THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE – Berkshire Country Day School students learn the joys and perils of space travel

Written by: Clarence Fanto, Berkshire Eagle Staff

STOCKBRIDGE — Before rapt audiences of students at Berkshire Country Day School, NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, who commanded the International Space Station from last November to April, offered a video-enhanced tour of life aboard the spacecraft.

The visit to the Friday afternoon groups of pre-schoolers through third-graders, and fourth- through ninth-graders, was arranged by James and Kim Taylor, whose twin sons, Rufus and Henry, 11, are sixth-graders at BCD.

Burbank, a guitar player and longtime Taylor fan, forged the connection with the singer-songwriter when, prior to launch, NASA officials asked him whether there was someone famous he’d like to talk to during the mission.

“I really didn’t take the question too seriously, but it was an obvious answer for me,” he told the students. “if I could talk to anybody in the musical world, it would be James Taylor.”

The surprise result was a 90-minute, two-way Skype session last Jan. 30 between Taylor, his family and friends, and the space station.

“It was an absolute treat, but it was terrifying,” said Burbank. “It’s an easy thing to climb aboard a rocket, it’s another thing entirely to look at your musical idol you’ve known about and followed your entire life, and then be asked to play guitar with him.”

They collaborated on “Secret ‘O Life,” Burbank’s favorite Taylor composition.

“Sometimes when you’re really lucky, you get to talk to the person who meant the most to you growing up, as a musician,” Burbank told the younger BCD schoolkids.

Nearly every hand went up when Burbank asked them how many wanted to fly in space. Burbank told them that when he was their age, he didn’t want to fly in space “because I wasn’t smart enough to do that.”

“All of you here right now have no idea what you’re capable of,” he said. “You have no idea how bright and wonderful the future is for you, and the most important thing is to believe in yourself and believe in what you can do.”

“Nothing I ever did in my life I did right the first time,” Burbank exhorted the students. “I always had to try again, so work hard, be good at what you do, and don’t give up.”

Burbank regaled the students with dramatic, colorful photos taken from the space station, including visually stunning shots of the Pyramids, vast deserts, lit-up cities and towns, comets, the northern and southern lights, sandstorms, volcanos and hurricanes. He also showed video of the crew eating in a no-gravity environment and coping with the challenge of drinking water.

He displayed images of space-station windows with special cameras so he could see from Massachusetts to California at one time during the mission — “my favorite place to hang out and a really good place to play guitar, too.”

Oohs and ahs greeted the photos, while laughter ruled when he showed video of the crew’s antics coping with weightlessness and eating with floating utensils.

Burbank explained that despite six months of no showers, the astronauts are able to “clean up pretty quick” with soapy hand towels.

When asked by a pre-schooler “how do you go to the bathroom,” amid gales of laughter, Burbank explained that the lack of gravity requires a machine with air flow “that does exactly what gravity does, by air.”

In an interview with The Eagle before his BCD appearance, Burbank acknowledged he’d love to return to the space station.

“It’s a wonderful, spectacular, magical place to be,” Burbank emphasized.

Since his return, Burbank has gone through six months of physical reconditioning, debriefings, preparation of a crew report and visiting partner space centers around the world.

He serves as a goodwill ambassador for NASA at public speaking engagements in schools.

“To be able to tell the story, show the schoolkids what it’s like to look at this magnificent planet from the vantage point of space makes for a very easy, very palatable and exciting story for kids.”

Burbank noted that he’s in better physical shape now than before the launch, “but I’ve got to admit when you first come back, gravity is oppressive.”

Weightlessness makes everything so easy to in space, he explained, but upon return, “it’s easy to move around but it’s not easy to move around for a long period of time. That takes a little getting used to.”

He’s now a long-distance runner again, 12 miles a day.

Asked about the willingness of Congress and the public to continue supporting funds for space exploration, Burbank observed that the NASA budget amounts to $50 or $60 a year — “a couple of supreme pizzas.”

[Source: BerkshireEagle.com]

THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE – James Taylor takes tour hiatus to focus on new album

Written by: Clarence Fanto, Berkshire Eagle Staff

In a quest to complete his first new album of original songs in 10 years, James Taylor plans to suspend touring for the full year of 2013, hunkering down at his home and studio in the town of Washington to prepare for the recording project.

Taylor revealed his intention to take a break from the road during a conversation with The Eagle on Friday.

“I’m taking the year off, I’m not touring, I’m trying to write an album,” he said.

