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Signs, Signs, everywhere signs....

3/25/2015

Signs. I believe in signs. I don't mean the obvious ones. Those are a given. Do Not Enter. One Way. Open, come in!

I mean intuitive signs. The ones not everyone sees. The ones that bring a chill up your spine. Or bring a sudden tear to your eyes. Those kinds of signs. I am always grateful when one of those signs makes an appearance. They remind me of a loved one. Or validate life choices. Or awaken a memory.

I was fortunate to receive a double sign last night. As I was driving on the highway back home from an absolutely wonderful rehearsal with Aoife and Becky, I had my phone plugged in for music. A little Kenny Barron. Stan Getz. Crosby. It was on shuffle.

Then, one of my original songs came on. Bound To You Heart. This was my sister Jeanne's favorite. I sang it at her memorial. As it played, thoughts of her filled my mind, my heart. Then it played again. Even though it was set to shuffle. I felt that spine tingle. Got teary. Smiled.

Then it played. Again. Her presence just washed over me.
As it ended, I wondered. Will it just keep playing?

No. The next song began. I heard the opening chords and my lovely niece Tanya's voice. It was Terri's song. The Hymn for Terri I wrote just before she died. Full fledged goosebumps.

And then I was home.
And grateful for that sign from mother and daughter, sister and niece.

A message from angels.

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Deja Vu

3/20/2015

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So, we had a big announce at The Z yesterday - and if you haven't heard, David Crosby is returning to our little theatre!! He and Nash were here in 2011, dedicating the last stop on their tour to my late sister and their friend, Jeanne Robinson. It was a stellar night.

As in 2011, David has chosen to make the Zeiterion his last stop on a brief solo acoustic tour that kicks off next month. As we prepare for his tickets to go on sale this morning, I took a moment to relive my experience the last time he came into town, by reading through an article I wrote for New Bedford Guide. In case you missed it, here are a few excerpts.

CROSBY & NASH AT THE ZEITERION
“Words can’t reach it.”

My sister, Jeanne, used this phrase when she was at a loss for words to describe an experience so moving, so overwhelming, so mind blowing, that there were just no words in her vocabulary (extensive though it was) to verbalize it. “Words can’t reach it” is the only phrase that comes close to expressing the experience lived by myself, my family and over a thousand devoted fans of Crosby & Nash at their recent performance in New Bedford’s Zeiterion Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, May 24, 2011.

Backing up for a minute, many have wondered how this venerable duo and their cache of extremely talented band-mates landed onstage at New Bedford’s ‘Z.’ David explained it most eloquently, if not a bit mysteriously, when he dedicated a new song, “Slice of Time,” to “the odd connection of people who got us to this exact spot this night…Spider Robinson and Dori Legge.” I am Dori, musician/singer/songwriter and house manager at the ‘Z,’ and I, along with my brother-in-law, Spider (an award winning novelist in his own right), are the odd connection of which David speaks.

Spider and David, along with my sister Jeanne (who passed away in 2010 from biliary cancer), met in 2005. They shared a mutual admiration of music, writing, dance and Woodstock-era hippie culture, so they began corresponding via email and quickly became fast friends. When Spider shared some of my music with David, David and I began corresponding until one day when I bravely popped the question – Would he and Graham Nash like to play the Z? A few weeks later it was a done deal: The date was booked, tickets went on sale and the show rapidly sold out in only six days.

Tuesday’s performance, the last date of a successful and strenuous tour schedule, was nothing less than spectacular. Joined by keyboardist (and Crosby’s son) James Raymond, Dean Parks on guitar, bassist Kevin McCormick and drummer Steve DiStanislao, the pair offered up classic favorites and new songs that had the crowd eating out of their hands from the very first note. Their hair may be a bit more on the gray side but the vocals are still strong, tight and true. Put that together with their superb guitar fingering and voicing techniques, which have only ripened with age, and Crosby and Nash proved they can still put on an amazing live show.

In the countless fantasies in my head surrounding meeting David and hosting the C&N band at the ‘Z’, I never, ever, imagined sitting next to him at my sister’s dinner table, chatting, drinking wine and piling a mountainous portion of pasta, homemade meatballs and sausage onto his plate. Here’s how it happened…

On impulse, I had emailed David Monday morning with my cell number, just in case he wanted to hook up with Spider in the afternoon (all my family had flown in for the show) or needed anything in general. I also mentioned homemade Italian meatballs and sauce. My cell rang a few hours later, as I was standing in the linen department at Target.

“Hey Dori, it’s David Crosby.” My hands started shaking as I temporarily lost control of my shopping cart and crashed into a clearance rack of flannel sheets and down comforters. “Hi David, what’s up?” The lady coming down the aisle in my direction was looking at me strangely as my knees buckled, forcing me to sit down abruptly on a display of fluffy alternative down pillows. “Well hey, were you serious about that home cooked meal invite?” My mind started racing. Oh my God! I have to call Laurie and tell her to clean the house and damn, my car’s a disgusting pit: What if I have to pick him up? “Sure, we’d love to have you. Where are you staying?”

