I was fortunate enough to attend a Sofar show in Seattle tonight. The organization puts on shows in venues throughout the city. The catch is you don’t know where it is until 36 hrs before and you don’t know who is playing until they walk on stage. Sofar doesn’t get the top names, but it does get up and coming young artists. It felt good to be in a space with people listening to music. It was a good vibe. It will be a totally different vibe tomorrow night at the Circle Jerks show, because different music attracts different crowds.
Different music impacts you in different ways, but the common theme is that it does impact. It does make us feel something and encourage us to feel what the artist is going through in that moment. I felt that especially strongly with one of the artists in the show today. She ended her set with an acapella rendition of lift every voice and sing and she killed it. The moment carried through the break between sets and needed to be acknowledged by the next performer, because what she felt touched us all, and what she felt is what a lot of people are feeling right now: despair.
I’m not going to be political tonight. I’m just going to end with this: Use your words. Use them for what you believe.