1/50: Shabbat Nariya

1/5/2020: As many of you know, I love listening to music, talking about music, writing about music and best of all going to listen to live music. Over the years I’ve made countless mixed tapes/CDs for friends and family and before we moved from MV, I had the opportunity to be a guest DJ on WMVY which was an experience of a lifetime. My parents were influential in introducing me to much of the music that I still listen to today. When I was 5 or 6 they took me to see Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and then when I was 8 or 9 went to Government Center to see/hear Andy Pratt perform on the plaza. I was mesmerized and enchanted. This music thing was amazing!! Flash forward to countless concerts in the 80s and 90s (The Go Gos, The Police, The Fixx, Flock of Seagulls, David Bowie, The Motels, Squeeze, The Violent Femmes, Thompson Twins, Beastie Boys, Corey Hart, Multiple Lilith Fairs, HORDE Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Bruce Springsteen, Bare Naked Ladies, Steely Dan, Sting, Big Audio Dynamite, Marc Cohn, Ben Folds Five, and many, many more) and continued through the 2000s with Rob and then our kids too.

This brings me to 2020, which is the year that I will turn 50. In celebration of this milestone, I’ve set an intention to enjoy live music all year long. My goal is to enjoy music from 50 different bands/performers in the coming year. This past Friday was performance #1. Once a month, my temple (co-sponsored with Moshe Kavod House) has an AMAZING Friday night Shabbat celebration called Shabbat Nariya. This past Friday Rob and I went to the shabbat sing out and had the opportunity to gather with community and “raise our voices, move our bodies, catch our breath and gather strength as we created a circle of sound to welcome Shabbat.” Since there is no cell phone use on shabbat, I could not capture the amazingness of this evening. Picture the sanctuary with every seat filled and with voices booming as we all welcome in shabbat together. Magical.