A few hours later, David and I and 12 of my family members were breaking bread together, sharing stories and jokes like we had known one another for a lifetime. David is a kind, generous, passionate, articulate, witty man; a good soul who loved my sister Jeanne, dearly. And in turn, loved us too. It was an evening I will not soon forget.

Lost in Providence

Yes, I was a little nervous about being alone in the car with David on the ride from his hotel in Providence back to Dartmouth. Would I be able to put two intelligent words together and not sound like the star struck fan I knew I was as I conversed with this musical legend? Plus, my car was a mess. And, as usual, I had gotten lost getting there.

When I finally gave in and called David to tell him I was lost in Providence, he very calmly handed the phone to someone at the desk and they guided me in. When I arrived, he walked up to my car and opened the back door, threw in his computer bag, looked at my mess of a back seat and smiled. I shrugged and said, “Yeah, I’m a slob with a lousy sense of direction. Hop in.” After that, it was easy….we talked non-stop the rest of the way home.

When I asked him about life on the road:

“I never know where I am, where I’ve been, or where I’m going to.”

When we were talking about alternative guitar tunings and I mentioned Joni Mitchell:

“In a hundred years, people will still be listening to Joni and Bob (Dylan). They are the premiere poets of our generation. But I think Joni is better. And more musical.”

When I wondered why Dean Parks, an LA session player, had decided to go on the road with them:

“Well, he wanted to try something different. And he likes us – we don’t tell him what to play.”

Then, later on at dinner…..

When I warned him about my large, loud Italian/Portuguese family as we drove into the driveway:

“Loud Italians are some of my favorite people”

To my mother, as he took a bite out of one of her famous cinnamon nut rolls:

“Are you the person responsible for this?”

To all of us, as he queued up some of his new songs on his Mac Book to play for us:

“Here’s some new stuff – hope you like it.” (how could we NOT?)

In the Green Room

Months of anticipation and over three hours of musical exhilaration were coming to an end as the band began to grab their things and head out the stage door onto the tour bus bound for NYC. Even though the Green Room was still filled with friends and family, everyone seemed to melt away as David, Spider and I drew close to say our goodbyes. Hard hugs, claps on the back, and heartfelt goodbyes were exchanged between all of us…and tears, yes there were a few. Just before he turned to go, David looked at me intensely, with those piercing baby blues and said:

“I don’t know when I will see you again…but we are now friends.”

We all could use a friend like David Crosby.

Here is a live version of Deja Vu, recorded that night at The Z that I posted to youTube. Enjoy.

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Hello, Spring.....are you there?

3/19/2015

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I think New Englanders will all agree...we are more than ready for Spring! And although the newscasters are gleefully reporting that we've broken the snowfall record, is that really something they expect us to be happy about?? Really??

About a week and a half ago, as I sat at my kitchen table over coffee mournfully gazing out the window at yet more snowfall, I starting doodling lyrics on my napkin to the tune of Old Cape Cod. 15 minutes later I had a song, made a mini-slideshow, uploaded it to youTube - and less than two weeks later that clip has been viewed over 12,000 times. Shared on Facebook hundreds of times.

Yeah, you get it. We're sick of snow. We're done.
C'mon, Spring. Hurry the hell up.

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A Speck on the Horizon

3/18/2015

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I took the shackles from my wrists
Left the stage and took my bows
Drew a line upon the sand,
catch me if you can
It won't matter anyhow

I shook the monkey from my back
Cooled the fire, doused the flame
Threw my glass against the wall,
let the pieces fall
There's no one left to blame

And tell me, all this time
were you out there on the line?
did you steal somebody's heart
and break it just like mine?
And when I packed up all your things
did you feel anything, at all?

I took my paper and my pen
then put the paper to the flame
and there inside the ash, all that was the past
is just a speck on my horizon
And there inside the ash, all that was the past
is just a speck
on the horizon

Moving forward. Letting go. It can tear your soul.

You know that dream we've all had, when something terrible is happening and you're trying to scream out loud but no sound comes out? Your mouth is wide open and you can hear the words in your head so loud they hurt and you try and try....and nothing happens.

That is powerless-ness. You wake up in a sweat, grateful it was all just a dream. But some of us experience that sense of powerless-ness in real time. In real life. At work. In our relationships. When we want to cry out to the world that something bad is happening but no one is listening.

In those times, what can you do to empower yourself?

Forget about everyone else. Know that what you believe to be true IS the truth. Find the strength first, in yourself. Then reach out. In that world around you, where no one seems to be listening, there will be one or two who will. Find them. Tell your story. Let the powerless-ness go and remember you are a strong, loving, compassionate human being that will not be manipulated, controlled or taken advantage of. Let yourself reveal yourself.

And when the light comes, the memory of the dark days, when you felt powerless and mute, will merely be a speck on your horizon.

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Signs, Signs, everywhere signs....

Deja Vu

Hello, Spring.....are you there?

A Speck on the Horizon

Moving forward. Letting go. It can tear your soul.

Thoughts & Sounds

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