[SPEAKER_05]: Good evening, friends and neighbors. My name is Terry E. Carter, and I direct elder services here at our beloved West Medford Community Center. Welcome to our inaugural edition of the live monthly presentation of Fresh Friday's Words and Music, rebranded, carved, and sanded for the month of October We are happy to be back following a great summer of WMCC programs, including the 5th Medford Jazz Festival, Hoops and Hope, the West Medford Senior Club Barbecue, the new commemorative brick installation, Summer Girls Basketball, our recent annual meeting, and the first in the annual community legislative forum. So things are definitely percolating here at 111 Arlington Street. Thanks in part to assistance from the Medford Arts Council, a member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Fresh Fridays is back and all new for another year. So as fall rolls in, we want to remind you that COVID is still out there. And we're trying to be mindful of local health requirements and concerns. So masking is welcome, but not required. As always, we're just happy to be here sponsoring live programming at WMCC. And we're really, really glad to see our neighbors, our friends, and our supporters coming through the door. Thanks so much for being here. Thanks also to our other event sponsor, Kevin Harrington back there with Medford Community Media, and volunteer Mark Davidson is with them. They are consistently guiding us as we broadcast to you via MCM channels 9 for Comcast and 47 for Verizon. as well as on the MCM YouTube channel. If you're out there watching on your electronic devices, your computers, your telephones, television, what have you, welcome to the show. So if you've got phones, if you want to put them on silent, that would be real good. Okay, so in my travels as a poet and an ambassador for the arts, I've been privileged to encounter some tremendous teachers, leaders, and history makers across a wide panorama of human endeavor. Words and music has given me the opportunity to bring a lot of those folks to your attention. Tonight is no exception, so I hope you're ready for insightful and delightful. So I guess for this evening, is relatively new to Medford, but she has already made a significant and positive impression on everyone who has crossed her path. And I guess I should ask you about your pronouns. She and her is good? Okay, all right. She is the inaugural leader of Medford's first ever creative arts center, the long-awaited arts collaborative Medford. Please welcome Regina Parkinson to Fresh Friday's Words and Music. So a little bit about Regina, she relocated the greater Boston area from New Orleans in Louisiana in May of 2021 for postgraduate studies and professional duties at Artists for Humanity of Boston. Artists for Humanity is a non-profit organization that hires teens to create art. and design projects for clients and communities. Then prior to coming East, she had been a successful arts administrator in the Big Easy, where her work included co-founding a large-scale contemporary public event called the Lucky Art Fair, which showcased 30-plus visual artists and had more than 2,000 visitors over two weekends. Fantastic. Regina is passionate about creating and strengthening community partnerships and advancing the missions of social impact organizations. I've gotten to know her a little bit over these past several months, and she's a congenial and energetic person to be around. So, as Regina describes it, she was, I'm taking your words, over the moon to take on the new role of becoming the executive director of the brand new arts collaborative Medford in January of this year. She was found through an extensive search, and as you'll soon see, her accomplishments thus far has positioned our new community arts center for great success, both now and in the future. Again, Regina Parkinson. So as is my custom in hosting these evenings, I'd like to share a little bit of verse to help shape the evening. Now, you know that I believe that poetry should be, above all things, accessible and inclusive. So this piece is called The Deep End of the Ocean. If I could just find it. Okay. It kind of gripes me when so-called poets try to be deep, try to be down with each blade of Viridian green glass, and each waft of the Zephyrus breeze, and each chiseled rib on the Parthenon's Doric columns, and each silicate grain on the beaches of Bali. It doesn't really take all that. Sat in a poetry performance seminar the other day.
[SPEAKER_04]: All the so-called poets were renowned in literary circles with credentials and certifications and designations up the wazoo.
