Sound Check
Boarding House Mentors Benefit Concert featuring Jackson Browne and Ben Harper
By Marissa Landrigan 08/02/2007
I have to admit, going into the Ben Harper-Jackson Browne benefit concert on July 29, I was cynical. A fundraiser to send South Central kids surfing headlined by my parents’ favorite singer-songwriter? Please. White, middle-aged rich folk rocking out to the acoustic guitar couldn’t really be focused on the well-being of poor minority youth. Plus, once an artist achieves a certain level of fame, a live show loses some of its magic; seeing the Rolling Stones at the Kennedy Center isn’t unlike watching the Rolling Stones on YouTube.
Naturally, I was more than happy to be wrong. Part of that is due to the intimacy of Agoura Hills’ Canyon Club, but the real surprise was the passion and energy that infused the music and the crowd, a direct result of the inspiring cause of the evening: the visionary Los Angeles nonprofit Boarding House Mentors, whose volunteers teach the fine art of various board sports to inner city youth, and through those sports demonstrate to the students their own strength and ability to overcome real-life challenges.
Harper was as stunning as I imagined. The fervor with which he creates his songs resonated in every note, hit with ease and a soft, almost feminine voice. Though barely speaking between songs, he came alive in personality and body during the set. The environment was what I imagined seeing Ben Harper 10 years ago might have been like: small and intimate, friendly and reminiscent of why some people make music and why we love it. Harper was the embodiment of how powerful music is as a tool of expression.
But the truly stirring set came from Jackson Browne — in fact, it was Browne who instigated this year’s fundraiser. After an impromptu visit and jam session at last year’s Boarding House Mentors gig, Browne offered to return this year, and recruited Harper to join the fun. Well known for his musical altruism, Browne’s set was full of the heartbreaking chords and dedicated focus of the genuinely caring superstar. A round, complete sound, soaring duets with the night’s other performers and the least self-consciousness I’ve ever seen on a stage all brought even the cynical, unprepared me to tears. This wasn’t a put-on; as event manager Andy Kastenberg of Boarding House Mentors told me, “What connects us all is that we love to surf, and we want to give back.”
All I could think was, “This is how Jackson Browne is meant to be heard,” and the way music, in general, is meant to be heard. This is what music is supposed to be: a crowd and the artists driven by pure compassion, united under one cause, whether it is the benefit of those less fortunate or the pure unadulterated bliss of expression. Those Baby Boomers I was so cynical about came alive in front of that stage, remembering a time when something — be it music or surfing or love — meant everything to them, too. That’s what music, and this Boarding House benefit, is all about: this is where we all come together.
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