Some thirty years ago I started to shape a series of community-building experiences that combined secular and/or traditional holy days with poetry and a variety of music. There was always some group-singing, too to connect us one to the other. We have a long albeit forgotten history of shared song in this land from union/civil rights/anti-war songs to the memory bank and revival hymns of our churches. And let's not forget Christmas carols! To be sure, we have not done nearly as well as other nations in honoring the original or folk poetry of the Americas, but there was a time when public education celebrated the words of Dickinson, Shakespeare, Virgil. Clifton, and Whitman - so that was central to these gatherings, too. In time this experiment evolved into a series of annual events that included Thanksgiving Eve, Good Friday, the Feast of St. John the Baptist, and sometimes the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. I was inspired to try this after seeing Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie put on their annual Carnegie Hall show during the long Thanksgiving weekend. The song by Bob Franke, "Thanksgiving Eve," added icing to the already baked cake. (Sally Rogers' take was my first introduction to this gem and you I like how Garnett Rogers and the author, Franke, do it, too.)
As my life and ministry changed - and our collective lives became increasingly complex - circumstance and bad weather forced an end to these encounters. A blinding blizzard on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the first death and it was both heart breaking and liberating. Many of the artists who performed in those concerts - as well as folk I would meet at the grocery store - told me that they were bereft and unfocused when the Thanksgiving Eve shows stopped. We regrouped and made a few more attempts including our interpretation of Paul Winter's "Missa Gaia" (which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary on the winter solstice at St. John's Cathedral in NYC) and our take on John Coltrane's masterpiece, "A Love Supreme," on the 50th anniversary of the composition. In retrospect, those two shows were artistically stunning and probably the best way to put the whole enterprise to rest. "To everything there is a season..."
After a four year hiatus - and significant personal and professional changes - we are now planning a revival of sorts, gathering many of the old players to raise funds and spirits in solidarity with the Sanctuary movement in our scrappy little city. Ironically, this gathering will take place close to Thanksgiving, too - and that resonates deeply with me. (For more info: see the end of this posting for the promotional poster.) Christopher Hill summarized well the confluence of key ingredients when he wrote: "Three things must come together to open up the experience of sacred time: the ritual and theology of the Church, cultural and/or family traditions, and the (cycles of nature) and the environment." (Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year, p. 6.)When we first started these artistic/liturgical experiments, I resisted offering my interpretation, preferring to let them stand on their own. At one conference re: religion and the arts I had watched as a painter stumbled and fumbled his way through a question and answer session. It was agonizing for the artist as well as the audience. My take away was: never ask an artist to interpret/explain their creation. Not only are most artists ill-equipped for explications, but their song, painting, film, dance, poem, or sculpture already says everything needed to be known. So, for a few years, I hesitated to explain what was going on, asking instead: "What did you experience?"
What I failed to grasp, however, was how confusing participatory art was in a genre-bending context. I had a sense of building bridges between art forms and invited the wider culture to carry this metaphor beyond the walls of our comfort zones. But at least half of those who participated did not think metaphorically. They had rarely been encouraged do so and had not frame of reference for genre-bending. They were linear, rational, and utilitarian both by nature and by habit. So, I needed to find ways to interpret these encounters and help my new friends connect the dots beyond the limits of their usual tools of analysis. At times, I offered spoken commentary. Other times I included an annotated listing in the printed programs. And periodically I used this blog to unpack what we were striving to accomplish.
My vision for the up-coming show is equally layered. Our goal is to raise funds and awareness for our interfaith Sanctuary project. It would be simpler to just ask a hundred people for twenty dollars - and such pragmatism has its place. But the power and potential of bringing a hundred people together to experience beauty, creativity, and challenge in solidarity expands the impact of the monies exponentially. Hearts can be stirred. Minds can be opened. New relationships beyond the confines of culture can be forged. To accomplish this means we must serve as artistic midwives bringing a symmetry of form and content to the music and poetry presented on Friday, November 22 @ 7 pm. Here is how I think this is coming together:
+ First, the music and artists are wildly eclectic: in form, sound, style,
+ Second, the opening sequence sets the stage for what follows: much like an opera's overture, this concert's beginning gives shape, form, and sound to the heart of the experience. We will use the Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova song from the film Once, "Falling Slowly," to evoke the promise of strength and vulnerability, trust and hope, cultural humility in service of all that is true and beautiful. Hansard is an Irish man, Irglova is a Czech woman; he plays guitar, she plays piano; she emigrates to his homeland; they unite to use their differences in culture, art, sexuality and history to create a tender beauty many cherish. This opens the concert quietly. Acoustic instruments under blended harmonies. When "Falling Slowly" is finished one of our five poets will share their spoken insights after which we'll launch into my rewrite of Bob Marley's "We Don't Need No More Trouble." Reggae is all about overcoming alienation and oppression. The group, Playing for a Change, kicks up the power of this song by mixing into it artists from all over the world. It has always been an anthem of defiance with a visionary call to action. When the electric groove is fused with the spoken word as well as the aching tenderness of the acoustic tune, I sense the embodied tension of creativity married to human compassion. To my heart, this juxtaposition brings shape and form to Psalm 85: "Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground and righteousness will look down from the sky." After a word of welcome, we'll close this overture with our version of the Beatles' "Come Together." Another upbeat anthem of unity in a weird world that continues to be covered by contemporary musicians like Guy Clark.
+ Third, the remainder of the concert will blend this tension as poets and musicians from a variety of genres share their take on living in solidarity: A folk artist from Guatemala beside an American jazz quartet, an evangelical worship team next to fiercely secular young poets, rock'n'roll in dialogue with acoustic folk musicians, old friends returning while making space for new artistic encounters, too. And all of this to be shared in the grand hall of First Church, the founding congregation that gave birth to the town of Pittsfield, which will open its doors yet again to advance the common good beyond the fears and threats of the current climate of fear.
The poets have complete autonomy to articulate their insights with no guidance from me. Same goes for the musicians who have been asked to simply respect the time constraints while remaining free to create the music they feel inspired to share. Our house band will set the mood and then get out of the way to let the Spirit lead us where she wants us to go. And then we'll wrap it up with a few songs picked by the house band to send us all out into the world to intensify our promise of solidarity - including Springsteen's, "The Rising." If you are free on Friday, November 22, 2019 @ 7 pm, come on down to the house.
Music, Poetry and Solidarity
A Benefit for Berkshire Interfaith Organizing (BIO)
First Church on Park Square
27
East Street, Pittsfield, MA
Friday, November 22, 2019 - 7:00 pm
(Suggested
donation is $12)
We act towards justice by building relationships within our
communities
and across lines of
difference, developing our leaders' skills in the public arena, and
taking action on issues of common concern. The proceeds from tonight’s concert
will support a sanctuary congregation in the Berkshires – a place of safety
supported by the inter-faith community for those seeking a new and hope-filled
life in a new land – an act of love and solidarity in the face of all the
forces of hatred that wound us all.
Andy Kelly – Charlie Tokarz -Linda
Worster –
Jon Haddad- John Hamilton – Between the Banks –
Eileen Markland -John Kelly -Juan Pablo – Jesse Miner
Berkshire County Poets and more!
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