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years of attending the Bridge School Benefit shows always gave me a sweet but probably inaccurate measurement of 'good people'.
All of the developmentally challenged kids from the actual Bridge School sit on stage with their parents, and the bands play in front of them.
It can be weird for performers who are new to the show and while no-one's ever uncomfortable some offer merely polite acknowledgement while others take it as being received by the loveliest greeting party.
I always gauged the good ppl as the ones who took the latter reaction. Some interacted with the kids during their performances. They'll all acknowledge the kids when they walk out, and afterwards, but only certain types of performers ever truly interact with the kids, and only a few talk to them.
Pearl Jam played a ton of Bridge concerts, they were there almost every other year for well over 15 years. Over time, Eddie Vedder sparked a long-standing 'stage friendship' with a young Bridge School student named Maricor. HEr favorite song was Last Kiss, and every time they performed, he would sing it especially for her and talk to her between songs and even spend time after the set to talk to her and her parents. It was the coolest thing.
Florence from Florence + The Machine is the most memorable example. She spent at least 70% of her set with her back to the audience singing directly to the Bridge School kids, twirling and dancing for them, and when she wasn't facing them completely she'd stand off to the side so she could watch them and see the crowd. She made it her job to delight them over us. And she was beaming the whole time, like she was SO delighted to give such a unique performance. It was really cool to watch and still makes me a bit teary thinking about it.
So Florence gets my vote. And Eddie.
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 18 November 2017 04:13 (six years ago) link
Lol I hung out with Barbara Manning before a Yo La Tengo (I think) show when I was like 18 and she WOULD NOT STOP hugging me. It was lovely. Gets my vote, for sure. Also around the same time Thurston Moore was amazingly fine with chatting with me and my equally dumbass teenage friends, even to the extent of letting me take a couple of shots with my SLR camera of him. I do think it says something about a musician if they're that willing to go out of their way to be kind to a fan.
― albvivertine, Saturday, 18 November 2017 04:53 (six years ago) link
oh yeah, John Vanderslice authentically is one of the nicest people in the world.
― akm, Saturday, 18 November 2017 17:14 (six years ago) link