Asked if that meant no Tanglewood appearances next summer, Taylor responded: “It’s difficult to play Tanglewood without booking at least a month of work, because I can’t pull my band together for one gig and have them miss out on other work. These guys need to fill their schedules if they can.”

However, he added, “We’re still talking about whether or not there’s something I can do at Tanglewood. But I’ve told my band we’re not going to do a big tour, it’s going to wait until I’ve made the new album.”

The goal is to have the album released by the summer of 2014, he said. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

He acknowledged that “it’s hard to take the year off, there are a lot of very compelling things that come up and it’s amazing how the entire calendar fills up.”

“For three years in a row, I’ve intended to take the fall off,” he said. “I have to get really serious about it, and yet offers come along from old friends and things I’d love to do, and also the opportunity to work and bring home a paycheck. It’s very hard to turn work down.”

As Taylor put it: “They say if you work for yourself, you have the toughest boss available. You’re reluctant to turn things down, but I’ve really got to write this album, it has to happen now. It’s certainly worth a try.”

Back in the Berkshires after four weeks on the campaign trail performing at rallies and fundraisers for President Obama’s re-election campaign, Taylor said he’s committed to one more event for the president, a “living-room concert” in Norwich, Vt. — a “high-cost ticket” event to raise money for the campaign, Taylor explained — and to do one more event for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren.

Most of his performances in recent weeks have been aimed at raising funds for field offices to maximize the grass-roots orientation of the Obama campaign, said Taylor.

His road trip for the effort has included appearances in North Carolina, his boyhood home, as well as stops in Detroit, Nashville, Atanta, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, the Silicon Valley of northern California, and Santa Barbara, Calif.

“We’re just trying to do the best job we can and let go of the results,” said Taylor, sitting with his wife, Kim, who has accompanied him on the road as a vocalist along with Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Owen Young.

“Kim and I love this president and feel it’s really important that he continue for another four years with the vision he has for the country,” Taylor said. “We made ourselves available to the campaign, asked what we can do, and it’s been very spiritually invigorating and uplifting to be in contact with the people working in the campaign.”

Taylor called the cascade of campaign financing “kind of crazy” in the wake of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that opened the floodgates to unlimited spending by unidentified political action groups.

“It was a real mistake and not what the country wanted,” he said. “The country has been trying to get the money out of politics, anonymous money from God knows where. I think it’s a distraction and confusing to people.”

Taylor said he finds it difficult to watch the presidential debates because of their “combative nature. I find them confusing and off the point.”

“There are things to be learned about how a candidate handles the camera and the stress,” he said, “but aside from that, I feel what’s needed is a forum in which people express their vision and their plan for the country if they’re elected leader.”

“I don’t know whether your ability to come out on top in a competition like that really is much of an indication of how good a leader, a team builder you would be.”

Taylor suggested a greater focus on the candidates’ actual plans.

“We get a lot of that information, but it comes across in such a confusing context. Any real issues are so loaded the candidates don’t go near them, the really important stuff doesn’t get talked about,” Taylor said.

[Source: BerkshireEagle.com]

BOSTON.COM – Dalai Lama imparts wisdom of happiness, compassion

The Dalai Lama adjusted his visor to shade the strong light on stage before his talk, Beyond Religion: Ethics, Values, and Wellbeing at the Marriott Copley in Boston. (Photo by: Kayana Szymczak for the Boston Globe)

Written by: Martine Powers

The 77-year-old religious figure took his seat at the front of the stage and paused for a few moments, catching his breath.

“These days, I have felt I am quite old,” declared the Dalai Lama. He looked around him at Friar Thomas Keating and Brother David Steindl-Rast, two Catholic priests also on the panel discussion.

“But with them—” he gestured at the priests — “I am young!”

The Dalai Lama’s first lecture during his three-day visit to Boston was filled with laughter and discussion on the meaning of interfaith harmony, as he spoke to a crowd of close to 2,000 in a packed ballroom at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel.

The talk was hosted by the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, a think tank established in 2009 that focuses on the development of ethics and moral purpose in research and education.

Musician James Taylor preambled the talk, strumming ballads about harmony and personal fulfillment. In the middle of one of his most beloved songs, crooning “shower the people you love with love,” the Dalai Lama walked into the front row to enjoy the end of the set and the audience burst into applause and jumped to their feet.

“Very strong light,” the religious figure declared as he settled into his seat, then plopped a burgundy visor on his head with his trademark unabashed nature. He also attempted to flick up the hood of Keating’s and Steindl-Rast’s robes to shield them from the strong light, prompting an outpouring of chuckles from the audience.

