The week was a musical blur, an undigested meat pie of memories that will take a lobotomy to forget. It almost flattened me, sure, but like music does, and probably always will, she saved me in the final hours after a week of soul-crushing, sleepless nights.
Days before sitting down with musician Reverend Todd Seely from Stratham at NEC on Main Street for the monthly installment of “Granite State of Mind,” I was in Los Angeles visiting friends, watching the Red Sox gag in the heat at Chavez Ravine.
Somewhere between the Hornitos in Hermosa and the long flight home, I got good and sick. And sick I do not do well. I want my buttered toast cut into fours and my chicken soup cooled with crackers when I’m sick. That’s how sad it gets.
But the Reverend was coming on the show and that’s a good get. Todd swings a big stick in the state music scene. He’s adored by the punks, the sweat box ramblers and all those in between for his big block Chevy powered voice and barefooted performances.
I tried explaining that to myself at 3am the night before the interview, but the Reverend’s cache wasn’t cooling my mind. It raged in the night, leaving me an achy, crackling mess of phlegm and worry.
Still, Wednesday night came and Todd arrived looking memorable in a tie, slacks and a clean white shirt. He wears a beard and his hair slick backed and looks like he could have starred opposite Clint Eastwood in any spaghetti western.
Then he played his music and you forgot all about the lung ripping cough you’ve been holding back as the Reverend reconnects with a song called, “Pensulo.” He talks about his days in Zambia where he was a sensation for a while, playing for kings and television audiences.
Rocking back and forth in a folding chair, skin to floor, Seely left it all out there for the small crowd of listeners. He played as if he was at the Brickhouse in Dover again, mashing out a set of rock songs with a sad love twist.
Better than Advil, the Reverend’s music cleared my brain. For a bit.
Next day, after another near sleepless night, I start thinking about a man I met at a NEC event in the spring named Lester Hirsh, long time resident of Concord.
Lester said he’s a song writer and we decide then he should come on our radio show on WKXL. “Of course, why not,” I said, not knowing if he played bass or tambourine even.
Turns out, Mr. Hirsh has been writing songs and poems and performing spoken word since the days of the Beats. He’s very smart, very kind and someone that will kill a cold if you listen to him long enough.
Hirsh also earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Spoken Word” album in 2005.
He brought two guitars into the studio last Thursday night and each spoke a different language. I don’t know if it was the Nyquil or what, but I lapsed into a meditative state during one song as he fingered and howled into the mic.
You can’t help but feel good around a man like Mr. Hirsh. His stories of growing up in Miami as a teen and sneaking out late at night to catch a session of jazz at some late night club we’re inspiring.
Miami? Late Night? Jazz Clubs? I smell a party!
“It wasn’t about that,” said Hirsh. “I just had wanderlust for the arts and music.”
Back down on my knees in the black of night, Saturday morning crawled her way around me. L.A. had a chock hold on me. I couldn’t shake her, couldn’t get back the hours I’d lost out west.
Beaten, I reached for my lady and surrendered.
The next day was a big one. We had a house party to throw and an artist to prepare for in Manchester. The candles were lit, rugs vacuumed, tables moved, beer left cooling on the deck. Perfect.
Then recording artist Sean Rowe from Troy, NY arrived and set up in my friend’s living room. For the next hour and a half, Rowe, a man built for rugby, played and sang with a growling beauty that only comes around so often.
The series of songs Rowe performed, both originals and covers, were born out of his magical, deep barrel voice and the “hybrid” of a guitar he plays. And it was that combination that steadied my spine that evening, giving me the strength to cut California off my back and move on with my life.
That night, once again, I reached for my lady…and slept the sleep of the dead.
– 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.
