Isn’t Life Strange?

You’ve probably noticed an odd little pattern here over the past few days, as blog entries seem to either focus on The Moody Blues or anything Disney. A little variety may be in order. But not yet.

Hey, it could be worse than this. I could start ranting about politics. Trust me. You don’t want that.

Anyway, back in the 90’s I was lucky enough to perform in an orchestra for The Moody Blues as they came through my hometown on a tour. Needless to say, I was thrilled at the opportunity to share the stage with my favorite band and have the experience of a lifetime and will fondly remember that night for the rest of my life. The highlight for me that evening was hearing the audience cheer loudly as the band acknowledged the orchestra after playing “Nights in White Satin”.

I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to meet the band and were kept far from them for the entire experience. However, as the cheer happened, drummer Graeme Edge turned around to face us, raised his hands and cheered right along with the audience. It was a bit of a thrill to have that kind of acknowledgment from people you admire. I’m sure there were many on that stage with me who couldn’t care any less about what was happening, but for me it will always be one of my most cherished memories as a musician.

In the early years of The Moody Blues, the albums contained poems written by Graeme and performed by Mike Pinder. Unfortunately, Mike left the band in the 70’s and that left Graeme to perform his own poems any time the band performs live.

Here’s a video from a 2005 set of one of those poems. This particular song kicked off the album “To Our Children’s Children’s Children”.

It’s nice to see Graeme having a lot of fun on stage.