Legacy

There will be much written about the money she made, which would be the natural outcome if you spent your summer appearing on stage before more than three million people.  However, that will not be what my granddaughter or the many young women who were lucky enough to attend a Taylor Swift concert remember.  What she will remember, aside from the sheer excitement of going to a live concert, will be the gentle kindness that is the hallmark of these events.  She will remember exchanging handmade bracelets with other young girls whom she did not know.  The legacy of the Eras Tour will not be about the money but about the joy and kindness experienced by the audience.

 It’s been a tough summer for most of the world.  As positive as a Taylor Swift concert is, it is against the backdrop of unspeakable suffering and the sad passing of other musicians whose legacy was a smile and a good time.

 Pour me something' tall and strong
Make it a Hurricane before I go insane
It's only half past twelve, but I don't care
It's five o'clock somewhere

 He was not the largest selling entertainer but he was the entertainer that sold a good time and the importance of enjoying your time on this earth.   Jimmy Buffett was a musician that made us feel good and allowed us a moment to smile and experience the joy of being present. 

 I could pay off my tab
Pour myself in a cab and be back to work before two
At a moment like this, I can't help but wonder
What would Jimmy Buffett do?

 Yet there was a melancholy to his lyrics as if to remind us that the party does not last forever.  It will be time to embrace one’s fate and one’s legacy

 Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

 I hail the legacy of performers, especially musicians.  Their lyrics and the music behind them live with us always.  Helping us to remember the times we were in love, the ones we loved and continue to love.  They are the markers of events that have shaped our lives and the people within those lives.  It is the musician’s legacy of honest talent that help us build our own fortresses of memories and experience.  It is so much more rewarding to experience their accomplishments versus the miserable arrogant excuses of failure that are demonstrated by men like Thomas, Munoz, Putin and Trump.  Those names and those of many others will only remind you of the cheap and tatter legacy of men who failed.  It is the poignant lyrics of the songwriter that form the legacy of hopeful outcomes in a world filled with disappointment

My granddaughter will fortunately have none of that as she will remember the thrill and excitement of a shared experience with people of the world who she did not know but knows now.  That is a gift worth giving and receiving and it is thanks to the musician that opens the book of discovery.

 Haul the sheet in as we ride on the wind
That our forefathers harnessed before us
Hear the bells ring as the tight rigging sings
It's a son of a gun of a chorus

Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends
If I knew I might toss out my anchor
So I cruise along always searching' for songs
Not a lawyer a thief or a banker

 Lyrics by Jimmy Buffett, Ron Rollins, Jim Brown

…..I’m off to Margaritaville.    Rest in Peace Jimmy Buffett and Thank you for the joy….