One Good Thing

I've got the music in me

Every February I take myself on a retreat away from my (dark and cold) Northern home. I don’t seek the heat so much as the sunshine, and I consider this my Vitamin D infusion. One of my real joys is how I reconnect with music during my time away.

I’ve been staying in a small town in Mississippi, living in a cute and very small cottage nestled in the backyard of my friends Valorie and Dave.

Dave is a talented musician (the way so many Southerners seem to be), and last year he took me to a jam session held in a small wooden clubhouse hard by the highway.

This is a gathering that just seems to organically happen. People — just show up. And then they play music together.

{Outside Gulfport, Mississippi}

I have been invited to join in and play — any number of times — but I fear that my baby-ukulele skills could never keep up with this group. And so I draw myself a cup of Sanka in a styrofoam cup (no alcohol, here), and then I listen and thrill to the joy of being surrounded by music.

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of music documentaries, spurred on by the joy of “The Greatest Night in Pop” (currently streaming on Netflix).

The Greatest Night in Pop covers the historic 1985 recording of “We Are the World” in Los Angeles. Pulled together over the course of ONE NIGHT, piloted by beloved genius Quincy Jones and wonderful unflappable Lionel Ritchie, this film is a really fascinating look at how “normal” these pop star pros can seem when they’re thrown together. (Except for Bob Dylan, who never seems to know quite where he is or why he is there.)

The musicians wander around the small bleacher area — tired, bored, insecure (Huey Lewis, that doll, doesn’t think he’ll be able to hit that high note), polite, mainly cooperative, and having their own admiring fan moments. (Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder both seem particularly grounded — and charming.)

Buoyed by this wonderful watching and listening experience, I checked out a good list on Rogerebert.com for other music documentaries — and I am happy to say I had already seen most of them, but rewatched “The Last Waltz” and “Original Cast Album: Company,” the stellar 1970 behind-the-scenes look at the recording of “Company” during an epic all-night session.