The Power of Music

Faithful readers of John's blog have come to understand the power of music for both John and his family, especially with respect to how certain music can heal the soul. One of the earliest blog posts served to highlight this healing power as well as an individual who especially understands the role that music can play; specifically, Vin Scelsa, a New York-based DJ whom John's dad & mom have been listening to since before John was born. Other blog posts have also addressed the special power of certain music. As can be readily seen here, here, and here, Vin is often a part of the story. Additional posts deal with one of John's favorite artists and how it is through the power of certain music that John's continued presence can be experienced by family and friends alike such as here, here and here.

Last month, the healing power of music once again came into the life of John's family and friends yet one more time, and Vin played an indirect role. About 18 months ago, Vin had on his show an exciting new artist whom John's mom and dad had never heard of but whose music they immediately fell in love with. Emily Arin is her name and she hails from the Finger Lakes area of New York, not too far from where John's sister Jes has been attending Grad School for the past few years. Invariably, when John's mom and dad would visit Ithaca, they would look to see if Emily was playing nearby, but more often than not, if she was playing it would be in Brooklyn or someplace along those lines. Thus, we never got to see her on her home turf.

This summer, Emily launched a tour and asked if fans in certain places would be willing to host a home concert. After several email exchanges, John's dad came home and asked John's mom if she wanted to go to an Emily Arin concert. When asked where, John's dad replied "here". John's mom said, "you mean here in the DC area"? "No, here." "You mean St. Mary's County?" "No, here here, right in our own home" replied John's dad. Of course, John's mom was delighted at the prospect.

Emily and her friend and accompanist Jason, arrived on a hot, humid summer afternoon. After rest and a good meal, close to 30 of John's parent's friends arrived for a concert on the back deck overlooking St. Clements Bay. Emily opened up the concert by referencing a three-way email exchange between John's dad, Vin and Emily from about a year ago regarding how John's dad was particularly moved by the healing power of Emily's music one particular evening while listening to Vin's show when he played "When You Knew Me When" back to back. Emily then proceeded to open (and by special request, close) her concert overlooking St. Clements Bay with that very song.

Snippets of a truly memorable evening can be seen on the You Tube postings below. You will note that while the first set of the concert was held outdoors on the deck, summer evening thunderstorms forced the second set indoors. You'll also notice John's niece, Ariana, in one of the videos enjoying Emily's music. Ariana got her own "shout out" in Emily's newsletter from the road (click on image to the right to enlarge) as being her youngest fan to date. It turns out that Emily is already succeeding in building a fan base that will last into the 22nd Century.