I rank this past weekend up there on my Mount Rushmore of most exciting, meaningful and monumental moments of my life. It’s up there with my wedding, ordination, public launch of MainStreet, the births of my children, etc. You might think I’m overstating it, but I’m not.
A shy artist and musician has been living inside me for decades, longing to be seen and trying to muster the courage to come out of hiding. It’s an incredibly vulnerable and intimate thing to sing full-throated and throw yourself at the mercy of a room full of strangers. It’s even more daring to do it in front of all your friends and family and hometown community.
I’ve been playing within the relative safety of the church walls and to very forgiving audiences at senior living facilities for awhile, slowly honing my craft and gaining the confidence to “go public” and maybe hit the pubs. It was only 7 months ago that I played a few songs at a friends’ pool party to a dozen people. This past Saturday night, I led a full band of talented musicians in a 3-hour (!) concert at the Gillespie Center’s Spring Fling fundraiser.
It was fabulous! Euphoric! Exhilarating! And add to that excitement, the band included our talented kids being far braver than me at a far earlier age. I’ve been talking this show up for weeks now, so I won’t say much more here. I merely wanted to share a highlight video I put together from the night for those who missed it. (And why did you miss it?!)
I’ll just say a few words.
I’m blessed to have such musical friends and children. It’s partly raw talent and good genes, but mostly it’s a ton of time, dedication and hard work. We drag our kids to piano lessons each Monday. Peter has guitar Wednesdays. Abby started doing voice lessons. We were thrilled the kids’ piano teacher and Abby’s singing coach, Liz Strauss, could be there for a bit.
Watch the father-daughter Erickson duo taking turns on the bass guitar in the video. Claire is phenomenal — singing and on bass. Jared is so solid and chill and versatile on the drums. I have no limit to the pride and gushing amazement I have for Abby and Peter’s giftedness and courage to get up in front of a crowd at their age.
We only had time to get together for two rehearsals to learn over 40 songs. This meant that we really only played through each song once or twice, and had to call it good. We were “winging it” up there much of the time, and the fact that it sounds pretty good speaks to the level of talent of my bandmates. Imagine if we practiced!
A special thanks goes to my trusty ole friend, Charlie Crea, for providing a sound system and the many hours he gave to setting up and mixing the sound for us. (I was Charlie’s youth pastor years ago!) And thanks to Peter Herzog for taking photos and videos for us.
So, take 4 minutes to watch me letting loose, embracing this quiet, shy but passionate part of my true self in front of a packed room of many local folks and some 90+ friends and family who turned out. It really meant a lot to me (and my kids) that you showed up. Hopefully this is just the beginning …
Oh, and adding to the magnificence of the weekend, my son Peter and I got to see the real 84-year old Bob Dylan live in concert in Mankato the night before we paid tribute to him.
What a weekend! Here’s a highlight video and the full set list. Which were your favorite songs of the night?
BOB DYLAN SET
- All I Really Want To Do
- Song to Woody
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- Positively 4th Street
- Don’t Think Twice
- All Along the Watchtower
- Love Minus Zero
- It Ain’t Me Babe (feat. Abby)
- A hard Rains A-Gonna Fall
- Blowing in the Wind
- Rainy Day Women
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- My Back Pages
- Just like a woman
- She Belongs to Me
- If Not For You
- I Want You
- The Times Are A-Changin
- Make You Feel My Love (feat. Claire)
- Like a Rolling Stone
COVERS SET
- The Wanderer – Dion
- Love Me Do – The Beatles
- Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
- Our Song – Taylor Swift (feat. Abby)
- Shallow – Lady Gaga (feat. Abby)
- L.O.V.E. – Nat King Cole
- Into the Mystic – Van Morrison
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
- Small Town – John Mellencamp
- Hanginaround – Counting Crows
- Dyslexic Heart – Paul Westerberg
- Something Stupid – Frank Sinatra (feat. Claire)
- Hold Me Jesus – Rich Mullins
- Walls – Tom Petty
- I’m Gonna Make You Love me – The Jayhawks
- Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks
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Jeremy L. Berg 