Moondancing

In college I was in an outdoors group called the Nomads. We would do a variety of outdoorsy activities such as hiking, rock climbing and rafting. My favorite thing to do, though, was to get a bunch of people together and go camping. Amidst all of this fun, we actually did some good as well, which is what brings our setting to light.

Our president, Steve, knew of a 4-H camp that he spent many summers at as a child as well as helping out as a counselor. He was able to set it up for our group to come and do a service project for the camp which enabled us to come and stay and have use of the camp's facilities- all for free.

One year we cleared trails for the upcoming Winter cross-country season. Another year we painted cabins. While we worked very hard, we made sure we rewarded ourselves(I'll leave some of these activities to your imagination). Of one of the rewards we gave ourselves was to go into town and have dinner at a nice restaurant and maybe take in some entertainment.

Our restaurant happened to be a family-oriented pizza buffet type place, named Brothers Pizza(I think!). That was all fine and dandy, but afterwards, we found ourselves right next door, in the adjoining barroom. The name of the bar was Giada's, which happened to have a big screen TV, swanky gray plush carpeting, mirrors all over the walls and a piano, complete with a piano man!

The guy who played was fantastic, covering gems from all over the radio and classics that they just don't play any more. Of the songs he played, the one that got me the most was Moondance. Unfortunately, I forgot the performer's name, who could be some big shot like Anthony Burger or Harry Connick Jr. I guess I could say that this thin piano playingguy,who had a pony-tail neatly tied behind his head andwore glasses opened up a new door in music for me.

Moondance was not a familiar tune to me. I had never heard of it or much else from the original artist, Van Morrison(just the muchoverplayed"Brown-Eyed Girl" on oldies radio). The song, as performed, wassophisticated, heartfelt and more adult that anything I was listening to at the time(cue those wonderful grungy bands from Seattle).

My roommate bought a CD of his(the piano player's). We listened to Moondance over and over until I had enough and had to buy the real thing. In it came an entire album of wonderful gems such as Crazy Love, And It Stoned Me, Into the Mystic, to name a few.

So, every time I hear Moondance, by Van Morrison, it reminds me of the very first time hearing it, as performed by some unknown, only to have the song blow me away. Now that's a good song!