Musical Crossroads/Thanks to the Axis of Evil

You were at a musical crossroads at some point in your life. It was after you’d gotten past your parents influence and decided Neil Sadaka or Tom Jones wasn’t going to be your cup of tea. It was when your buddies had just picked up a copy of Run DMC’s latest release or a copy of Straight Outta Compton and “you just have to hear what they say!” It was when a kid in your high school had his mother sew an Iron Maiden patch on his Guess jean jacket. You couldn’t identify with it but sometimes you just gotta keep on keeping on until you find your muse.
Well, this weekend you can thank the music gods you had that older sibling or influential uncle that handed you your first copy of “Europe ‘72” and the quirky cover aside, you gave it a listen. Or when you got a beat up cassette that looked like it had been passed around more than a few times and at least once somebody tried to smoke it. It had a hand-written label that simply read “The Dead” followed by a date from the 70’s or 80’s. You had buddy with a scratched up CD in his car that read “Strangefolk” that a girl he had a crush on from Burlington gave him. Clearly it was passed around by people you’ll never meet but you’ll always know as kindred spirits.
So as you get geared up for The Gathering of the Vibes you put on a Dead bootleg and you hear Sampson and Delilah or a raucous Help/Slip/Frank and in an instant you’re at The Old Boston Garden and the crumbling foundation is shaking a little and the waft of Patchouli and kind buds almost floats to you from your past. Your walk out into the common areas of the arena and were surrounded by twirling sundresses and everyone had nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile...
20 years from now you’ll be telling stories about “The ’08 Vibes” festival and the memories will flood back. How you’d never heard Strangefolk before that and they became your favorite band that Saturday; or how you met friends that have been with you ever since because the beauty of the music we’ll share this weekend was that you didn’t hear it on the radio. Somebody that loved you shared it with you and since you’ve shared it too.