn't know what to do with ourselves. Maybe it was just me being overly self-conscious about dancing in public, but it felt like most of the crowd was asking themselves: "Do we dance? Do we not dance?" I mean, it was just hi-hats.

Slowly, layer by layer, instrument by instrument, the other band members started contributing to that simple hi-hat groove. First the kick drum, then the occasional electric bass note, the chikchik vamp from the rhythm guitar... 

I saw some of the crowd slowly start to loosen up, and start to bob their heads, smiling. There were still plenty of wallflowers in the club though. Mainly the industry festival pass types lined up against the wall still talking amongst themselves.

The groove kept growing. The snare drum started hitting on the 2 and the 4... The hammond organ...

More people started gravitating toward the dance floor. The grandparents were starting to swing their arms from side to side. 

The horn section joined in, adding little rhythm punctuations and notes to the groove.  

I saw a few more people put their drinks down and move toward the floor.  Okay the party's getting started.

Then the back up vocalists joined:  At first whispering, "shake everything you've got", "shake everything you've got..." 

and slowly getting louder with it.  

It was a very slow crescendo, but Maceo all the while was inviting people to join along. Taking his time. Slowly everyone would pass their inhibition threshold and start dancing along. Even the industry types abandoned their drinks and hit the dance floor.

10 minutes in and everyone was THERE FOR IT! Dancing up a storm, just being together enjoying each other's company and the music.  

By the end of the song we were all singing at the top of our lungs "Shake Everything You've Got!" the band, the crowd, Maceo's horn soaring over it all!  It was just incredible. Everyone in the place was grooving! Even the bar staff, who are usually stressed out when the shows are this packed, were grinning from ear to ear and dancing along while tending bar. The song ended and there was nothing but smiles and that "connected" feeling in the room. A feeling I could only describe as collective elation. SO. MUCH. JOY! That was the first time I experienced such a unifying moment in live music and it was from a song I had never even heard before.  

I checked my watch. That was just the first song, and it was 20 minutes long!

The rest of the show was equally captivating. Maceo and his band wove together a dynamic set. He is a master storyteller, and his version of Georgia On My Mind still gives me all the good chills when I hear it. To this day, I've not seen a concert that can top what they did that night. It remains a benchmark live event in my life. One of those "time stands still" evenings. I looked upon the stage in awe. "This is it" I said to myself. To be able to facilitate this much good energy and connectivity... it was truly inspirational.

I felt the vibe literally change from a packed room of awkward disparate strangers who seemed to have next to nothing in common with each other... to one unified community of humans all smiling, dancing, connecting in the moment, celebrating all the beauty and potential of being alive and sharing this space together. It was a beautiful and REAL thing.

I feel like the world is kind of resetting right now. There will be some confusion and awkwardness as people begin to shake off fear and resistance to change. All of it is part of the process. 

These changes may take years of constant work to implement and will be uncomfortable. But if we start to synchronize to what's important, this crescendo can bring everyone together and will undoubtedly bloom into a better tomorrow.

Love and Light to everyone.

E

The conversation needs to continue, even if it starts as an inner dialogue. 

Here are a few things I've been spending my time with recently in order to better educate myself/my family about the current events and their causes.

Ava DuVernay's 13th is a very insightful and fact filled documentary about mass incarceration and it's effect on the world today.

I've been reading a book called The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist. It's a book recommended to me by my friend/collaborator MaryAnne aka Ladybug Mecca who is very tuned in to these issues. 

Finally, Corinne and I listened and learned from this podcast about the history of enslaved people in Canada in this CBC podcast.   

One of the things I've been doing to get some positive music vibes is watching DJ Kool Herc's livestreams on his IG channel. For those of you who don't know, DJ Kool Herc is considered the founder of this worldwide phenomenon known as Hip Hop. It was his early community events that became the template for Hip Hop culture. That first gathering place which would branch out and become several art forms such as DJing, MCing, Break and Graffiti. His work has brought so much joy to so many people all over the world, in every language, from every culture. You can tell from his streams he still loves what he does. And watching him play the actual original copies of the records he played at those original parties is incredible. Could you imagine being at those first hip hop parties and hearing this beat for the first time really loud??  It's a time traveller's delight and those drums and grooves STILL KNOCK!!! Plus, he's set up a donation for Kool Herc Production which is available on djkoolherc.com. Well worth a visit for fans of Hip Hop, DJs and music history. 

PPS: I've spoken to a few of you and have decided to reconvene the Music To Draw To virtual sessions in the coming weeks. I'm missing that chance to connect with people.

If, like me, you don't feel like drawing or "being creative" at the moment, that's totally understandable. I know I'm feeling creatively off-kilter while the world is rebalancing itself. If you do tune in, you could even use the sessions as background ambience while you read or reflect. 

PPPS:  If you want to hear a shorter version of Maceo's "Shake Everything You've Got" it's on the Life On Planet Groove LIVE Album. The version on there is only 17 minutes long. I guess it took the crowd 3 more minutes to get everyone on the beat at our tour stop!