[SPEAKER_05]: They had an elitist conclave about the poets of the next wave with all sorts of feminist fusillades against misogynistic menfolk and the sensual nature of egg yolk and the extremist views of James Polk and a whole bunch of mirrors in gray smoke, acting like they're so dang woke and can't even take a good joke. To my apparently untrained ear, however, They didn't have much to say, other than polysyllabic pronouncements about the sweeping expanse of the waters on Mars, metrical landscapes and metaphors czars, about the deep end of the ocean, and how one must choke, bleed, and die to swim there. It's not what a brown-skinned poet like me is trying to tell y'all.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm about those Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes Be For Real lyrics. I get the Child of the Universe bit and the no less than the rocks and trees part, but I'm just trying to tell my people that we're going to be all right.
[SPEAKER_05]: We have a story, too. Our existence is filled with poetry, too. I don't need the deep end of the ocean to grow widening rivulets for me to contemplate. And if I'm going to anthropomorph into anything, it's going to be the lion of my pride. I'm in the shallow end of the pool, y'all, but not because my light is less dim and not because we brothers can't swim. It's because I know you'll see me better if the riptides of prideful intellect aren't constantly trying to pull me under. There's nothing even remotely poetic about another brother's creative juices being stifled, strangled, or silenced by condescending heretics or acid tongue polymics of ivory tower academics and Hegelian dialectics. do a Google search. Webinars and Zoom conferences, symposiums, consortiums, go-to meetings, and bucolic retreats can take you to all those deep places where the deep folk are holding forth. You're really smart, great. You're incredibly articulate, wonderful. You're intellectually gifted, cool. But a generous God didn't give you those gifts so you could rub folks' noses in them. BS, MS, and PhD ain't supposed to be called for bush, mush, pout higher and deeper. My river don't flow like that. Shakespeare was a safety school of the people, by the people, and for the people. I mean all of the people. Dunbar was total negritude with the mask and Melendian mind. Langston brought simple home. Maya brought traveling shoes. Barack bought caba, and Teddy G was about a cat in a hat. Poetry is organically rich, unlike any dissertation of the nutrient component comprised by the writer's literary compost, unlike any declamation of the metaphysics of metrical departures to the deep end of the ocean. So if you came here tonight to hear something esoteric, iconoclastic, or intellectually effete, I guess I'm going to have to take an incomplete. I'm sorry. I'm not down with that beat. I'm a plain spoken poet with red velvet verses and no coded curses, speaking simple truth to power, obeying the scripture's sober call to write the revelation down and make it plain on tablets so that a herald can run with it. And no less than the rocks and the trees, I got a right to be here.
[SPEAKER_04]: As for the unfolding of the universe, I'm leaving that to all the so-called poets renowned in literary circles with credentials and certifications and designations at the deep end of the ocean. All right, we're ready to go. Very good.
[SPEAKER_05]: So here's how we're going to move. We're going to have a nice, friendly chat with Regina. So Regina, talk about making the transition from Louisiana to Boston after having spent a number of years in Cajun country.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. The thing about New Orleans that attracts so many people to it and keeps so many people there is that when you're born there, it's your whole life. And when you go there, you really feel the sense of community stronger than I've ever felt it anywhere. And so it's what made me want to move there. And while I was there, it's what made me realize that this was my home. Because I felt that way about here. and it was really enlightening and helpful, and their culture is beautiful, and I just feel so honored to have delved in it for a few years, but it became really clear to me why people feel that way about where they live.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's, that's profound. That's the, that's not the deep end of the ocean, that's, but that's deep. So, What, if anything, did you know about Medford? And can you talk about being courted by the city to come be the ED of the Arts Collaborative?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I lived in Medford immediately after I moved out of college. So I went to UMass Amherst. My brother was getting his PhD at Tufts. He has a PhD in black holes. I couldn't tell you the title of the dissertation, but it's black holes. And I lived with him for a few months before I got a job and was living in Somerville. And so, it just feels like the organic first place that I was trying to become an adult. And so, when I came back, and I moved back, and was working in South Boston, living in Medford, it just felt really natural. And when it came time to move on from Artists for Humanity, and that job posting was listed, it felt like some sort of divine intervention.
[SPEAKER_05]: OK, all right, very good. And this is maybe getting down in the weeds just a little bit. What was one significant thing the hiring committee was looking for? And what did you say to convince them that you were the right one for the job?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking at Susan Altman right now. I think they were looking for someone that could see what had happened and what could happen. So a vision? I believe. And I think I just had that vision. I think I was maybe born with that vision. So I think I just tried to connect my past experiences to what could be really clearly.
