I'll Go Up Where the Air is Fresh and Sweet

I wish I could even describe how great my trip to the Berkshires was. It's an easy three hours door-to-door, but feels worlds apart from my little town. I had a great drive (lots of singing) and stopped at the outlet stores to pick up piles of cute clothes for my tiny nephew. I arrived at Tanglewood early and ate lunch and hung out until the show started at 7:00. Tanglewood is so incredibly beautiful - it's open and remote and outdoorsy without being too outdoorsy. It's really something. It's the perfect setting for any show, but it's the exact right setting for a James Taylor show. It was a hot day, but there was a strong breeze and sitting at the back of the open shed, I maybe thought life couldn't get any better.

And then it did. About half-way through the concert, John Travolta (?!) came on stage and said that James turned 60 several months earlier, but that they were going to celebrate his birthday that night - the 4th. And then he announced a special guest, and the epic, incomparable Yo-Yo Ma came out and played Sweet Baby James with JT! My GOD, I love Yo-Yo. It was delicious. The music was so tender and so deep, it had an almost physical presence. After the performance, there were birthday wishes via video from Bart Simpson (JT was on the show a few times?) and Paul McCartney, which was fun to see.

Finally, Travolta came out again and introduced one more special guest . . . Carole King. CAROLE KING! She came out and did three numbers with JT. I thought I might lose my mind; everyone was going crazy. The energy was intense - during the performances you could hear a pin drop, and the minute the last note ended, the crowd shot out of their seats and clapped and hollered until I thought I might go deaf. It was awesome.

What a night. I have specific personal connections with music from all three artists which made the night incredibly special for me, but I'll have to wait to write about that because it's my bed time. Until next time, see if you can watch this video that I took of JT with Yo-Yo Ma (wait for :30) without getting chills. Here's another vid - Carole King singing her incredible Natural Woman.