The theme of the talk was “Beyond Religion: Ethics, Values, and Wellbeing,” a discussion centered on the ethical and moral commonalities between religions and the overlap between science and human compassion.

In his conversation with the two priests, moderated by Rev. Liz Walker of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, the Dalai Lama explained that there are human truths that run deeper than differing religious ideologies.

“Secular means ‘respect all religions,’ also including no religions,” the Dalai Lama said.

He highlighted the ways in which science has provided evidence of the need for human compassion and an expulsion of negative emotions. Human immune systems prove less effective when people are racked with anxiety and negative thoughts. Infants who go without affection and physical contact struggle to survive. Kindness and interpersonal connection are important values, no matter what faith you adhere to, he said.

“I think hardly anyone who [is] against compassion, who [is] against extending human affection,” he said. “No — how can you? Even animals appreciate our affection.”

Keating and Steindl-Rast, both Catholic monks, agreed that religion and science have more in common than most people realize: Both are endeavors that elicit awe and appreciation for the natural world.

“Nature is not just looking at a sunset — it’s looking at the very sources of reality itself, the infinitesimal and the immense that is becoming immenser, the galaxies going in every direction,” Keating said.

He continued, “There are many ways that God draws people to himself. Religion is only one way.”

The Dalai Lama said every person has a responsibility to help protect the world for future generations.

“It’s not this nation facing global warming, or this nation or this nation,” the religious figure said. “No, entire humanity facing it.”

“Me — no children,” he said, citing the celibate lifestyle of Tibetan monks and eliciting a wave of giggles. “Have to think of others’ children and grandchildren.”

“I’m just, like, stunned,” Juliana Porto, a neurologist and visiting scholar at Harvard University in the field of education, declared after the talk. “It was a whole different way of approaching happiness and compassion.

Jessica Trainor, 22, and Holly Gibbons, 39, chattered on their way out of the ballroom about the lessons they learned from the talk.

“He said that you have to start with yourself,” said Trainor, a student living in Cambridge. “You can choose to be compassionate, you can choose to be happy, you can choose to be a source of love.”

And more than anything, audience members said, they loved that infectious Dalai Lama chuckle.

“He was just so jovial,” said Evelyn Splaine, 66, of Walpole. “He makes himself laugh.”

[Source: Boston.com]

NECN.COM – Thousands turn out to see Dalai Lama in Boston

Written by: John Moroney

The 14th Dalai Lama delivered a message of compassion and religious harmony to thousands in Boston Sunday — all of them hanging on every word.

“I think his message is if you want to be happy, think of others. If you want to be miserable think of yourself. And that we’re all connected. And begin compassionate and loving toward others is being compassionate and loving toward yourself,” said Cathy Brennan of Boston.

Singer James Taylor warmed up the crowd at the Copley Marriott for the Dali Lama.

The exiled Tibetan leader looked at moving beyond the confines of religion. The well-known human rights leader and Noble Peace Prize winner urged people to embrace compassion — one of the first steps to changing the world.

“I think inner peace. First individual should create, then in the family… that’s the way you change,” the Dalai Lama said.

The 77-year-old spiritual leader and monk is in Boston as part of a series of events hosted by the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. His teachings are known all over the world more than 50 years after he was forced to leave his homeland when the Chinese invaded Tibet.

[Source: NECN.com]

USAWEEKEND.COM – Talking Tech with musician James Taylor

Singer/songwriter uses video to teach others, show off cats.

Written by: Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

James Taylor is known for his many classic compositions that are still being performed 40 years after they were written. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and multiple Grammy winner happens to be one of the world’s great guitarists. He has such a unique finger-picking style that he decided to record a series of free online video guitar lessons. To help fans get a closer look, lessons are available at his JamesTaylor.com website. In early August, Taylor released his sixth lesson, the intro to the lesser-known 1997 song “Enough to be On Your Way”, and hopes to have three more lessons out this year. More about Taylor tech:

We met up with Taylor in Denver, where he was winding down his 2012 tour, which concluded this weekend in Chicago.

Why lessons?

“I have this technique which I sort of assembled and came up with myself. People have used my songs and guitar style to teach guitar for a long time. I thought it would be good to get it from the horse’s mouth. It’s just a way of passing it on, putting it down and having a record of what my technique is and how I play.”
Gear for making the videos

Taylor and a friend shoot the videos at his barn in Washington, Mass., with multiple cameras They use a Canon 5D Mark II for the main shot, and several tiny GoPro cameras to show action in several places, including inside the guitar. Taylor takes the strings off, places the GoPro inside the body of the acoustic guitar and then strings it back up. He also puts a second GoPro on the neck, to give a bird’s eye view of his fingering.

