The post came late last week. Was I up to seeing him perform at a small small gig in Jersey? It came from my cousin Tommy, Tom Prasada-Rao or TPR as he's known in the biz. The answer was a no brainer. Hell yeah.
I've always loved his voice. Heck, EVERYone loves his voice - throaty, sexy, surging over you like a wave of Mexican hot chocolate, dark and sweet, flecked with bits of spice. Any chance I get to hear him sing I grab. And here he was minutes away from my own little casa. I didn't know the circumstances that brought him to perform, especially after he closed a chapter to his touring life and embarked on the less traveled road of producer. I do know he sat in public transportation for at least 8 hours, in various modes of transport involving trains, buses and automobiles to get there. I do know an eager audience sat patiently awaiting him in the basement of the First United Methodist Church in Westfield, NJ.
The church provides a venue for Coffee with Conscience, a concert series in its 10th season. The original intent was to provide the congregation with a vehicle to service the greater community. The coffee house setting provided the ideal venue to showcase musical talent with a folk bent and raise funds for local charities. Mostly a 40 - 50ish congregation that has been exposed to world-class songwriters and damn good singers. They gather Saturday nights to sip coffee provided by Ahrre's Coffee Roastery
I flatter myself into thinking he started off with Sleeping Beauty because he knew that was one of my favorites. Followed by songs I know well and others I don't. Smoke and Mirrors, a collaboration with his wife Carey Cooper. The Randy Travis song, Indigo and a sweetly raunchy song featuring Barbara Eden and his boyhood fantasies: "Call me master. Do it faster." And of course my hands down favorite Rishi's Garden, a tribute to Ravi Shankar in which he convinces his guitar to imitate the passionate moaning of a sitar.
Punctuated between songs are Tommy's wryly delivered but intimate observations about fatherhood, being a husband, the homeless, his grandfather, his parents, his ancestry. Some of these I have insight to, as I've been privy to the same childhood. Others are as new to me as the rapt audience of coffee sipping music lovers.
I've known artists in many genres. Some happy, some rich, some bordering on Van Goghism. My question has been can you devote your life to the expression of yourself and live a fulfilled life of abundance? Chock full of sexy photo ops, gushing adoration, 1000 friends on Facebook, oodles of money in the bank, critical acclaim?
Watching Tommy give of himself for 2 solid hours, share his insight, his vocal and musical talent, his love for himself and his life I realized the artist can live abundantly. And surely then, this is a life of bliss.
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