We took a break from the hate, the sadness, the racial and religious rage that’s dividing this country once again, and decided to simply hug it out on a recent Saturday night in Windham.
It was the Annual Concert on Cobbetts Pond, and the late afternoon heavy rains started shouting down on us. We had a band booked, though, a real deal duo, Miss Maybell and Slimpickin’s from Jackson, and they play ragtime, blues and country music.
A sublime combination. Rain or shine.
The crowd, a mix of Bay State bombardiers and Granite Staters, started filing in as they hurried down the rain soaked grass that led to the waterfront home. Steel gray and bittersweet, the sky above seemed to growl each time the bins outside were filled with more ice and beer and vino.
So, instead of allowing her to dictate our dispositions, we growled back at her, informing the sky that no matter how dark she gets, no matter how many times she snaps her towel of lightening with vengeance, turning our skin to chicken, this party continues.
Because all party’s matter.
The host pulled an audible, Slim and Maybell were moved inside, set up in the corner of a large basement “mud room” fit with a packed bar, a large farmers table, sectional couch and big screen TV.
Christmas lights were quickly draped over the basement beams for ambiance. Hot bites of tuna and egg were prepared as Master Rich settled in behind the bar, counting out tiny red fruits, mixing tasty Manhattans.
Soon, the basement was flooded with smiling faces, all kinds of faces, new and old, rank and splendid. Speculation ran wild as Miss. Maybell hung a washboard over her shoulders and kazoo around her neck.
“So, how did you hear about these two?”
“Are they like, “retro” or something?”
Then, just as Slim and Maybell finished testing their strings and signaled they were ready to play, I realized, as I stood before the growing crowd to introduce the performers, that the make up of this party would surely set some contaminated minds of fire.
And maybe get a few people killed.
I saw a woman with a beautiful black face and many other white faces. I saw a gay man. Sorry, make that two gay men. I saw a doctor and a lawyer. I saw a guy with eight fingers. I saw a broken-hearted mother finally learning to smile again. I saw a few married couples, some divorced people, and possibly the shortest bald man ever to enter Rockingham County, mingling peacefully among each other.
I also saw a woman who as a child I knew as a man. She looked wonderful, having finished a seven hour hike on Mount Lafayette early in the day. We hugged and laughed and briefly talked music. We didn’t once discuss where the other was going to take a pee later in the night.
Didn’t really seem to matter.
The music started and the spirit of the 1930’s took over and everyone was feeling lovingly entranced. Slowly, the small talk died down and the mixed crowd began to blend as one into the ragtime, shedding any pains or judgments or resentments they carried with them.
You see, something odd was taking place on Cobbetts. Love was winning. Music was winning. People were winning. Not the crooked news or senseless deaths or even that rotten sky that continued to bark at us throughout the night.
No sir, we shunned her and all her nasty looks. We focused on the music instead, which then turned the focused on all of us, allowing our liquid hearts to understand that music, like people, comes in all formations. And the power it contains, whether old or new, gay or straight, black or white, man or woman, blues or folk, will far outlast any passing storm threatening to bring a party to its knees.
And if that sounds heavy handed then allow me to put it this way: It sure beats hanging out in a smoky bar cursing out cops and blaming color for ignorance.
I’ll take love over that any day.
And of course, some ragtime.
– Rob Azevedo
Rob Azevedo, from Manchester, has been hosting a weekly radio show called “Granite State of Mind” for the past three and a half years which showcases musicians from around New Hampshire and beyond. “Granite State of Mind” is an hour long program that features artists performing live in-studio each week, now exclusively on WKXL. Azevedo also writes a weekly music column called “Sound Check” for the Concord Monitor and hosts a monthly “Artist in the Round” style series at New England College in Concord.