The game plan

He shoots several songs in marathon sessions, and releases them piecemeal through the year on his website and YouTube. Eventually, Taylor hopes to offer them all on a DVD.

Learning to play via YouTube

Students used to buy the record and slow it down, playing it over and over again to follow the song. Now, a simple Google search for “Sweet Baby James guitar chords” will instantly turn up the song, for free. “I’m not sure how accurate those chords are. Just giving you the chord changes won’t give you the arrangement. Passing tones are everything; moving lines are important, too.”

Smartphones.

Taylor is a veteran of touring, where the audience used to show their appreciation by flicking their lighters in unison. Now, they use a flashlight app on their smartphones. “They’re much brighter and absolutely cool.” With everyone sporting phones in the audience, there are a lot more photos and videos being made at concerts. “They usually make an announcement at the beginning of shows saying you can’t take pictures, but I don’t care.”

LOL cats.

If you’ve seen online videos of cats playing iPad games attributed to James Taylor, it’s sort of true. They are videos of Taylor’s cat, Ray. They’re shot by his webmaster, Ellyn, who posts them online. to help bring attention to Taylor’s website. “She keeps the web going and website supplied.”

Tech on tour.

Taylor and his band travel from town to town in a souped-up tour bus, complete with satellite dish and multiple TV sets. His must-have device: a digital recorder for “remembering songs and lyrics” — as they pop up in his brain —for future compositions.

[Source: USAWeekend.com]

L4LM – James Taylor Swift : A Songwriting Love Story

(Photo by Hilary Scott)

By: Chadbyrne Dickens

There are definitive moments in life where one is fortunate to witness the passing of the baton from one generation to another:  a parent gifting a family business or teaching a child to bake apple pie or an older ballplayer taking a touted rookie under his wing.  On Tuesday, July 2nd I witnessed such a baton-passing by one of the most heralded songwriters in musical history to his heir apparent only one-third his age.  To appreciate music, one need look past the rhetoric, gossip and fanfare to dig deep into the meat and potatoes of the craft.  Just as the producer’s mantra, “it’s all about the screenplay” has its place in making a quality film, musical musings can only be expressed or the meaning exposed, after the wordsmith has put the pen paper to shape a song.  The Music Shed (summer home of the Boston Pops) in Lenox, Massachusetts was hot and muggy on this July night as much due to the weather as to the shared knowledge that we were witnessing a changing of the guard from one of the most brilliant lyricists in music history to a standard-bearer for the next generation.

James Taylor, 64, has been pleasing audiences for over four decades with his smooth delivery of classic rock and remains the definition of what an acoustic singer/songwriter should deliver.  The troubadour has won 5 Grammy Awards, had a string of best-selling albums, and remains to many the face of 1970’s-America music.  His greatest hits package alone from that era has sold more than 12 million units.  Despite his success, Taylor continues his tradition of playing at the Shed (www.bso.org).  His initial experience was in 1974, and summer 2012 marked his 21st appearance.  Having been born in Massachusetts, he enjoys giving back to the local brethren by providing an exemplary music experience over the July 4th Holiday weekend.  One may think that a man with his most commercially prolific days behind him would slow down.  However, on this absolutely packed night, he played more like the cute youth with a full-head of hair adorning the cover of his first album than the paternal figure he currently aesthetically assembles.  Unlilke today’s songwriters which rely heavily on style over substance, Taylor only need grab his six-string and share his voice to win over all within ear shot.

With a full band of veteran professional musicians in support, including legendary guitarist Dean Parks (of Steely Dan fame and who has been touring with Crosby & Nash the last few years), Taylor embarked on a musical journey represented by his extensive varied catalog.  He dug in deep for obscure and gritty numbers like “One Man” and “Hey, Mr. That’s Me Up on the Jukebox” before reeling in the giddy crowd with the numbers any budding acoustic guitarist plays in every dive in the nation: “Carolina in My Mind” and “Country Road.”  His voice hasn’t lost its innocence and this inexplicably still rings true despite the fact he has played these numbers endless times.  From the poignant “Handyman” to the heavy blues tune “Steamroller”, Taylor reminds the mature crowd of the day when one could put in an album and forget about touching the needle – as every song was stimulating and a quality product.  One would be challenged to choose just one song from a James Taylor album to download on I-tunes.

