Stay-at- home has meant separation from family and friends.  It has also meant missing out on events. It was strange to spend Easter without my extended family, my son was disappointed that we couldn’t have his birthday party at Treeworld as planned, and really I miss going to the movies.  On April 17 my husband, son and I were supposed to go see Dead Can Dance in concert.  It would have been my son’s first concert and the first one Sean and had been to for a very long time; we were all so excited.  Dead Can Dance is not a band most people know, they were indie in the 80’s and mostly obscure now but you may have heard some of their songs in movies or T.V.  They are an Australian-British group of principally two, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry.  Their sound is kind of Goth and a little ambient with a lot of “World Music” in the mix.  Lisa Gerrard has several film credits to her name, most well-known is probably Gladiator.  It is impossible for me to pick my favorite of their albums but I’ve been listening to their last, Dionysus, released in 2018, a lot lately.  It is a concept album exploring an imagined Dionysian revel.  But not like a prog-rock concept album, it’s more like a symphony, with all the songs related and each leading into the next.  Pitchfork describes it as “a work of visceral, accessible music that rewards surface listening and prolonged exploration.”  Give it a listen and allow your imagination to take you to an ancient Greek forest. Cinema of the mind.

As we edge toward Summer I’m reminded of another transcendental musical experience from one summer when I was an undergrad. I am one of three and at that point my older brother had already go off on his own and I was staying at school to take summer classes so it was just my younger brother at home. I think my parents, especially my mom, were feeling a little empty-nesty.  So, they opened their home to Pierre, a student in an English emersion program.  He was not at all how we Americans stereotype the French.  He was very friendly and eager to experience life in America. He also had an enormous fan of Led Zeppelin.  I mean he loved Led Zeppelin.  He purchased their entire catalog on CD when he got to the US; he said they were much cheaper here. I don’t think he ever listened to anything else.  Early in his stay I went to visit my parents and he made me listen to several Zeppelin albums with him. What he wanted most was for me to explain the phrase “Ramble on”.  With his limited English skills and my knowledge of French limited to “oui”, this was a very difficult conversation!  Later in the summer I joined my family on vacation to the Outer Banks, NC.  It was the week of the Perseids meteor shower and on the night that was predicted to be the most active, Pierre, my little brother, and I took blankets down to the beach to watch for shooting stars.  Pierre brought his Walkman.  As we lay on our blankets, the sand still slightly warm underneath, a cool breeze coming off the ocean, we stared up at the sky and Pierre handed me his headphones. I was transported.  Sometimes, I can put on headphones, que up some Zeppelin, close my eyes, and if I really let go I’m back on that beach under the stars. 

Finally, I’ve been missing my library family.  A few years back some of us created a collaborative playlist on Spotify, (Quiet) Riot in the Stacks.  I would like to invite all of you to join me in another collaborative playlist, Missing WC(yo)U.  Add songs that transport you, make you happy, remind you of good time and good friends.