I consider Tucson, Arizona, my hometown.
After all, my family moved to Tucson in 1952, and I arrived in my new town looking for Cowboys and Indians on every block. I was born in Arkansas and had never been West of the Pecos.
Our first house was near the intersection of Speedway and Park. In 1954, I was an exploring nine-year-old, and believe it or not, I would walk, alone, to the center of town, check out the vast street-side window displays at Steinfield's, stop in at Woolworth's, sit on a swivel chair at the diner and order a cherry coke. A year later, I would play ping pong at the downtown YMCA, and by that time, I would even venture a bit west, down Congress Street, and walk by the Fox Theatre.
Times have changed. I doubt a 10-year-old could get by with such shenanigans these days.
Last night, I returned to the Fox Theatre. It's been a while since I've been inside the historic Tucson landmark. Sue and I had tickets to see Altan, a Donegal folklore band currently on tour in the U.S.
Of course, I have always been a rock and roller, so an Irish band from far, far away was foreign to me, to say the least. In their songs, they would describe lost loves, describe the winds off the shore of the sea -- all of which were accompanied by the beautiful sound of the fiddle and an accordionist by the name of Martin Tourish, a composer, producer and musicologist from Co. Donegal and now based in Dublin.
His ancestors were collectors of dance music whose manuscripts date back to 1896.
I was still squirming in my seat when Tourish introduced a song without words midway through the Altan's two-hour performance. An instrumental so moving the listener can interpret, insert their own words...their own images, and personalize the piece just for them.
The soothing tune was called "Road Home," and Tourish composed the piece following a road trip during the summer of 2003 when he toured Ireland's rugged coast from Milltown Malby to Donegal.
All of us have that special road home -- a journey filled with anticipation...a journey with familiar terrain on both sides of the highway as we head for a place we want to be. I listened, as did the rest of the announced crowd of 600, and my imagination took hold and took me somewhere I needed to be.
That is what music can do to a person -- whether it's Irish Folklore, a Bruce Springsteen tune, or Roy Orbison himself.
I didn't know until midway through Altan's performance that I was searching for a song.
As a preteen in late 60’s spent many Saturday downtown. In the mornings at the Y, then in the afternoon at one of three theaters on Congress: the Paramount, the Fox, or farther west the Fox Lyric.
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