The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the first set on a most relaxing and fulfilling summer night.  The sold-out show consisted of a calm lawn where families were strewn about on blankets enjoying laughter, a picnic meal, and perhaps a fine selection of wine (Tanglewood allows BYOB) while soaking in Taylor’s melodies.  I can’t imagine a more satisfying summer night as the enormous crowd continued to mire in the trademark tune, “Sweet Baby James” with the requisite outpour of emotion and cheers at the lyric, “and so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.”  The local boy had come home again and his fans were eating it up.  However, they were about to explode with unanticipated excitement.

James Taylor had announced on the playbill months before that there would be a special guest for each of his three night run at the Shed.  However, the first night’s guest was never formally exposed.  There were rumors abound, but it can be assumed few in attendance not 14 and female had the premonition that the guest would be the current most heralded woman in music.  After a verse of arguably his most popular and touching tune, “Fire and Rain”, JT invited out the Pennsylvania Pop Princess herself, Taylor Swift.  The tall Sparkly One, 22, wearing a demure yellow dress, graciously walked across the stage in slow-motion, taking over the song and the show.  The entire pavilion immediately jumped up at her commencement and didn’t sit down, as she delivered the lead vocal for the rest of the song.  For a woman who seemingly does everything right, the main critique directed at her sometimes is her uneven vocal talent.  But on this night, she projected with an authority, clarity and nuance at the end of each stanza that I had never heard from her before.  Whether she has sought further vocal training or not, her sound has vastly improved and thus now, may truly be an unstoppable force.

The buzz continued throughout set break as the mature audience discussed their witnessing the pop icon de jour in the flesh.  Scattered about the venue were clusters of hysterical, screaming adolescent female fans, wearing the unofficial Swift costume (cowboy boots with dress) and her lucky #13 branded on their arms.  Renewed by the euphoric glow from the crowd, James attacked the second set with more delights from his catalog including the brilliant love song, “Never Die Young” and one of his most up-beat and contagious songs, “Mexico” truly had the people dancing as the show entered its second hour.

Not surprisingly, Taylor Swift reappeared to a cacophony of maddening applause and delved into two of her own hit singles.  With James Taylor by her side singing back-up harmony, Swift elegantly shared  her recent hit, “Ours.”  Due to her high-profile status, her glorification by an adolescent fan base, lyrics about puppy love and high school, and her model-like appearance, music lovers outside her fan base are quick to dismiss.  To disregard Miss Swift without even listening to a tune, or dissecting a lyric, is truly doing one’s self a disservice.  The top earner in the music industry in 2011 hasn’t won every single award one can win including the Grammy for Album of the Year, earning over $100 million from a sold-out 16 month 89-city tour, with no public missteps, by accident.  Can 16 million Twitter followers be wrong?  Sometimes one is contrarian, going against something popular because it’s not yet accepted as cool.  Ultimately, it is not cool to claim to be an avid music fan, yet miss out on a genius of our generation due to pre-conceived notions.  Those who love jam music usually also share an affinity for solo acoustic music.  Similar to Emmylou Harris playing with Neil Young, Taylor honed her craft in Nashville, having played acoustic guitar for over 15 years already and her prowess with the pen is well documented, if not yet well known and touted in all circles.

Swift pranced about with her defined and confident stage presence singing about a relationship her parents didn’t approve of and that we all can relate to, “Seems like there’s always someone who disapproves, They’ll judge it like they know about me and you, And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do, The jury’s out, but my choice is you.”  With the crowd, full of adulation, still on their feet, Taylor segued into “Love Story” (the only song ever to be #1 on both the Top 40 Chart and Country Chart).  Although more specifically geared to the pubescent set than most of her songs, one can only marvel at the brilliance of the lyrics.  James Taylor even provided exquisite backup harmony with “You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess, It’s a love story baby just say yes.”  The distinguished veteran and songwriting master, James Taylor, showed deference to his younger, but now more popular would-be protégé, further indicating even his respect for her abilities.  Holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes, the Taylor duo mirrored a father and daughter sharing a joyous moment of mutual understanding.  The ingénue received a standing ovation before darting off side stage-right, allowing the audience a chance to breathe.  What the crowd probably didn’t know was that they experienced Taylor Swift’s only scheduled appearance for the entire year of 2012! (On 7/9 she announced another appearance at the I Heart Music Festival in Las Vegas for September and announced on 8/21 she will perform at the VMA Awards all in support of her new album, Red, set to drop on October 13th.)

