Running and Music

12-7-2008

Time is running out. I have a few options. Run around this city like a chicken with my head cut off, stop at the sites and snap a quick picture, and just get completely wiped out. Or I could take the little time I have and fill it with meaningful London experiences that I know I’ll enjoy and cherish. I chose the latter of the two. 

I got a little extra sleep this morning in preparation for an intense run up Primrose Hill. Why I waited till the last week in London to see this beauty of a park I’ll never know. It’s wonderful and much closer than I thought. Just on the other side of Regents. Since I was running, I didn’t have my camera and hence didn’t get a picture. But this is one of those moments I’m going to keep with me, locked in the synapses of my mind just like all my Regent’s Park runs.

Primrose hill before me. Scatters of people about the park, but not too many as it was a chilly morning. I took on the hill with full vigor. I passed a young woman jogger on the path up. I know the kind of damage getting passed can do to one’s running ego, so I felt a little like a douche. But that’s the way it is in life, sometimes you just get passed. I made it to the top. A crowd of people were there. I swear many of them were watching me. Made me feel like I’d just crossed a finish-line. It looked like it too, as a woman had flown out about 30 mini kites all on the same string and they were flying along the hilltop. A small dog was doing circles around his owner and came to give me a sniff as I began some stretching. I looked up and there was the city. Littered with construction cranes,  just barely visible through the haze. This is Primrose Hill.

I leisurely ran back to MTH, had a shower, and made my way to Westminster Abbey for my third Evening Sung there. This one was probably the best, as I got my way into the choir loft and truly felt the presence of this boisterous choir. These fine male musicians were only the beginning of the amazing music coming my way that evening.

Months ago, I snagged tickets to see Wisconsin brewed musician Justine Vernon, also known as Bon Iver. From the first time my ear holes were filled with his sound, I was taken away by his soulful, falsetto tones. He was tickled pink as he filled the Apollo Victoria Theatre with his music. According to him, this has been the largest venue he’s played in Europe. This theatre just so happened to also be the home of Wicked, where that show plays every night of the week except Sunday. Hence why Justin had to play beneath a giant metal dragon.

I have a new found respect for his song Wolves. He had the audience sing along to the repetitive chorus-like “what might have been lost” lyric. Once we’d all sung through that plenty of times, he encouraged everyone to scream. Scream with all the anger, hate, love, frustration, whatever they had inside them. Utter release. I bet the Wicked cast never got that kind of response from an audience.