One Eye on Jim, The Other on Conductor Lee Holdridge
This past month, we were honored to perform our John Denver tribute show with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. This is the 2nd time we’ve been asked to perform with the BPO – and it was just as amazing as the first time (several years ago). Performing with a Symphony Orchestra has GOT to be the highlight of most musicians’ careers. It certainly has been for me. Anyone who has mastered their instrument to the level that they are in a Symphony Orchestra is someone that has worked hard, practiced long hours and sacrificed much to become a true professional at the top of their field. To be perfectly clear, we are performing WITH the Symphony, not IN the symphony…symphony musicians are on another level far and above what we do and we are lucky to have the opportunity to do a show with them.
It’s thrilling and intimidating! When I stand on the stage with the orchestra, I am a jumbled bag of emotions, it feels as if parts of my personality are trying to break out and take over, while I struggle to hold it together and ‘BE’ a professional. There’s no time for me to geek out and no room for fear or high emotions.
Here’s what’s happening with my personalities:
TheMusic Nerd: I’m actually on stage with an orchestra! I love to hear the music swell all around me and feel it in my feet. In fact, I’d love to lay down on the stage and feel it through my whole body….is that weird?
TheJohn Denver Nerd: Hearing the orchestra play the exact notes that Lee Holdridge wrote for John Denver, brings such a strong sense of nostalgia as a John Denver fan. Knowing John himself loved singing with an orchestra makes me feel so happy and sad and wistful and joyful… I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The Hospitality Nerd: I know there must be other John Denver Nerds out in the audience enjoying John Denver’s Music with a Symphony Orchestra. It gives my ‘hostess’ side great satisfaction. I enjoying watching the audience enjoying the music!
The Spiritual Nerd: This is magical, it’s surreal. I can’t believe I’m here!
The Mandolin Nerd: Oh God, this is the most pressure I’ve ever had to keep my mandolin in tune!
Through it all, I must keep calm and be a professional. The job cannot be done properly if I let the ‘nerds’ take control. Don’t be scared, don’t be intimidated…deliver the BEST music with the BEST musicians to the BEST audience and everything will be okay. Oh, and don’t lay down on the stage….not cool.
I’m sorry that we are not allowed to take pictures of the symphony (a big union no no) or video (even bigger no no). We did get a surprise after the show when a group of young men approached us at the meet-and-greet and asked for pictures and autographs. We don’t see many youngsters at our concerts so we were very happy they stayed around to introduce themselves. They are a group of friends and pilots (some are pilots and some studying to become pilots). Some from Buffalo and some out of State. They took the opportunity to get together at our concert and hear music they love written by a pilot they admire…..
Jim Curry With a Group of Young Pilots and John Denver Fans!
My friend Ann posted last month on the blog page that I’ll be in my usual cheerful mode when I get back on the road again, and of course she is 100% correct! All this month we have been doing concerts and making new friends. It’s like the song:
The more we get together, together, together,
The more we get together the happier we’ll be.
‘Cause my friends are your friends and your friends are my friends,
So the more we get together the happier we’ll be!
All I have to do is scroll through my facebook pictures for a few seconds to be reminded of how many smiling faces we have met, and how many fun adventures we have had. So many!
Sorry if I missed anybody, this was just a few seconds of scrolling and a small sample of the fun that we’ve had over the years!
Sharing music and making friends is an important part of living the human experience and something we all need to try to do to be healthy and happy.
The month of January was pretty laid-back for us…..
Because of the Omicron surge, the only concert we had scheduled for January was cancelled. Jim and I mostly cooled our heels at home. We did some yard work and we worked on our taxes.
One thing we DID do, was visit some iconic So Cal tourist spots. We had some friends from Texas come and visit us for a couple of days so we did a lot of tourist-y things with them. One of the places we went to was the Santa Monica pier, a nice place to see the Pacific Ocean and the sunset. Santa Monica is at the end of route 66 – there is a marker there so we dutifully took our photos and continued on.
Santa Monica – End of Route 66
Today I’m looking at the picture and I notice something is missing. I looked at the picture of each side of the sign…..is this only the end? Shouldn’t it also be the beginning? The entire route goes all the way from Chicago to California – and it ALSO goes all the way back to Chicago. I think one side of the sign should say “end of the trail” and the other side should say “beginning of the trail…”
It’s very possible that struggle to get back to normal is starting to get to me. It feels like I’m looking at all the signs that say our professional road is at the end, yet I am waiting and hoping that there will be a new beginning here somewhere. A smarter person might have already started something new instead of waiting….jobs are plentiful so I hear, but I’m not ready to say, “Do you want fries with that?” I don’t mean to be depressing, I just want to be smart. If this is the end of the road, I want to find the beginning of the new road instead of languishing at the end of the old one. Languishing does not pay the bills!
Hopefully, the new road leads to more singing, more concerts and less Covid! We begin mid-February in Texas, then on to Florida. Once we get started again I know my spirits will rise, after all, this is just the beginning!
People STILL ask if Jim had ever met John Denver…..it is one of our most frequently asked questions – so please forgive me for repeating an old story that has been repeated before. I originally wrote this story in 2012, but I updated it and posted it here so I can tell people to read it in the blog when they ask.
Jim and Anne Curry, 1978 – This is the oldest photo I have of us on my computer. I know there’s another photo from when we dated in 1974, but it’s buried somewhere I can’t find it….I’ll keep looking.
As long as I’ve known Jim (almost 50 years now) I’ve known that the one person in the world he most wanted to meet was John Denver. It’s a common question we get at every one of our concerts, and we’ve met so many people and heard so many stories of how they met John and how nice he was to them. Jim has never met John, but not for the lack of trying.
The summer after Jim graduated from high school, he bought tickets to see a John Denver concert near his home in Houston, TX. Somehow he obtained a precious backstage pass….this was his chance to meet John! Jim went to the concert with a girlfriend and two other friends from high school. Being a gentleman, Jim handed the pass to his girlfriend and said, “We’ll take turns, you go first.”
But she didn’t return to share the backstage pass.
Jim and his two other friends found themselves waiting for her in the parking lot after the concert. They were an hour away from home, and they didn’t know if they should leave her there, and how they were going to explain to this girl’s parents how they lost her in Houston. After about a half hour, she finally returned to where they were waiting in the parking lot. She was overjoyed and full of stories about how she met John Denver and the entire band, and how nice everyone was, and what a wonderful time she had…..
Not too long after that Jim moved to California to resume a relationship with me (we had dated earlier, before Jim’s family moved to Texas). The rest is history, MY history. I kind of think it’s possible that if this girl had not been selfish, Jim might have been able to realize his dream to meet John Denver. But then again, he might have stayed with that girl in Texas instead of moving back to California.
"It was an amazing evening. We have had many different performers at our conferences; The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Three Dog Night, America. Jim Curry ranks among these acts. I would book Jim and his band again in a heartbeat."
Daniel Young Corporate Function, Keystone, CO
"I have to tell you I don't know when we've enjoyed a show as much as we enjoyed yours. It just swept us away and we did not want it to end! You are all so gifted. And the music of John Denver speaks for itself. It touches the heart."
