For second time, in as many months, Debby and I had the great privilege to be in attendance as Rich Osborn once again mesmerized his audience with an hour long exercise in guitar mastery and deep musical exploration. Last night's venue was The Battery, a rather posh private club located in the historic Barbary Coast district of San Francisco, nestled between the Financial and North Beach districts in the heart of the City.
The concert included such familiar songs as In A Monastery Garden which was again performed with intricate delicacy; the somber and deeply felt Still I Will Be Merry; the beautifully rendered American classic Streets of Laredo; the plaintive prayer of Breton Fisherman's Song reminding us of our relative position within the vastness of the Universe, and the joyous Going to the Beach House which invokes a feeling of release and freedom from otherwise dire circumstance. It was wonderful to hear these songs played again, live, as Rich has an uncanny ability to bring a sense of immediacy to each piece thus creating a completely original experience with each masterful rendering.
Added to the playlist performed last month in the more modest setting of Stranded in the Mission district, were three selected pieces each suggesting a separate yet somehow perfectly connected musical journey. The Open Road was a delicately fingered piece which invited the soul to reach into an invisible space where all things are possible; Cloud Towers paid homage to and was inspired by Bach and was performed by Rich with all the rich complexity of the original master. The highlight of the evening for this audience member was the exquisite rendition of Pasha (in honor and celebration of the bureaucrat!) that Rich introduced while recalling his seminal and favorite concert (performed in front of one solitary man on the side of a road in India) given some years ago. This deeply layered and multi-leveled piece allowed for a listening adventure which I imagined paralleled the artist's own life changing moment as the image of Rich serenading his fellow traveler presented itself to me throughout the song.
Whether performing a familiar melody or introducing a new voice, Rich Osborn succeeds in creating a unique musical experience and takes us on an ever deepening journey, through the sheer brilliance of his virtuosity, into uncharted spiritual territory while applying the same notes we perhaps have heard many times before. This is made possible by the artist's complete and utter commitment to each song, each iteration of his genius, each individual journey which is communicated to the listener as an intense personal revelation simultaneously being experienced by the artist himself. Knowing this helps explains what Rich shared with me after the concert when he spoke of the difficulty he sometimes has in transitioning between songs. His complete devotion to the sanctity of experiencing each piece and to the unique moment of creation in which he becomes so totally immersed while giving birth to each musical moment makes it clearly understandable why this artist might find it difficult to easily and instantly move on to the next journey. On this evening, we all were quite happily rewarded by his decision and ability to do so!
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