Yesterday I wrote about the joy—the thrill!—of live music. I’m excited to see it making a comeback after the long, weary months of The Age of The Virus, and hope we will witness a renaissance of live entertainment.
Live music is most at home, I think, at night. Sure, there are plenty of fine performances that take place during the day, and a talented classical guitarist plucking out Bach’s Bourrée in E Minor adds a bit of classiness to a tony Sunday brunch, but music lives at night. After all, Mozart composed Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (“A Little Night Music”), not Ein Kleiner Tagmusik.
There is palpable excitement to the night—a delectable frisson, the promise of things to come. The night is when things happen. Granted, they aren’t always good things, but they night promises to be eventful.
These thoughts sprang to mind as I was driving to hear Jeremy Miles‘s group play last Friday. It had been some time since I’d taken in an evening of music, and when I left home I was still weary from a very long week at work (even with Labor Day off and a day of virtual learning, I was drained). But as I drove in the dark towards the lights of Florence, I could feel my energy renewing as the anticipation of a night of good music built.
In my younger days, I was more of a night owl than I am now. Professional demands and my own preferences have made me more of a morning person, but I used to thrill at the opportunity to play a live show in Columbia at 9:45 PM on a Thursday night (now, I’m usually getting ready for bed by 9:45 PM on any weeknight). Most of my best songs were written late at night, into the wee hours of the morning, as I forced myself to churn out lyrics, melodies, and chords.
Even as I’ve grown more domesticated and sleepy, I still find the night, next to the morning, is my favorite time of the day. I can do without the afternoon—long hours of tiredness, while still slogging out work, are what I think of when I think of the afternoon. My energy dips somewhere around 4 or 4:30 PM (although teaching lessons during those times has invigorated me somewhat). But I always seem to get a second wind as night falls, and find I am most productive first thing in the morning, and later in the evening.
Many years ago, a colleague gave me a number of albums from 80s hair metal groups as part of a Secret Santa gift exchange. One of them was, essentially, the greatest hits of the German band Scorpions, which contained the track “Big City Nights.” That song (along with Dokken‘s “The Hunter“) became a kind of de facto anthem for nights spend driving between Florence and Columbia—or some other distant city—for a night of rockin’ (“The Hunter” is a relic of my single days; it always seemed to sum up the struggles and urges of modern dating, in all its desperate longing and searching).
The University of South Carolina’s Southern Exposure New Music Series is staging a concert this Friday dedicated to music of the night (appropriately, the concert is entitled, simply, “Night Music“). I won’t be able to attend, but if ever there was a subject to explore musically, the night is one worth considering.
The night can be dangerous, to be sure, but it seems a time full of opportunities, excitement, and energy. It also reminds us to be thankful for the blessings of the day, and the joy that is light and sunshine. There is too much of a good thing: eternal darkness—like what faces us if we descend to Hell—is unbearable and soul-sucking.
But a little night—and a little night music—makes for a great deal of fun.
The Portly Politico 
Cheers PP.
We’ll be enjoying the night tonight as our pub meet will probably take us past 9pm. Interesting for me, since I don’t often drive at night and some of those country roads can be a little treacherous. I’ll have a fellow CW poster in the car with us later, though, so I’ll be extra careful – I’ll need to deliver him back in one piece! 🙂
No live music though. Such a shame. Live music at night and outdoors is preferable. As much fun as open air theatre.
Anyway, I really do need to get ready. Enjoy your Wednesday, peeps! 🙂
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Cheers, Pontiac! Please let us know how the pub meet goes tonight. Could be a model for a similar meetup here in the States, although we have considerably greater distances to traverse to see each other.
Perhaps you and the TCW gang can make your own live music tonight—the raucous chortling of a good group of friends sharing some drinks and some laughs.
Happy Wednesday! It’s parent-teacher conferences this afternoon. Glory days. : D
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I love classical music and my best and favoured times for listening are first thing in the morning and later in the evening – I won’t say when I am wound down as I am pretty much permanently wound down most of the time these days. Something a bit more rousing early on and then some lieder or songs before sleep, nothing too shrill though with the magnificent English baritone Thomas Allen the current favourite for pre sleep listening. ZZZZZzzzzz……
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I will check out Mr. Allen. I do love a good baritone. I think I am one myself, though I can hit some tenor parts, too.
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He is actually SIR Thomas Allen and is about 70 now but has a wonderful rich, mellow voice and the personality to go with it. His middle name is Boaz. . If you have access to Spotify or the equivalent search for him singing Vaughn Williams’ Songs Of Travel or the Hugo Wolf lied Der Rattenfanger. Unequalled.
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I will be sure to check out Sir Allen Boaz Allen. I do love some Ralph Vaughn Williams.
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Portly – I suspect, for you, ‘music of the night’ is not this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOFCQ2bfmHw nor this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB0SxXTR_UI.
(the second one is my all-time favorite)
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I love “Monster Mash”! My middle school students will be playing that today.
I’m not as familiar with “Swamp Witch,” but I have it queued up to listen to right after this 8:10 AM Economics class. Quite a time for Economics, eh?
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“Swamp Witch” is a great song! A spooky little ballad. My buddy John and I might need to add that the repertoire for this and/or a future Spooktacular.
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!! It’s gotten over 6 million views since 2013. It’s my favorite; I was pleased to discover this morning that I remember all the words. Gotta love that long-term memory, lol.
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Music has such an ability to lodge itself into our minds, especially when we listen to the same song many times.
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Well, I got ready much quicker than normal so I’ve got time to spare.
