Posted by Sigismund on February 4, 2009, at 1:21:51
The Herald described his Sydney concerts as a communion, and that was how I felt it to be:
an extended shared meditation on the loveliness and horror of the present moment.As we all walked in I thought about how most of these people must have looked 35 years ago (young like me), and I felt comforted to know that these many thousands were testimony to the fact that we are not all, by any means, brain dead corporate controlled automatons.
He spoke from time to time.
Nothing like 'Are you having a good time?'
After interval he said 'You are very kind to stay.'
Later he said words to the effect of....
'I don't recommend bankruptcy as a spiritual discipline. I was here when I was quite young, 60 or so. Since then I've taken a lot of Prozac and Effexor and Focalin (and at least 10 more psychiatric drugs) and after that I spent a lot of time on meditation and spirituality, but no matter what, the cheerfulness kept breaking through.'
At which point he launched into
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg6HKkedhyI
(which is where I got the idea of the extended meditation on living in the present from).Toward the end of the encore he sang 'Democracy is coming to the USA' and everyone cheered.
I can't do it justice.
Everyone was very moved.
Never before have I seen a performer received with such love and respect.
At the end he blessed us, saying, amongst other things
'May you get home safely, and may we have leaders with understanding in their hearts
But if we have none of these things'
(and I forget what he said then)
But then he said
'Thank you for keeping my songs alive.'And I reflected that in this magnificently mendacious culture of ours, he never lied to us.
poster:Sigismund
thread:877936
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20090116/msgs/877936.html