James Taylor, the consummate professional and gentleman, took a moment to regroup before steamrolling forward to conclude an electric and emotionally-charged set.  “Elvis just left the building. I really want to thank Taylor for taking the time out of her busy schedule to join us.”  He still had some sparks set to fly of his own and belted out a rousing “Your Smiling Face” which unintentionally reminded all that he was writing flawless love songs long before T-Swizzle was even born.  The now paternal-minded Taylor closed the set with a lesson within “Shower the People”:  “Better to shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel, things are gonna be just fine if you only will.”  The message of the song was apropos in an environment filled with families and familiar love.  After a 27 song show, including “How Sweet It Is” and “You’ve Got a Friend” encores,  James Taylor again won over the hearts of a packed Tanglewood house with his classic simple storytelling sound.  The experience continues to represent to many a personification of quintessential Americana and a perfect recipe to kick-start the July 4th celebratory festivities.

The respite to the Berkshire mountains to catch a legend of James Taylor’s pedigree proved enlightening.  I saw him last in 1988 and he hadn’t lost a step or nuance in his strong voice.  He continues to captivate fans with his signature style.  I was delighted to see so many younger fans in attendance, there to catch a glimpse of their idol Swift, but unwittingly witnessing the Hall of Fame songwriter she was named after, passing on the proverbial baton to the one who may someday join him in enshrinement there.   JT wrote, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.”  If you spend more time listening to the brilliant work of both James Taylor and Taylor Swift, you may just enjoy life even more.  James Taylor once said, “I believe 100 percent in the power and importance of music.”  When it comes to songwriting, there are few as important as these talented Taylors.

[Source: Live For Live Music]

THE BOSTON GLOBE – Fond memories of Tanglewood

The first time I tried to find Tanglewood, I drove right past it. I had been hired by Peter Gelb to be his assistant as the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s assistant manager.

I hadn’t been back to Tanglewood since childhood visits.

SeveralU-turns later, I spotted the tiny wooden sign, swinging in the breeze from a wooden pole, with the hand-painted letters “Tanglewood.”

It was so amazingly non-annunciatory! How Bostonian, how New England, how Tanglewood-ian.

That was 32 years ago and not a lot has changed on that front. The signs have been reworked into a slightly larger version, but there is still, blessedly, nothing to really herald this world-class destination sandwiched between the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge.

The Berkshires were a very different place back then.

There was a single restaurant in Lenox, now long gone, called Ganesh which morphed into Café Lucia. And there was Loeb’s, our life-line to the outside world as the repository of the morning papers. None of us had televisions in our rental homes; there was no cable, no Internet, no cell phones; the land-lines at Tanglewood were, at best, temperamental and would quickly sputter and die at the mention of lightening.

Back then, the press office at Tanglewood was housed next to the Main Gate; it had a flat tar roof upon which the sun would beat down mercilessly; if one could wheedle a fan from Jim Kiley, who ran the physical plant, one was very lucky.

Before each concert, the office would be converted into make-shift bar for the press. There were plates of Freihofer’s chocolate chip cookies and lots of gin.

In many ways, a trip to Tanglewood was much more of an elitist excursion. Although the years of passing out paper skirts to under-dressed patrons had disappeared, ticket holders for the Shed dressed for the occasion: the women in silk wraps and heels sure to be ruined by the Tanglewood turf.

My first summer began with an all Copland concert conducted by the composer himself. There were performances by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jon Vickers paired with Jessye Norman in the second act of Wagner’s “Tristan,’’ Die Wintereise, a remarkable Verdi “Requiem.’’

Seiji Ozawa presided over it all in his impeccably tailored white mandarin-collared Hanae Mori creations with his mane of jet-black hair.

Seranak, (the name deriving from an acronym of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky) and their former home overlooking Tanglewood, the Stockbridge Bowl and clear down to Connecticut, was acquired in 1981. It soon became the locus of post-concert soirees and a pre-concert Supper Club. One of the earliest parties there, after the BSO had reclaimed it, was an 80th birthday celebration for Copland, attended by Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein.

I was given the task of capturing the cake-cutting in a photo. “Get those three together and do it now!” hissed Gelb. New at wrangling anything, I tried in vain to corral them for a photo. The BSO’s late photographer, Walter Scott, gently put an arm around Lenny ( as he was known to all) and Aaron and signaled me to grab Seiji. Voila, success.

The visitations by Bernstein were always a high point of the summer. When he arrived “on campus” in his gleaming vintage Mercedes with its “Maestro One” license plates, one could feel the electricity ripple through the grounds. Everyone was at attention.

I found that being the junior press officer made for good scape goat material.

