Big Ears

I'm on a fixed income.  I have a certain amount of money in the bank, modest Social Security income, and a very limited amount of real estate - all in all, not really all that much (although - first world problems - it's recognized that I'm far, far better than many other people in this cold, cruel world).  I have no plans on what to do when it all eventually runs out other than to curl up in a ball somewhere and leave this mortal coil.

I can't afford splurges.  No big European tours for me, no golfing in Maui (besides, I detest golf), no Alaskan cruises.  I'm resigned to living a quiet life at home more-or-less all of the time, absorbed in books, movies, games, and streaming media.  Long walks along the Beltline and  the occasional music show will have to suffice for entertainment.  

This isn't a complaint - I'm fine with this.  I consciously made this choice and I'm more than happy to live with it.

One consequence of these decisions, though, is this means I need to curtail travel to out-or- town music festivals.  Years past, I flew to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Festival and to Portland for the now-defunct MusicFest NorthWest - both some years.  The last couple of years, I've gone up to Knoxville, Tennessee for the forward-thinking Big Ears Festival.  

All summer, I've been steeling myself for the line-up announcement for next year's Big Ears, knowing that I would have to decline attending.  Passes to the four-day event are worth every dollar of the price but they are not inexpensive, and staying four nights in a downtown hotel in any city is not cheap.  No, I figured, I couldn't afford to go to Big Ears next year.

The announcement came out today, and you guessed it, I'm going.  Look at this line-up - how can I refuse?

Anthony Braxton has been a pivotal figure in jazz and the avant garde since the late 60s, and yet I've never had the chance of seeing him perform live.  He's an extraordinary and original composer as well as a gifted performer, often playing so far "out" that his solos overshadow most records on which he performs.  Here's one of my favorite Braxton performances, a bracing combination of composed and improvised interludes.  Listen to his solo below, starting at about the 0:50 mark, and think about the mind that can create such inventive licks on the fly like he does.  While most other performers are playing lines, he's spitting out quadratic equations.

I remember a former girlfriend back in the late 70s telling me that just because she allowed me to play jazz records when she was over didn't mean I had the right to play Anthony Braxton.  I wouldn't go so far as to say Braxton was the reason she became a "former" girlfriend, but I won't say it wasn't a contributing factor, either.

Another standout performer in this lineup who I've always wanted to see live was Terry Riley, performing here with his son Gyan.  I first heard Riley back in the 70s, and his composition In C remains an important, seminal part of the minimalist movement  and modern classical music.  But his career went far beyond In C - my personal favorite for decades has been 1969's A Rainbow In Curved Air, which still sounds like the future to me.

I could go on and on about almost every name in the line-up announcement, but I don't want to sound like a fan boy.  It's stacked, and I just had to go.  Costs be damned - you only live once - I went ahead and bought the top-tier, all-access, guaranteed-seating "Sonic Explorer" VIP pass. As consolation, since I've attended Big Ears in the past, I qualified for the early-bird "pre-sale" and got $200 off the prime cost for the pass.

As for a hotel, in the past I stayed in an upscale Hyatt right on So Gay Street smack dab in the middle of the performance venues.  When checking out of the hotel last year, I heard some festival performer or another practicing his saxophone in an adjacent room, and ran into festival headliners Harold Budd and Tim Story in the lobby.  The room wasn't cheap and the hotel cost more than the festival pass.  I could have saved myself some money this year by staying in an economy hotel a few miles away, but screw it - this is my major splurge, my self-indulgence, my reward to myself for being me.  It costs a few hundred more, but I can sleep in luxury right in the heart of the proceedings without having to walk several blocks at the end of each day or drive a few miles to discount lodging.  It's worth it to me so I booked four nights at the luxurious downtown Hyatt.

To be honest, it's not going to bankrupt me or anything, and it's still a lot cheaper than a European holiday or a Caribbean getaway.  And once the trauma of spending all that money passes, future me will be grateful to past me for the gift of world-class music.