Across the Universe via the Brown Line

Yesterday evening's run was a misery. The Chicago chill left my hands and forearms numb, and the more I sweated the more the wind cut into my skin. Though it's technically spring, it's still winter here, with most days climaxing at a shiver-inducing, spirit-crumpling 37 Fahrenheit. The only comfort I had in the five miles between work and home was that the day before it was worse--it rained. Despite it all, I choose to run in my summertime clothes, as if I believe the weather will somehow take pity on me.

I poured warm water over my arms when I got home, until I received full mobility, and then fed the cats before I crammed two bowls of split pea into my mouth while standing over the counter, with a bottle of Goose Island Summertime to warm the old bones. I couldn't hang out at the old home for long--I had to catch Terry's graduation performance at the Armitage location of The Old Town School of Folk Music.

As Old Town's curriculum is structured into 3 levels (each with a sub or "rep" level) of guitar playing ability, the graduation performance began with the with first class strumming slow and easy and march-like to Eric Clapton's "Lay Down Sally." Everyone up on stage was so concentrated on their chord-shapes and up-strums and sheet music that I wanted to give each one of them, whose ages ranged from about 19 to 75, a big hug. When that last chord hung in the air, and relief mixed with a sense of victory clashed over the students' faces, I couldn't help but get out of my seat and cheer.

The next group followed with a sweet, folk-orchestral version of the Who's "The Kids Are Alright," which reminded me that the best song that Pete Townshend ever wrote was one that came from their first record. There were a few missteps, and I think the teacher (all of the instructors play with their students at the graduation performance) tried to overcompensate by playing a wicked solo over the performers. It seemed like a pretty bullshit move--if you're the teacher, should you really show the crowd how much better you are?

After that, the rest of the classes pretty much fell into a Beatles groove, starting off with "Norwegian Wood" (second class, first level) in which the players (I keep wanting to call them kids, but more than a few of them were older than me) transposed the sitar riff onto the six string, in (pretty much) sync. Not bad. Second class (point five) followed suit with "I'm Only Sleeping," and this time it was the vocals that were impressive--their teacher has reinterpreted the vocal melody line, which made it more compelling, with its off kilter vocals and chorus of acoustic guitars, than I've felt for some years. Unfortunately, this vocal acuity didn't carry over into the next class, who sang "I Will" as if they were a sedated college fraternity.

And Terry's class, the big cheeses of the bunch, closed the show with "Across the Universe," which was, according to their instructor, given a rearranged ending in honor of the date being 4/20 and all. A flawless intro, a great singalong to some of the best Beatles lyrics, and a droning, free fall through space and time at the end, the cosmic sounds of high strings plucked in multi-rhythmic harmony until the human ear could no longer perceive the traveling of the sound.

If you have a friend enrolled, please see these sweet souls and all their musical innocence on display. It makes you remember how totally total music is to everyone.