365 Inspirations—348: Live Music: Pepper Proud & Whitney Monge on the Virginia V

"There's something about good live music. It enters your heart and then it starts to slowly spread out from there. It moves its way out from your chest, down your legs and arms and out through your finger tips, toes and top of your head. And from there it keeps spreading, just like love."—Katherine Jenkins

Seattle is a place where things happen. Coffee, music, books, airplanes, computers happen here. My students once asked me why so many successful businesses and artists come from Seattle.

My theory is that for much of the year it's dark and rainy, so people start creating. They create companies, songs, gadgets, books, you name it. This place is fertile for creation.

Tonight I got to see two up and coming musicians play AMAZING music aboard the Virginia V steamer ship that was decked out in holiday lights and docked down on Lake Union.

I saw Whitney Monge and Pepper Proud.

 Mark my words, these two musicians are going to make history and I'll later be able to say I saw them with an intimate audience aboard a steamer ship.

There's something about good live music. It enters your heart and then it starts to slowly spread out from there. It moves its way out from your chest, down your legs and arms and out through your finger tips, toes and top of your head. And from there it keeps spreading, just like love.

That's what I felt tonight. I felt a lot of love and creativity. I felt the stuff dreams are made of. The part that many of us have lost in our day to day lives. Music, good music, can carry you back. Good books can do that too.

I'm so happy I went to this concert out on Lake Union. It made my night.

Whitney Monge

Pepper Proud

Have you been to a small live concert lately? Did you feel moved by what you heard?

365 Inspirations—208: The Opera

"Music conveys moods and images. Even in opera, where plots deal with the structure of destiny, it's music, not words, that provides power.”—Marcel Marceau 

Besides this evening, I've only been to the opera two times in my life and both times were in Korea. One of my co-workers loved opera and always asked if I wanted to come along. Always up for  an adventure, I did just that! I saw The Three Tenors and Tosca. I have to admit, I didn't really follow Tosca because it was in Italian with Korean subtitles and, even though I can read Korean, I don't always know the meaning of what I'm reading.

Tonight's performance was called Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs). It was a German Opera performed at McCaw Hall in downtown Seattle. One of Yoon's yoga students gave us free tickets because she plays in the orchestra.

It was fun to get dressed up and go downtown for a show. The traffic was pretty bad both ways, but the performance was worth it.

The opening scene was amazing. There were sea nymphs who were suspended from the stage by wires in a make-believe underwater sea garden. They spun, flipped, dove and swam all while singing opera.

I really enjoyed the performance and we took a number of photos in and around McCaw Hall downtown. Yoon brought 20 bright orange roses for his student who was performing that night.

It was definitely a night I will not forget.

Have you ever been to the opera? Which performance did you see?