Apparently, my CW mucker Hugh Jampton has been posting here. Am I blind? Where exactly is he putting his posts?
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He mentioned in a comment this morning in TCW that I’d ‘liked’ his comments here.
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Have you? What comments? I’ve been coming here most days over the last month or so and I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of him. Unless he’s secretly PP, I think he might be posting elsewhere.
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Hahaha, I wish I had come up with “Hugh Jampton” as a nom de plume. I think he posted once the other day; I’ll see if I can find a link to his comment after my morning classes, and can share it here.
That reminds me: I need to throw up those pictures you sent me of the English sunrise. I might be able to get to that today, finally.
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Please, Port – don’t “throw up” anything and certainly don’t share it!!!!!!!!!
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Hahaha, poor choice of words.
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Happens to the best of us – to which group you qualify – but that one was frightening, lol!
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Haha, apologies for the scare. Glad to know I’m still among the best—ding!
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Yeah, I think there was one comment from HJ the other day. Let’s get him more active here!
Also, thanks to you limeys (just kidding!), my stats for the site are through the roof! I think I had 200+ site visits yesterday from y’all commenting and such. Thanks!
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Limey is a much better word for us Englishmen than the word we have for Americans! 🙂
I’m glad traffic is picking up. Hopefully, we might get a few more ConWommers over (we really need to find a better name for people on that site – any suggestions?).
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I was going to suggest ‘freedom fighters’ but it reads wrong, as if we were fighting against freedom, lol.
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As long as you don’t call me a Yankee, I don’t care what you call me, haha. Yankees are the Northern imperialists. ; D
Haha, tell the ConWommers/ConWomen (!) to come on over.
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Someone on TCW referred to me as a Yank once and several commenters went after that person. Touched my heart. Good, solid, decent Englishmen.
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I’m glad they banded together to protect you against such slander.
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To tell you the truth, I didn’t even realize it was a slur until the good folks came to my defense.
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It is if you’re Southern! : D
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Port – glad I don’t have to teach economic now. But you’re equal to the task, I have no fear.
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Haha, thanks. We’re talking about supply and demand now. It’s fun!
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Port (I hate not being sure that I’m responding to the right person…a glitch, I suppose) – I like to refer to the cousins as ‘you lot’, lol, but I always make sure they know I’m being funny and not insulting. Love those folks.
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I like that. “you limey lot” sounds even better, haha.
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I actually think that’s a compliment. They’re the people who figured out you could run all over the world safely, as long as you drank gin and tonics with a lime slice to keep you healthy. One of mankind’s greatest discoveries.
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Laughing out loud! I didn’t know that’s where ‘limey’ came from!
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Not sure myself, but it fits. 🙂
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Fascinating! I knew about Captain James Cook and his men eating citrus to stave off scurvy. I didn’t realize that’s why we called Brits “limeys.” My guess was it had something to do with the nation’s limestone or what not. Are the White Cliffs of Dover limestone, or some more charismatic mineral?
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Yep to Captain Cook, now add the quinine water for malaria, not that they knew that, but there you go. Oh, and if I remember, the white cliffs are chalk.
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Ahoy, mateys!
Years ago, my students started calling me “Captain Cook,” which eventually just became “The Captain” or “Cap’n.” The group that used that term of endearment has long since graduated (probably now from college, and even graduate school!), and no one has called me that in years, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
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Aye, sir. One carpenter I worked with years ago got in the habit of calling me Major F*** up, because I never did and he knew of my Air Force proclivities. He got greedy and stupid and we parted ways, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
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I always appreciate that kind of vulgar male camaraderie, but it also seems overly mean to me sometimes. I would _not_ like being called “Major F-Up” every day, haha.
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Not every day, and mostly in the bar, and I had my name for him as well. Now, I’d be discomfitted, but when we’re young.
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Yeah, I hear ya. My nickname in my family to this day is “Booty.” It’s not because I have a prominent posterior—quite to the contrary, in fact—but I think because my older brother found it funny. They’ve been calling me that since I was six.
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Yep, that’s where nicknames that stick come from.
It’s kind or hard to believe but General Patton was “Georgie” to his friends and family all his life.
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A good nickname for a good man.
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My name, obviously, does not lend itself to an abbreviation or a ‘nic’. I’m a natural born redhead (thank you, Nana!) and my dad used to call me Reddy Freddy. Which was really quite embarrassing in my late teens, early adulthood, lol. False advertising!! (I think) (no. I’m sure!) (I think)
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Yeah, “Audre” is a tough one to nicknamify. Auddie? Dre? Reddy Freddy sounds pretty endearing to me.
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Yeah … my dad. Little misty right now.
My sisters have great names – Dale (my elder) and Amy (the baby). But most of the time we called Amy ‘A’. My brother (pbuh) was named after my dad, Joseph. But he was born a redhead and he had the great nickname “Rusty”. When he was 12 or 13, he suddenly turned blonde!!! But my folks and aunts and uncles always called him Rusty.
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Those are great names! Your parents picked well. “Rusty” is a wonderful nickname for a red-headed boy, even after he’s turn towheaded.
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Jess, also a natural ginger, once self-described her hair color as the color of a camp follower of King Alfred the Great\s , said her dad ofter referred to her as Penelope Pitstop. Maybe we should shorten that to Penny for you.
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Nah … that’s ok. Today it’s more like “Disma” – as in dismal gray, lol.
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Yeah, but you shine like a nmew penny!
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Ohmygosh!!! What a lovely thing to say! You’ve got the ol’ eyelashes battin’, lol!!!
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Fetching!
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