Family, Good Friends, and Good Music

Tomorrow marks the Moody Bluegrass concert at the Ryman auditorium. I've been looking forward to it for a while now. So, I'm headed into Nashville early tomorrow afternoon with my Mom and brother. We are meeting up with some friends to have a visit and hopefully have a good meal, before the concert begins. The weather has taken chilly turn over night. I need to drag out the winter clothes tonight, so I won't freeze to death tomorrow. It's been over a year, since I've seen the Moody Blues perform. I've had my tickets for a while now, but realized this morning, rather startled, that I hadn't printed them out yet. I just kept thinking, "print the tickets, print the tickets, print the tickets". I can't believe that I'd forgotten to do that already. I would have been highly peeved to have arrived at the Ryman tomorrow night without them.

The Ryman is a great place to see a live show. It's very small and intimate, and it has great acoustics. It was originally an old church and the home of the Grand Ole' Opry. I count myself one of the lucky folks that have seen the Ryman from the other side. You see, I've performed on that very stage myself. When I worked in Nashville, several years back, I was a member of the Nashville Symphony Chorus. I've sung with choral groups all of my life. I've been able to sing with a group anywhere, but the Ryman is the only place that I've ever had a bad case of stage fright. It was so interesting. It didn't hit me, until we were onstage in the middle of our first number. You see, the audience is just right there in your face at the Ryman. They are so close, it feels like you can reach out and pat everyone on the head! It took me several numbers to get over that feeling, but once I did WOW! It was the most rewarding place that I've ever performed. I just kept thinking about how many great singers and songwriters had stood on the very spot that I was standing on right then. It was one of the most memorable performances that I've ever done. I feel very fortunate to have had that opportunity. So tomorrow night, I'll be thinking about that; wondering if the performers and the Moody Blues have ever felt that way. Maybe I can even do an AudioBlogger post sometime tomorrow night. I hope everyone has a great weekend!