Happy Birthday, Dar Williams!
My salvation/salvage/salve (see poem below) is the music... and Dar is a big part of that - blessings on the day she was born, 42 years ago... :-)
My salvation/salvage/salve (see poem below) is the music... and Dar is a big part of that - blessings on the day she was born, 42 years ago... :-)
We used to coordinate projects/activities through the Dar-list for her birthday, which can be seen here and here - this year nothing official was organized... but here is my contribution:
In April 1998, when I was a fairly new fan, Dar appeared on the Conan O'Brien show with Pete Seeger, who I didn't know much about at all - who knew that, eleven years later, I'd be helping to coordinate a Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Celebration in South Florida, with local musicians and local nationally-touring performers... including a friend who was Pete's first captain of The Clearwater?!?
This has turned into a very big deal and today, along with three other participants, I appeared on our Folk and Acoustic Show to promote the event (and even asked the DJ to play Dar's cover, with Toshi Reagon, of Pete's Oh, Had I a Golden Thread) - our venue seats about 250, and we are now sweating the proverbial bullets that we will have enough space for everyone!
And... coming full circle, Dar is performing at the Pete Seeger celebration in Madison Square Garden - birthday wishes abound... :-)
The poem below also makes me think of Dar's song Arrival: "that's when you knew this world can't be saved, only discovered" - what an amazing lyric...
SONG: Turn! Turn! Turn! by Pete Seeger
BOOK: Turn! Turn! Turn!: The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution by Richie Unterberger
POEM: Salvation by Lynn Ungar
By what are you saved? And how?
Saved like a bit of string,
tucked away in a drawer?
Saved like a child rushed from
a burning building, already
singed and coughing smoke?
Or are you salvaged
like a car part -- the one good door
when the rest is wrecked?
Do you believe me when I say
you are neither salvaged nor saved,
but salved, anointed by gentle hands
where you are most tender?
Haven't you seen
the way snow curls down
like a fresh sheet, how it
covers everything,
makes everything
beautiful, without exception?
QUOTE: "Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again." ~ Menachem Mendel Schneerson
In April 1998, when I was a fairly new fan, Dar appeared on the Conan O'Brien show with Pete Seeger, who I didn't know much about at all - who knew that, eleven years later, I'd be helping to coordinate a Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Celebration in South Florida, with local musicians and local nationally-touring performers... including a friend who was Pete's first captain of The Clearwater?!?
This has turned into a very big deal and today, along with three other participants, I appeared on our Folk and Acoustic Show to promote the event (and even asked the DJ to play Dar's cover, with Toshi Reagon, of Pete's Oh, Had I a Golden Thread) - our venue seats about 250, and we are now sweating the proverbial bullets that we will have enough space for everyone!
And... coming full circle, Dar is performing at the Pete Seeger celebration in Madison Square Garden - birthday wishes abound... :-)
The poem below also makes me think of Dar's song Arrival: "that's when you knew this world can't be saved, only discovered" - what an amazing lyric...
SONG: Turn! Turn! Turn! by Pete Seeger
BOOK: Turn! Turn! Turn!: The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution by Richie Unterberger
POEM: Salvation by Lynn Ungar
By what are you saved? And how?
Saved like a bit of string,
tucked away in a drawer?
Saved like a child rushed from
a burning building, already
singed and coughing smoke?
Or are you salvaged
like a car part -- the one good door
when the rest is wrecked?
Do you believe me when I say
you are neither salvaged nor saved,
but salved, anointed by gentle hands
where you are most tender?
Haven't you seen
the way snow curls down
like a fresh sheet, how it
covers everything,
makes everything
beautiful, without exception?
QUOTE: "Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again." ~ Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Ill call you from the Garden.... on May 3rd to tell you What Dar sings this time..
ReplyDeleteHappy Dar day to you
Hey, sharon ~
ReplyDeleteHow very exciting - please know I am there in spirit... and would be absolutely thrilled and honored if you called to let me know what Dar chose to sing that evening!
Happy Dar Day back at you - she's a treasure... :-)