Okay, so I mostly post Bentley's milestones on this blog, however it IS entitled "WEBSTER life" which would denote that it also includes Drew and me. So, Saturday night, we dropped Bentley off at my mom's home so Drew and I could help support this event we have been promoting for our friend, Aaron Spiro, called "Feed the Guitar". Aaron is an incredibly gifted guitarist and vocalist, however with the way the economy is lately, to try and pursue your musical talents when you have a family of four to feed, is financially hard to rationalize. (Aaron is a gracious and generous person with his musical gift, he even played at our wedding. I felt so honored!) So, to help to finalize production of two albums he is working on, we created this evening where people could come and donate as they felt called. Our friends got people to donate drinks and appetizers, decorate the space and I created the flyer and handled the marketing.
Drew and his friend, Eric, opened the evening spinning Drum n' Bass music, while everyone trickled in throwing cash and checks into an open guitar at the entrance.
With small candles illuminating the cozy space, white lights danced up the microphone to Aaron's deeply moving voice and layered guitar. During one piece, while the audience remained captivated, our mouths actually opened with awe, when he began to loop not only his vocals, guitar, and drum he beat, but he raised a beer, consumed a sip and proceeded to wail on the bottle with a drumstick grabbing the microphone and hunching down in rhythm to make sure the sound it was making registered. All of this seeming cacophony caused audience hollers and whistles, but resulted in an orchestral arrangement over which his vocals nosily, but in celebratory fashion reigned; like a stampede of music. In just 90 minutes the cozy space was transformed. Aaron's daughter Lily, nodded her head to her father's music while her little sister Manna danced in front of the door watching the fresh snow falling outside. At the conclusion of Aaron's ending song, Drew yelled and whistled "Encore Encore" several times to a standing ovation to which Aaron had to give in and perform a final piece; a self-created arrangement of the Lord's Prayer. It slowly swayed us into an impromptu layering and looping performance where Aaron again (all live) recorded himself playing the guitar, smacking the strings, the drum and even the music stand, then finally leading us into an emotional, but praise-filled finale.
photo by: Kevin Parker, friend
At the end of the evening, while people were saying goodbye, Matt and I snuck up to Aaron, our arms filled with the donations from people who love him and appreciate his gift. Matt asked him what the amount was that he actually needed. He then told Aaron it was the exact amount that we had received that night! And it was the same amount that I was hoping we would raise for him without even knowing what he needed. God is good!!! And his people were faithful and obedient. Aaron and his wife Stephanie felt incredibly blessed. Praise God.
