2/28/08

Split Open and Melt

Last night at Hopples was quite the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen. It started off with quite a scare as Glenn is suffering some sort of Physical/Mental /Spiritual crisis. We all knew he hadn’t been feeling well the last few weeks, but few of us knew how bad off he was until TZ walked in and had a little chat, the basic premise was he was close to the end…. It started off with a mumbled out version of Water Street that got me thinking wow, he is sick, but he can still playJ even if he can hardly get a word out….(he was playing possum) He was doing his best to be in his quasi-death, final performance of his life modes, complete with exaggerated coughing, mumbling and the lying prone on the floor bit (although he didn’t ask to call 911 like last week I actually had to stop two people from making the call it was so real! LOL) For the most part the entire first set was impassioned but nothing earth shattering and I got the feeling that he was close to something. I just had no idea what that something was, Until……

The second set from Hell….I was chatting Glenn up as he toyed with the Ibanez to start. I mentioned to him how much I enjoyed that particular guitar. We joked about it a little bit and Glenn’s spirits were markedly improved from the first set. The second set opened with standard blues song #2, the second set closed with standard blues song #2, the second set was Standard blues song #2. For 55 minutes he played, for 55 minutes he trumped solo after solo, for 55 minutes he ripped out the most transcendent guitar lines I have ever heard. At my best guess I’d say he improvised 30 verses (no exaggeration) each verse featured a solo from the sky. A solo that there was no hiding from, he tore himself open and bared his soul for anyone with two eyes and two ears to see….. After 10 minutes it was great, after 20 I didn’t know whether to shit or go blind, after 30 I think I started to Hallucinate, after 40 I was positive that this was heaven on earth and everything, everything in my life was going to be ok And after 50 minutes of the most incessant non-stop cluster fuck of jamming, I knew Glenn was someplace no other person has ever been. The ground he was covering might as well been Mars. Glenn Schwartz Explorer, Pioneer, Mathematician, Artist, Spiritual Traveler, Godsend……The best set I’ve ever seen.

The third set opened with Stepping into the Sunlight and to be honest featured the most magnificent jamming I’ve ever heard. By this time, I was so high just to be alive and to be witnessing this show that my memory of what songs were played totally fails me and is replaced by one solitary memory that can be best described as a hodgepodge of emotions comprised of sheer happiness, wonder, amazement and joy.

We could be witnessing the end or more importantly the “perceived” end of GS. Next week wherever you are, drop everything and get down there. Do not miss the continuation of what very well might be his swan song….Thanks GS……Until next week….

Dom