Some nights are pure magic. The night I first saw Joan Baez was such a night…

My old friend, Ken, had come to Cambridge to help celebrate Harvard’s 350th anniversary…and celebration was in the air, and filled the town.
But sadly, on this night, it started to rain. We were walking down Mass. Ave., and were in front of the Harvard Book Store when suddenly I heard the lyrics of “Biko” filling the air.

“You can blow out a candle
But you can’t blow out a fire
Once the flame begins to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko”

But it wasn’t Peter Gabriel’s voice, but rather a woman’s. We followed the sound into what may folks call “Harvard Yard”, but is really “Tercentenary Theatre”, but is a large quad in between the Memorial Church and Widener Library.
http://www.gwagner.net/albums/cambridge/memorialchurch.jpg

Joan Baez was singing from the stage at the church, and a throng of people sat in chairs, under the trees, with rain pelting down on their umbrellas.

Well, we had no such amenities.

As Joan broke into “Somewhere over the rainbow”, the rain lifted, and the crowd, and we, were lifted above the clouds, figuratively and literally.

But the wonders didn’t stop there, as she then broke into “Going to Carolina in my mind”, as Liv Taylor (a fellow Carolinian like Ken and me) joined her on stage.

“In my mind, I’m going to Carolina…”

Soon Tom Rush and Bonnie Raitt, fellow Harvardians, like Joan) were to join in.

I love it when things come together…