In the early eighties, Bernstein had designated one of his performances as a benefit to the Tanglewood Music Center. The three-sheet (the in-house name for the large posters by the Main Gate) neglected to mention this. Bernstein, for whom the strict rules regarding automobiles on the grass were discarded, noticed this omission upon driving past the entrance. He was furious. I was summoned.

There clearly had been some miscommunication about this but since these posters were within my purview, I was the one who was told to explain. I delivered an abject apology. He was gracious and forgiving, surveying me with a cigarette in one hand and silver cup of some libation in the other.

I escaped unscathed.

I was also summoned a number of times to try and assuage visiting conductors who were less than pleased with the reviews they had received. One such visit occurred at Wheatleigh, the elegant resort near Tanglewood. For a 26-year-old, this was very heady stuff, waiting in the Italianate grand foyer

I was shepherded to the garden where an illustrious German maestro was pacing and whacking the table with the newspaper in question. This is “schrecklis” he kept shouting. I want this man brought to me.”

I tried to explain that this wouldn’t be possible which further infuriated him. He muttered, “In Germany, we handle this differently.” Indeed.

Tanglewood, ultimately, is more than the sum of its parts; more than patchwork memories of a Mahler symphony, an appearance by an Ewok, a glimpse of greatness, the image of the orchestra resplendent in white. It is walking across that great expanse of lawn and feeling there may be a greater truth to be revealed or that somehow, one has access just for this moment, to something greater than oneself.

There is a mystery and a beauty that belongs to this place. On a summer’s Sunday afternoon, with a cool Berkshire breeze and a cloud scuttling by and the orchestra about to tune, one can’t help invoke Robert Browning:

“God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world.”

Caroline Taylor is a trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

[Source: Boston.com]

THE REPUBLICAN – James Taylor singing the music of our lives

James Taylor, left, performs with members of the Zac Brown band at the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas lst year. (File photo by Julie Jacobson / Associated Press)

By: The Republican Editorials

For many people July 4 means picnics, fireworks, and tradition. But for thousands of music lovers over three days last week it has meant all of that – and one thing more.

James Taylor at Tanglewood.

For the 21st time, the pop icon and his band returned to the summer home of the Boston Symphony orchestra in Lenox for three sold-out concerts in the Koussevitzky Music Shed and holiday fireworks. As in the past, the proceeds from the July 4 concert benefit Tanglewood.

Since Taylor’s first Tanglewood appearance was in 1974, we suspect there are families who can count births, deaths, and many other family milestones not in years, but in concerts.

What else can explain the enduring love affair between James Taylor, his fans and Tanglewood?

Certainly there are the familiar lyrics, “from Stockbridge to Boston;” the references to the Red Sox; and the obvious affection Taylor has for his Berkshire County home.

But we suspect it is the timeless quality of his music that brings fans back to the summer they were in college; on the road; or at loose ends. And then in what seems like the time between verses, there they are with a girlfriend who is now a wife, chasing after a baby who has suddenly and magically gone from nursing to nursing a wine cooler and is now sitting next to them on a blanket with children of her own.

Add to that the magic of a summer evening and it’s beginning to sound like a perfect recipe for nostalgia.

Certain things bring us back to happier times. The familiar smell of pine trees; a taste of home cooking from a picnic basket, the sight of the Tanglewood shed.

And at a James Taylor concert on a summer’s evening it’s always good to know you’ve got a friend.

[Source: MassLive.com]

THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE – James Taylor at Tanglewood: Charisma and authenticity

James Taylor and Taylor Swift share the stage in The Shed at Tanglewood during the first of JT’s three concerts at the historic venue, culminating with tonight’s big Fourth of July celebration. (Photo courtesy Hilary Scott)

LENOX — There’s a double mystery about James Taylor’s enduring appeal to multiple generations of fans who turn out every year not only at Tanglewood — 54,000 strong for the three Shed performances that end tonight with the county’s best fireworks show — but overseas and across North America for his annual tours.

The first conundrum can only be solved through speculation. The robust quality of his voice at Monday night’s high-energy performance of songbook classics as well as a few, rarely-heard deep tracks could be explained by his healthy, athletic lifestyle. Yet, a look at his road-show schedule since March still begs the question of how a 64-year-old, indefatigable performer can keep up so hectic a pace.

The second quandary is more easily settled. The greatest hits collection he re-created for his devoted audience included such evergreens as “Mexico,” “Your Smiling Face,” “Shower the People,” “How Sweet It Is,” “Carolina,” “Sweet Baby James,” “Fire and Rain,” and “You’ve Got a Friend,” among others.

