Mark Johnson’s story, as related to Bill Moyers a couple of years back, is that, ten years previously, while on his way to work and proceeding through a subway station in New York City, he had witnessed two monks, both wearing robes, painted from head to toe in white, and playing music.
One picked a nylon-string guitar while the other sang in a language totally unfamiliar to him. What stunned Johnson more than anything was that 200 people had just stopped right in their tracks, totally mesmerized by the music, with absolutely no thought of catching their individual trains. It came to him at that moment that there really is no separation between music and people.
This cross-section of commuter humanity, some with tears in their eyes, who would seldom, if ever, even nod toward one another, had become one. And it was there, while undergoing this epiphany, that the seeds that would later grow into the worldwide phenomenon known as “Playing for Change” were sown in Mark Johnson’s heart and mind.
Over the next ten years, Johnson, along with a small film and audio recording crew, would document some of the planet’s most talented under-the-radar street musicians on their home turf singing the same song and, through high-art editing, create some very top-shelf ensemble musical videos.
The videos, soon after being uploaded to the Playing for Change website, went viral, looping the globe over and over while tugging at the heartstrings of many a music buff along the way. A couple of years ago, through the thoughtfulness of a friend who felt it might fit well within my musical wheelhouse, a video entitled “Stand By Me” arrived via email.
I must say, nothing’s been quite the same since. Grandpa Elliott, the adorable blind street singer and harmonica player who calls the French Quarter of New Orleans home, began appearing in my dreams. The same with Clarence Bekker, a transformative vocalist and energy source out of Amsterdam.
Then there’s the quite gorgeous Tula, who, although having yet to join a North American tour, sings me to sleep every night. As near as I can tell, she’s from Israel but, when she’s not homesteading my dreamscape, now lives in Barcelona. It’s her loss, because we’re going to whoop it up in high fashion when the Playing for Change touring band takes the stage at the Eccles Center this Saturday night.
I love the double entendre of “Playing for Change.” First there’s the “Peace Through Music” aspect of the Playing for Change Foundation, which builds music schools in impoverished locales worldwide. And then, of course, “playing for change” is exactly what these street musicians having been doing most of their lives: playing on street corners for pocket change.
And that brings us to a hastily-configured pilgrimage during the early spring of last year to the quite-famous “busking” corner of Toulouse and Royal streets where Grandpa Elliott holds forth in the French Quarter. There were other reasons to bask in the “Big Easy,” of course, like the Café du Monde, Preservation Hall, and the Olde Absinthe House — but the first night was all about Grandpa.
Actually, it’s much more than that! Reducing Grandpa Elliott’s art to just his accented harmonica riffs would be to ignore one of the most profoundly uplifting blues vocal styles currently making the rounds. Then there’s the distinctive quality of his aura. It’s all about warmth and comfort and joy. What a cool cat!
Then word got out that the PFC powers-that-be were actually planning on introducing the various musicians to each other and forming a touring band. That meant, of course, that, once the western itinerary was announced, tickets for the show in Santa Fe were procured and it was off to the Land of Enchantment early last November.
Let’s just say that once Grandpa and Clarence and the rest of the Playing for Change touring band had walked onstage that the audience entered into a state of euphoria. The reaction wasn’t totally dissimilar to the one that greeted the Dalai Lama when he played down at the “U” a few years back. It was goosebump city!
The good news is that you don’t have to book an airline ticket to partake of this rapture. All you have to do is show up at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts in Park City this coming Saturday night for a concert that will totally inspire. Join the movement! Spread the joy! Help bring the world together through music!
Jay Meehan is a culture junkie and a free-lance writer with a background in commercial and community radio, among other pursuits. He has been a columnist and feature writer for various Park City publications going back to 1973.