THE MUSIC OF LIFE

 

Journal

THE MUSIC OF LIFE

Bill Barksdale, Columnist

We were watching the movie Eddie and the Cruisers again the other night.  I’ve watched this movie so many times.  It’s a good story but even more is the great music by John Cafferty & his band.  His haunting voice and great songs, those soaring sax solos performed by Michael “Tunes” Antunes.  That music always stays in my head for days after watching this film

.  I was at the Willits Farmer’s Market the other day and sax player, David Scollin was filling the air with his music.  So beautiful.  I went to the open office window of my friend Marsha Davis, which faces the Farmer’s Market.  She was entranced by David’s music too. 

There’s something about music.  We know from substantial research that it processes in a different part of the brain than speech.  Music is one of the last things to go.  My dear friend, Sally Miller Gearhart, passed on recently.  Her old friend, Jean Crosby, told the story of visiting Sally in the hospice just before Sally died.  She was in a coma it appeared, but when Jean sang one of Sally’s favorite old songs, she opened her eyes and smiled for a moment.  That’s the power of music.  It reaches deep inside.

We’re so fortunate here in Willits to have people who make music all around us.  We just need to listen.  I think of Greg & Malaki Schindel, the train singers.  The trio of Kate Black, Helen Falandes & Clancy Rash.  There’s Richard Jeske and those other wonderful musicians in the Farmer’s Market Band, Kyle Madrigal, Don Willis and the Emandal Chorus, David Lisle when he used to perform at Pete Swanton’s Pub, Maggie Graham who teaches piano and has accompanied so many shows, Franki J a great jazz musician & teacher, Jenny Watts who moved away but shared her music with Willits for so many years.  There are many other wonderful musicians who make music here.  Daniel Cech is the new public school music teacher in Willits.  He’s teaching beginning musicians how to make music.  What a gift!  Thank you Daniel.

When I was young the Metropolitan Opera used to broadcast on the radio, Live from the Met, every Saturday.  As a junior high & high school student I used to always listen to those glorious operas, much to the indulgence of my family who were not opera fans but always supportive of my music. 

Years later I went to school in New York City and got to go to the New York City Opera and hear Beverly Sills and other great singers and musicians live.  A balcony seat in those days cost $1.25!  A balcony seat for a Broadway show, $2.25.  I saw & heard numerous greats. Willits own Linda Posner was nominated for 2 Broadway Tony Awards as her “stage name” Leland Palmer, for her musical performances.

The Willits Community Theatre has hosted many wonderful musicians over the years, thanks in part, to the past efforts of Creek & Kitty Norris.  We’re grateful for all the music they brought to our town.  We’re hoping for more musicians to stop by and perform at WCT.  It’s a place musicians like to stop at as they tour the West Coast. 

Music is all around us.  Every movie and most TV shows have music that supplies much of the emotional impact of the story.  What would virtually any movie be without music?  Not nearly as exciting or moving.  How many of us sing along to our favorite songs?  I do.  One great thrill I had was singing in WCT’s production of Blues In The Night with piano virtuoso, Ed Reinhardt and a great band of local musicians.  I never knew until I did that show what a powerful voice Mike A’dair has.  He can really wail out the blues!  That was one of WCT’s most popular shows ever.  It really rocked.

Why do musicals remain so popular?  Because the significant emotional moments of life are expressed as songs in a musical.  Look at the Broadway musical, Westside Story.  It opened on Broadway when I was a small child.  Then it came out as a hit movie in 1961.  The story is so relevant even today that legendary film director, Stephen Spielberg, is working on a new movie version of it now.  We often celebrate the high emotional moments of our lives with music at weddings, funerals, birthdays, love songs, even wars – like in musicals.  How often do many of us sit in our driveways listening to a song until it’s over?

The arts are, to our detriment, often the first classes to get cut when schools need money.  But stop to think for a moment how colorless & limited your life would be without music & art, without musicians and singers.  Life would be, well, without music!  We have music inside us.  It wants to get out.  Music literally heals.  It inspires the soul.  It illuminates the important moments of our lives.  Not that you asked, but my advice – Sing Out!  Pull out that instrument from the closet or sit down at that dusty piano and start picking out notes, or just sing with whatever voice you have.  It can be just for you.  What could be more important than to be part of the music of life?  Let it in.  Let it out!

Bill was a 2016 inductee into the Realtor® Hall of Fame.  Although retired he was an active agent in Mendocino County for 30 years.  Read more of Bill’s columns on his blog at www.bbarksdale.com