Though we all know the words and the audience often sang along with encouragement from the stage, Taylor, through some chart rearrangements and a touch of vocal improvisation, managed to make them sound fresh and vital. And he generously credited his band members and backup singers, most of them longtime collaborators with a couple of new faces this year.

Nevertheless, there is a hard-to-explain, magical quality to these gatherings, a communal spirit of shared experience going back, for many of us, to his eponymous debut album produced by Paul McCartney and first released in December 1968 on the Beatles’ Apple label.

Taylor has had his share of hard times, including drug addiction during the ‘80s that coincided with a lull in his career, but he emerged strong er than ever thanks to an indomitable spirit and a thoroughly professional dedication to honing his craft.

On Monday night, his two sets lasting just over two hours also included several of his crowd-pleasing, hard-rocking hits — “Steamroller,” “Slap Leather” and “Sun on the Moon” — that brought the audience to their feet in a paroxysm of near-ecstasy. But, as a master of timing and pacing, Taylor followed these with a mellow melange of his more contemplative, soft-rock classics.

Taylor beamed with the benevolent gaze of a veteran performer introducing Tangle wood audiences to the rapidly rising country-pop crossover superstar Taylor Swift, who collaborated with him on “Fire and Rain” and returned after intermission to perform two of her own breakout selections, “Ours” and “Love Story.” Her parents, devoted JT fans, named their daughter after him, and she exuded a genuine thrill to be sharing his stage, as he did at one of her Madison Square Garden concerts last November.

“He’s this most amazing, down-to-earth person!” she said, recounting how he invited her to join him “for this little show I do in Lenox, Massa chusetts.”

“This is no little show,” Swift observed sagely. And her fans — mostly young and female — made no secret of their enthralled rapture at her presence (videos are already posted on YouTube).

Taylor’s three-song encore started off with “You’ve Got a Friend,” accompanied by a full-throated audience chorus, and included a novelty, his take on Chubby Checker’s “Do the Twist.” We saw teens, parents and grandparents dancing in the aisles.

Joined by his wife, Kim, Taylor ended with his now-traditional “Close Your Eyes,” designed to send fans home with a lump in their throats.

In the end, the mystery of a performer’s 43-year enduring ride at or near the top of the pop-folk-rock pantheon can best be resolved with two words: charisma and authenticity. Those qualities he possesses to the nth degree.

[Source: BerkshireEagle.com]

THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE – James Taylor: Shed the best summertime venue

By: James Taylor, Special to The Eagle

Tanglewood’s big outdoor Koussevitzky Music Shed, built in 1938, has served as the prototype of many large, open-air music festival halls that have since been opened around the country. The Blossom shed outside of Cleveland, Ravinia near Chicago, Wolf Trap near Washington, D.C., SPAC in upstate New York, Red Rocks outside Denver, Chastain Park in Atlanta, Nashville’s Starwood, Jones Beach on Long Island, N.Y. — there’s a long list of lovely summertime music venues that have followed Tanglewood’s lead, and I’ve played them all.

These “sheds,” as they’re called in the biz, have been my main workplace over the past four decades, and for me, on a warm night in June or July, are the collective home of my fondest memories from a life on the road.

Tanglewood is the best. There are many reasons why. First, it’s where Kim and I have chosen to live and raise our twin boys, Rufus and Henry. There’s a sweetness to life in the Berkshires, and traveling as much as we do, it’s always a delight to come home to Lenox.

Then there’s the blessing of having been accepted as a part of the wonderful musical family that is Tanglewood and the BSO. I thank my wife, Kim, for that; she had been working with the Symphony for a full 20 years when we met.

There’s also no doubt that the beautiful physical landscape of the Koussevitzky Shed and the gardens that surround it have a lot to do with the magic of the place. One waxes rhapsodic at the prospect of an evening under the stars with friends, loved ones, and the company of fellow lovers of music in a tradition that seems to belong to another era.

But of all these things, it is surely the Tanglewood audience that makes this place so special to me: I feel as though I am with my own people, that a family reunion is taking place, an ongoing conversation, a sort of traditional get-together.

With all the weight of responsibility and performance anxiety that accompanies the attention of such a large crowd of intelligent concert-goers, it is still, unquestionably for me, the blessing of a lifetime.

James Taylor, the singer-songwriter who lives with his family in the town of Washington just a few miles from Tanglewood, first performed at the Boston Symphony’s summer home in 1974. He returned in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001-2003 and annually from 2005 through 2012. In all, he has performed in the Shed and in Ozawa Hall nearly 40 times.

[Source: BerkshireEagle.com]