Belonging to Jim Page

     When we began hosting House Concerts a decade or so ago, it never occurred to us that our greatest pleasure would come from getting to know the musicians who perform here.  I thought about that yesterday morning as we sat at the breakfast table talking with Jim Page.
     His performance here Sunday evening had been well attended and well received.  Jim is a folk singer and social activist, well-known in Seattle for decades and catapulted into the international spotlight with his “Didn’t We…” after the 1999 WTO fiasco.  Nyel and I had wondered how the concert would go.  Apparently, so had Jim.
     Afterwards, sitting around the fire, he talked a little about getting the feel of the audience – of ‘getting acquainted,’ as it were.  It had been a conversation in the kitchen during the break between sets that prompted him to sing and talk about some of the more important matters on his mind.  The conversation had been about the ‘Occupy’ movement – actually about my step-daughter Marta’s involvement in Occupy San Rafael and Occupy San Francisco.
     Jim grew up in the Bay Area, as did I, but he was about fifteen years behind me.  After the concert guests had left, we reminisced about the vitality of the sixties and seventies there – the protests, the music scene, Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers.  We talked about what’s happening these days – about Veterans for Peace and Occupy Marines and the wisdom of the elderly and the perceptions of power…
     Jim spent the night, as musicians from afar often do, and the conversation continued the next morning.  I look forward to more of the same when next we meet.