Hello Beautiful People,
On Monday I had the pleasure of seeing Zoe Sarnak, Grace McLean, and Kacie Sheik perform at Joe’s Pub.
And I PROMISE you, I had no intention of writing anything.
I wasn’t attending the concert with my press hat.
I was just there as a friend. For moral support. To cheer on my pal Zoe, and root for the other ladies whom I had become somewhat familiar with over the past couple of months.
And so, my dear friend Will and I and went to see Zoe. And Grace. And Kacie.
And they sang.
Songs they wrote.
And they were joined by superb talent.
And I sat, with my friends at a back table – and just took it all in.
The music.
The words.
And the audience that was hanging on their every word.
And it was one of those New York moments where you think to yourself, this. Is. F*cking. Awesome. This is what life’s about. This is what good music is supposed to sound like. This is was art is supposed to be like.
I have come to know Zoe Sarnak’s music quite well, as her music was used in the first concert that I produced in my original series, Lucky Disaster – I think she’s brilliant, and rest assure, I was a fan before I ever was her friend. And I also had the pleasure of seeing Grace McLean’s songwriting talents in full force at the Lady Composers Night at NYMF this past summer. So, I expected to be delighted by these two, and I was not disappointed.
What I didn’t expect, however, was the work of Kacie Sheik. I have seen Kacie onstage as both a brilliant singer and actress – but I had no idea that, she too, is a songwriter that is a force to be reckoned with.
A. Force. Indeed.
There are plenty of lovely songwriters out there, who write music that is pleasing to the ear and lyrics that have a certain sense of cleverness to them, a wit, if you will, that will make you laugh, make you chuckle, make you ponder. And that’s fantastic.
But, there are also the composers and songwriters who write with a ferocity and intensity that shake your world. Who transform the lives of listeners with a mere three minutes of musical bliss.
Then, there are the composers and songwriters like Zoe Sarnak, Grace McLean, and Kacie Sheik. They are the ones that hear about stories like the Landfill Harmonic, and are inspired to write a song. They are the ones who soak in the city of Boston, and have the ability to translate that love affair into words and harmony that pierce your heart while still bringing a smile to your face. They are the ones who unabashedly put the grief and insanity that comes with heartbreak into song, the natural disaster that we’ve all gone through – whether we like to admit it or not. They write of things like Wilson’s Disease and the medieval era. They are the composers that write about the things that fill your heart – dreams, fears, hopes, loves, losses – they write about the grey areas of life. The messy bits that stick with us, the moments in life that we want to cherish forever, and the ones we only wish we could forget – they turn these moments into song.
I’m in awe of artists like these women, for they inspire greatness. Always.
I urge all of you to go to WHATEVER show/concert/reading they have next – you won’t be sorry.
Live, Love, Learn,