Musicians who inspire wonder and curiosity in me:

The Shins

Björk

Yael Naïm

Eric Whitacre

Aqualung

Beirut

DeVotchka

Sufjan Stevens

Imogen Heap

Jeff Buckley

Kings of Convenience

Patty Griffin

Radiohead

Andrew Bird

What kind of music inspires you?

I found this new little park at the base of Queen Anne hill the other evening — at night, the concrete walls are lit with a morphing rainbow of color. I remember watching workers set its foundation in the rain several months ago, thinking it would just be more condos. What a wonderful surprise!

“Each great art song builds up around itself a tender interior world inhabited by its performer, its listeners, and the ghostly specters of its story, its time. There is no better venue for this than the living room of a friend.”
— Emily Nelson

These pictures are from a private house concert featuring soprano Emily Nelson and pianist Rachel Matthews. A small crowd of forty or so gathered in the living room to drink in the lovely sounds of Brahms, Debussy, Faure, Ravel, and more. It was absolute magic. Many of us cried, we were so moved.

That night I met two other people who host the same sort of classical concerts in their own homes.

Amazement.

I’ve been to other house concerts — the avant-garde, indie, folksy kind. They’re thrilling. It’s live music, up close, without filters, where you can soak up pure sound and then stand around with the performers and talk about anything from the meaning of music to the best neighborhood pub.

As I left and drove past the house, I looked up to the backlit, curtained windows. If I had just been strolling by, I would never have known the depth of talent and emotion unfolding just behind the wall. I felt awed and thankful and realized the most remarkable things happen all the time without making the evening news.

What would our world be like if these kinds of things did make the news? Every day? The way they actually do happen?

A Hopper-esque scene at a neighborhood café (albeit blurry, I know). Speaking of…

A totally absorbing retrospective of Hopper’s work, in color and B&W.

All night — and all your life, if you are willing —

It will nuzzle your face, cold-nosed,

Like a small white wolf;

It will curl in your palm

Like a hard blue stone;

It will liquefy into a cold pool

Which, when you dive into it,

Will hold you like a mossy jaw.

A bath of light. An answer.

From “The Night Traveler,” by Mary Oliver

The comfort of licorice tea. An old computer. Bills. Books. Warm, yellow light. So many small details that make up an evening landscape.