Metallica, Nikka Costa, Matisyahu, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Billy Idol, Rage Against the Machine, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Hoots and Hellmouth, Michael Franti, Shelby Lynne, White Stripes, Iggy Pop, K’naan, James Hunter, Fiona Apple, and near ad infinitum…
You know a girl who enjoys all these bands AND has seen them live? I did. I had the pleasure of seeing almost all of them with Mary.
She was the perfect concert partner. From scamming us into Audioslave, to almost getting me into a fight at The Queen, to headbanging to Peeping Tom under the midday Chicago sun, to losing our younger son in the hedges at Bellevue State Park during a lunchtime performance, to seeing Carolina Chocolate Drops at our first music festival as a family of four in 2012: Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival.
I never got her to a David Bowie show, but he supplied our wedding song:
“When you rock ‘n’ roll with me
No one else I’d rather be
Nobody here can do it for me
I’m in tears again
When you rock ‘n’ roll with me”
It feels too darn true right now. Music used to get me so high, used to get me moving, used to be a salve. It doesn’t have that power now. I might get a little sad or a little happy, but I ain’t getting high. I can’t see the mountain tops of joy Mary and I climbed while experiencing music. But I’m optimistic enough to keep climbing.
The Zerbey Three are journeying to Delfest in Maryland this spring. I don’t know how I’ll keep it together when we see some of Mary’s favorites like Rhiannon Giddens, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, or Birds of Chicago; but I need to share every bit of her with our boys that I can.
God bless,
Jason