[SPEAKER_05]: Fantastic. And if you don't mind me asking, what is a little bit of that vision?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this predates me by decades, and I'm standing on the work of many, many Medford natives, and I'm very aware of that. So it was clear that it was needed. It was clear we were answering a need that had existed, and there's no end to answering a need like that. I mean, it's community, so it's ever-changing, and it can be as big as you can imagine it to be. So the vision is really to fulfill all the dreams of those people that got us here, and to give them everything they thought we could have.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a big vision, in other words.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty big.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it's a big vision. Fantastic. So I guess you probably have answered the next question I was going to ask. And that's kind of what attracted you to position in the area. But you knew it. And you had gotten a sent intervention for you. So that kind of answers that. So how have the first nine months gotten you ready for the next nine and beyond?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it's like training in a battlefield, you know, it's like I'm in the trenches. Yeah. Uh, we're busy and I don't think that'll stop. So, um, it's good. It's good to not react to things and just let them happen. So I think that would be the training of the past nine months. Okay.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_05]: Fantastic. So, you know, obviously there's a bit of history now. What, what accomplishments are you proud, uh, most proud of so far?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm proud of the fact that we have 11 working artists in our building. I'm really proud of that and they're all active artists making their work in our building. I'm really proud of the fact that we have an after-school program that answers a need in our city where there's a little bit of a lack. I'm really proud of the fact that it is becoming very natural and organic for other Nonprofits and organizations in our city to come to us to collaborate on the things that they need a home for okay that includes Reverend Wendy and the Sanctuary Church and that includes ensemble the ally project to be
[SPEAKER_05]: You were the first show. The first show. For those of you that haven't been there, it's 162 Mystic Ave. And the big mural on top pops right out at you, so you can't miss it for anything else. The only other good mural on Mystic Ave is the one that I'm in.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's true.
[SPEAKER_05]: Down a little further. But that's in Somerville, and that's another story for another day.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's another story.
[SPEAKER_05]: All right. But see these two murals, right? OK. In any case.
[SPEAKER_00]: There will be more murals.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, there will be. I'm sure. I'm sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was amazing to have you guys there and be the inaugural show.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was really cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. And our second show was Amanda Palmer, um, who is also Boston Cambridge based. And she did a little pop up for fans. We had 80 people there and that was totally unexpected. Um, so things have just really come our way that are, you know, of the people that we're making all this for.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. And it's so many things. I mean, obviously on the second floor are the artist studios and classrooms and so forth. And then down on the bottom floor, there's a lot of really nice exhibit space and then an open space where the performances are set and they can be set vertically, they can be set horizontally. well designed and really, really interesting. So always something going on there. So obviously the flip side of that is what major challenges have you come up against?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm one person.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, who do we know that story?
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's it's amazing that I'm here and that I'm in this position It was amazing that I have the board of directors that I have I cannot speak highly enough about them But we're a small team and we're trying to make big big things happen. Yeah, so they just don't have enough hours in my day Okay, which is a workable challenge, I think
[SPEAKER_05]: OK, well, you moved into the area with a whole lot of craziness kind of going on around you. And now kind of kitty corner to you, maybe, or is it directly across from you? Is this great American beer hall?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep. They opened three weeks ago.
[SPEAKER_05]: OK. Friend or foe?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh friend. Okay. Oh, definitely. We hung out there and it's open space. It's live music. It's really going to change our, what I call the corridor that we're in and it's going to change Medford. It's where we, so it's awesome to have them on our side, literally.
