As promised, here’s my memory of tambourines, Mike LaMacchia’s Midwest Tour, Anne Gram, and Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round in Circles.”
About five or six years ago my cousin Michael LaMacchia, a professional musician in Mill Valley, CA, took a mini-vacation to our hometown of Kenosha, WI. While he was there, he played a couple of gigs at the Anderson Arts Center Twilight Jazz concert series. This series, like other summertime jazz festivals, is an outdoors concert meant to take advantage of the beautiful summertime weather in a beautiful location. The Anderson Arts Center is an old mansion on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Needless to say, his first concerts were a raving success. So much so that he came back the next year with a few of his musician friends and booked a few more gigs. The year after that he booked a few more. The year after that even more. With each passing summer, Michael’s concerts became not only a stage of great music but also a meeting place for family and friends. During one of the gigs, I ran into an old high school friend, Anne Gram. She hasn’t changed since we graduated. She’s as effervescent, funny, goofy, kind, and sweet as ever. She’s also one of Michael’s unofficial booking agents and has done a marvelous job of helping him book his gigs, extending his stay, promoting his time back in the Kenosha area as “Michael LaMacchia’s Midwest Tour.”
Michael usually does his Midwest Tour in August, a month that holds a lot of birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries for our family. August also happens to be Anne’s birthday month and mine as well, and she usually makes a big deal out of it. I’ve never been one to throw myself a birthday party, but Anne is. The gusto she exudes booking Michael’s gigs is the same gusto she brings to his gigs and her birthday celebrations. On the night of Anne’s birthday two years ago, she showed up at Michael’s gig with a bag of tambourines. She began to pass them out to everyone in the bar. As she did, Michael and the band played Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round in Circles.” Anne came running from the other side of the bar, tossed me a tambourine, and pulled me out on the dance floor. In a vortex of celebration and excitement that Anne has a knack of creating, we went round in circles, playing tambourines and dancing.
Michael’s Midwest Tour has been a highlight of my summers for the past five years. Anne’s presence and birthday celebrations are also part of those highlights.
Last week I ran in circles on my treadmill. Here’s what I accomplished:
M, W = ran 15 minutes; S = 1 mile
