Suzanne Vega

Last night Jim, Karen and I went to see Suzanne Vega in concert at the Carson Center in Paducah. It was amazing! Jim has been a huge fan of Suzanne Vega since he was nineteen and I was a fan shortly after I met him. So, for the past almost twenty years, she has played a large musical role in our lives and when I found out that she was coming to Paducah, I saved some money from the tax return and bought tickets. It was so worth it. It  was a very intimate setting. We were in a room that would hold maybe 150-200 people max. It was only her and her bassist and guitarist on stage with her. It was about an hour long show and she took requests toward the end of it, of which she only played one because the others she hadn't rehearsed, although she hadn't heard Jim's, which was "Room Off the Street", and that she probably could have played because that one they had rehearsed and do play sometimes. We found this out when she was signing the CD cover of the album that we bought. So, not only did we get to see her in concert, but we got to meet her, have her autograph the CD cover and got our picture taken with her. The thing that struck me about her the most was how graceful and gracious she was. She was so much fun to watch onstage. One of the highlights for me was when she sung "The Queen and the Soldier", which is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, song of hers. I was brought to tears. It was truly beautiful.
 It was kind of sad though because there were a couple of light cues that felt completely off to me and I checked the light booth to see if I could see anything. I think also that Suzanne looked up there once when one of the cues felt wrong. So, my stage managing apparently will kick in now when I go to concerts or plays or other event in which there is a stage manager type person running the show and I will critique show based on those criteria. So much for just enjoying a performance! :) I will put up the picture as soon as I get it. Karen had to take it on her camera because my camera picked that moment to have a slight fit, so she will have to email it to me and then I can get it up on facebook or here.
The thing I'm the most thankful for though, is that this concert reminded me of my passion, which has been sorely lacking as of late, what with all the emotional ups and downs I've been going through lately. It made me feel good to know that there still is beauty and passion and grace and quality. That no matter what happens, that is always a piece of what it means to be human and that is the ultimate end for us. To live in this truth, beauty and passion. It was truly a beautiful night.