Looking back at Marlboro Music 2012

She is here.
She is here, just sitting right next to me.  Next to me, in the cozy flowing air.  We exchange neither words nor glances— we are just sharing the moment without being a party of two.  Physical proximity is the only thing that seems relevant, and yet, the proximity can’t be more irrelevant.  It does not matter to me what she is doing here; transcendence and timelessness of the idea of “us” occupy my being.  I do not seek nor do I invoke her attention towards me.  Her being here is what satisfies me.  She does not expect nor does she invite my words towards her. My contentment is with the idea of sharing without the act of sharing— and that is this moment.

…Well, if I somehow provoked you to read on thus far by the tone of this opening paragraph, sorry, you can stop here; this isn’t going to go anywhere.  It’s not about my having a low-teen-like romantic notion at all, but about what I experience at Marlboro from time to time.  I just romanticized it heavily for fun, but that’s in essence a true snapshot of my Marlboro.

If you are a new visitor at this blog and don’t know me, I work for Marlboro Music Festival in southern Vermont as head librarian during summer festival seasons.  This week I’ve had the privilege of having meals/drinks/desserts with several Marlboro musicians, as a group at one time and individually at other times.  As I mentioned in the previous post, during the past several months I had to concentrate very hard on something, and I had strictly avoided social activities, especially during this past few weeks.  How awesome and nice it was to be able to catch up with some of those nice people from Marlboro this week!!

Sure, sometimes here in Philly, sometimes in New York and sometimes elsewhere in the world, I get to meet up with my friends from Marlboro from time to time.  But one thing you get to do in Marlboro that’s only possible in a place like Marlboro is sharing moments with someone without the intention to do so.  You’re not here to catch up with anyone, and I didn’t set up the schedule to meet up with anyone— you are just there chillin’ and I’m just here hanging, and we are coincidentally sharing a moment.  And sometimes those moments I’m sharing, even with someone who isn’t that close to me, become good Marlboro memories.  Yep, I remember that time when I had a random chat with him for the first time…  Oh yeah, I remember that moment by the dining hall when she was looking at me like I’m the saddest person ever…

Last summer I had felt more of the heart-to-heart kind of connections with a certain number of musicians, either through talking or through music-making.  As in the real world where people meet up with people for the sake of meeting up, I hope I get to know some new people this summer at Marlboro that I can meet up with during the year for the sake of meeting up— because, otherwise, the chances of sharing moments with them just won’t come my way outside Marlboro.