but then came the day...
i will always remember him for SPAC 2006, the year that i discovered i liked 'Proudest Monkey'. we were rocking the lawn that year, me and louis. it had rained heavily the night before, and the ground was muddy in some areas, making sitting down a bad idea, but the grass was thick on the lawn, and so fragrant. starts, i remember that you could see starts. it is amazing to be in a place where bright lights are not on twenty four hours a day. walking back to the car we joked that a cougar was going to jump out of the woods and maul us, that was how deep in the woods we were parked. we hit the lawn not too soon after the gates opened. it did not matter, we had 'Warehouse Preferred' lawn seats, which just put us in a section roped off from the rest of the lawn, but once the show started the ropes came down and everyone became one. When the band came on the crowd just seemed to rush foward and everything clicked. there is nothing like being a part of the lawn. Some think that it is too much, but there is something very sensory about it.
When the opening chords of 'Proudest Monkey' hit my ears, i was at first a little disappointed. i was never a fan of the song and although i am grateful to hear anything by the guys, there was no place for me to really rest my feet while they played this pne out. but the combination of the crowd, the trees, the smells, and the gentleness of the song seemed to overtake me. i just looked up at the sky and saw all these huge stars (the sky is always so brilliantly clear after a heavy rain, and this was a perfect time) and gently swaying trees. i felt like a Humble Monkey.
Roi was incredible that night. i played the trombone all those years in high school, and so i have always been a fan of both bass and brass instruments. hence, one of my favorite openers is 'Bartender'. hearing Roi on that bass sax just pulls so much emotion and nostalgia for my high school youth that it always makes me tear up. (never mind the absolute beauty of the pennywhistle outro) but this night, hearing 'proudest monkey' was the first time i had ever really, really listened and appreciated him. that night changed my life, and he is the reason that i now love 'proudest monkey'.
this may have sounded like a stupid ramble, but it is a memory that i keep going back to. his death does not seem real; i still imagine that he is just standing there in the wings of stage left, waiting until it is time for him to blow his horn again. i am so glad for the time that i have had with him.
'if heaven's the place to go...'- Proudest Monkey
When the opening chords of 'Proudest Monkey' hit my ears, i was at first a little disappointed. i was never a fan of the song and although i am grateful to hear anything by the guys, there was no place for me to really rest my feet while they played this pne out. but the combination of the crowd, the trees, the smells, and the gentleness of the song seemed to overtake me. i just looked up at the sky and saw all these huge stars (the sky is always so brilliantly clear after a heavy rain, and this was a perfect time) and gently swaying trees. i felt like a Humble Monkey.
Roi was incredible that night. i played the trombone all those years in high school, and so i have always been a fan of both bass and brass instruments. hence, one of my favorite openers is 'Bartender'. hearing Roi on that bass sax just pulls so much emotion and nostalgia for my high school youth that it always makes me tear up. (never mind the absolute beauty of the pennywhistle outro) but this night, hearing 'proudest monkey' was the first time i had ever really, really listened and appreciated him. that night changed my life, and he is the reason that i now love 'proudest monkey'.
this may have sounded like a stupid ramble, but it is a memory that i keep going back to. his death does not seem real; i still imagine that he is just standing there in the wings of stage left, waiting until it is time for him to blow his horn again. i am so glad for the time that i have had with him.
'if heaven's the place to go...'- Proudest Monkey