Friday, July 10, 2009

Rob Jumps for Joy

Music, in all its forms, is what makes me jump for joy. It can be as rich & complex as the haunting music of the Hinini prayer that in the Jewish faith is sung by the rabbi & cantor at High Holy Days, where they are begging G-d to forgive their mistakes during services and to not let them allow it to affect their congregant's prayers. On the opposite extreme....I went to a sober circuit party, er, ah, I mean a gay AA convention in Palm Springs last summer.

The second night's entertainer was a comedian that I thought well, wasn't funny. But as she left the stage, my alltime favorite DJ, whom I used to never miss going out to dance to when he was in LA, "Eddie X" started spinning. I had planned on going to my room for a power nap before I danced, but he played his signature opening song & I spun around and hit the dance floor.

For the next two hours, my mind was at peace as the music took me places that I hadn't been to in years. I was literally jumping up and down at times, never totally conscious of my movements but the next day so many people told me they just stood back as they watched me having so much fun.

And finally on another extreme, the first time I went to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl after 9/11, as we always do at the beginning of a concert there, we all stood to sing our National Anthem.

But this year was different, we were all so raw emotionally, that it took on a particular significance beyond what was just usually rote.

There were 13,000 people in the Bowl that night & I'm sure there wasn't a dry eye among them. So, it's music that makes me jump for joy.
Rob Bergstein

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