Tour Stories - Part I - A Tangible Currency

Hey rockers!


It's with honor that I announce my guest blog series on Positive Impact Magazine. WOOO! They asked me to write some guest posts, and I've been chronicling the adventures on the rails from a human perspective and the view from the search for Good. I hope you enjoy!


A Tangible Currency

Many life changes happen in a flash, yet are disguised as ordinary events in the course of a day, played by unsuspecting actors, almost as a cosmic joke from an invisible casting department.
One of these lessons hit me in the face recently. I’m a rock musician, but one of my side “gigs” is a DJ. Through a strange series of events, I’ve found myself the host of my Classic Radio Hour show, where I bring my speakers and other sound equipment to assisted living communities and nursing homes, setting up to play Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, and other hits from a bygone era. I sit at my DJ table, and join the appreciative audience in listening as I spin the tracks of old. It’s quite moving to see people soak up the songs of their prime, and to hear their stories after the show.
One day, however, things took a different turn. The show was at a larger facility that, in addition to housing seniors, hosts an adult day care center. The mix of audience ages can create an unusual dynamic. One of the younger clients of the facility (let’s call her Sally) loves to dance to a favorite song that I have for her each time (the track is decidedly not Frank Sinatra.) Sally is standing in front of the room, as is her custom, dancing joyfully and charmingly off beat to the song, the personification of the fierce happiness that music brings us, no matter how “different” or “normal” we are.




“Mildred” was sitting in her wheelchair, and was probably having a hard day. Perhaps she was in a lot of pain, sad, or lonely. Whatever the cause for her discomfort, she was not enjoying the song, and was certainly not enjoying Sally’s dancing. ”Stop it! Sit down!” she shrieked.
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