Round Here
One thing I’ve always dreamed of is to write and play music. I’ve always known this is what really drives me. I have an album I put together a few years back that I was never really satisfied with — there was something about it that was… someone else. Rushed maybe. Or unduly influenced. And partially cliché. It was as if I started off with a clear direction, and ended up — by introducing other inspired, talented musicians without first knowing and communicating my direction — losing sight of that direction, and settling for a sound that was close, but not quite.
Almost every song I’ve ever heard in my entire life follows that “close, but not quite” pattern — I can usually tell the song is inspired (except for most pop), driven, and passionate, but I can also always tell exactly where the artists compromised for the sake of whatever — be it the label, the “demographic,” or the genre (which I’ve always felt was a stifling way of pigeon holing music). Somehow, that compromise always shines through, nearly as much as the artistic expression.
Tonight, that all changed.
The counting crows put on an amazing show tonight. The opening song was a cross between Broadway and Radio City. I’ve never seen such an amazing display of human emotion, passion, and feeling — especially not one so powerful, moving, and free as tonight. It felt as if the inspiration just came to him then and there, and his entire band had the passion and the presence to mirror his every feeling — completely in the moment and energized.
They opened with “Round Here,” in such a way as to blend the feeling of a musical — with all the grandiose movement, physical expression, and musical cadenza — with a progressive rock concert, rife with complex meters, dramatic chord changes, and loud, talented musicianship.
That complete disregard for the rules — that radical, musical self expression — That is what I want to do.
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