[SPEAKER_05]: So for those of you who haven't seen or heard about this great American beer hall, they moved into a huge space, craft beers up the yin-yang, all kinds of, you know, shows and performances going to be going on there all of the time, They actually are family friendly, so they have running around spaces for kids before the real drinking starts. It looks like it's going to be another interesting departure for entertainment and socializing in Medford.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what we're seeing is really like an answer to a lot of needs and lacks that we didn't have before, and so we have a community arts center now, we have a place to go hang out with your kids and grab an awesome local beer. It's like really exciting to see Medford take on these big changes.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's awesome to be part of it. Yeah, I mean, West Medford, you know, was, you know, had, you know, kind of the benefit of getting kind of the first craft beer, kind of location right up the street on Harvard Avenue. And Max Heineck, who is a poet and a songwriter and a singer himself, has been holding forth there for a little while now. So you know, craft beer emporium number two.
[SPEAKER_04]: So this is a funny question.
[SPEAKER_05]: I think we had a little bit of a conversation about this over at the Arts Center. What do you think about being the neighbor of Medford's first ever legal cannabis dispensary?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it's like a really important embrace that they've done. I mean, they came in and thought about how they were going to affect the community in all ways, from all sides, and they partnered with someone that they felt like was a fit for their mission, which is very community oriented. So I think it's great. I think they're a wonderful company to have on our side. and to be neighbors with. They're very friendly. They are so excited about our art. We have an extension of our current exhibition in their lobby space. Oh my goodness, okay. I'm able to sell artwork out of there. I mean, they're friends. They're really good friends. Wow.
[SPEAKER_05]: Very good. Very good. Okay. So will you talk a little bit about the past experiences that you've had that kind of prepped you for the role that you're in right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that it's like fortune fire. The reason why I'm very happy to just be doing this as the sole employee at the moment is because I've done that before. I know what the work is and what it takes. And also my passion is really there for supporting artists. So you had mentioned Lucky Art Fair And the thing about that fair is that we actually paid the artists to participate rather than having them pay us We didn't take any sales commissions It was all grassroots because I don't I did not feel in that moment in New Orleans and I don't feel generally that there's enough opportunity to really give Artists the leg up and getting their fiscal feet under them Which is this case for musicians is the case for visual artists. It's the case for craft artists I can go on and on but just being able to provide those resources. It is my life source.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I Well, I'm really happy about that because whenever I go anywhere as a poet, I'm looking at folks and they're looking at me and we're trying to figure out who's going to do what first. So yeah, it's real good. Talk a little bit about your philosophy as an arts administrator.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I would say it's similar to that idea. It's giving people the connections and the resources so they don't think they're an artist, but they can actually paint. And so they see their artwork on a wall for the first time and they feel like a real artist. They're a real artist, they've been doing it in their living room, but they've never made an art sale and then we make their first art sale. It's just taking that and going one step further. We have a really awesome program in place in honor of Louise Mestrachot, who is one of the foundational people in our organization. And it's a scholarship in her name. And we've just accepted two scholars to be in our space, cost-free to them under her name, which is such an honor. And I'm so determined to get one of them her first major mural wall this year. So just be on the lookout, because that's going to be awesome.
[SPEAKER_05]: And that's my philosophy. Yeah, and Louise, she was an artist in multiple mediums, and the work that you guys had on display, and the work that was being auctioned off, anybody who got anything from her really got a treasure, and they certainly got it at below retail.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're gonna have another little auction coming up too, so just keep your eyes out, but we are very blessed to have some of her work on loan from her children, and yeah, it's really special to still have her name in our building.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, and Will Tenney, who is an eminent photographer in the Medford area, a lot of what you see on the wall in the West Medford Afro-American Remembrance Project, the photographs that aren't archival, a lot of them are Will's photographs, and he was instrumental in helping us put the book together as well as get this display which was housed at the Medford Historical Society for a little while and then at the library down in the lower level at the old building before we finally were able to kind of come to an agreement that this is where it should live permanently. But his exhibit over at ACM was really spectacular, and I was able to get a few little pieces of his work. But yeah, I mean it's exhibits like that that really are showcasing the huge talent that exists in this community. are really very, very engaging, and people need to get out and see them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and his generosity can't go understated. He donated all of his artwork and any sales that we made, and he really pushed everyone he knew to come to that show, and all the sales that we made were split between us and Caché and Medfaird, which was just an incredible gift. on his behalf and I think our space is really meant to uplift Medford-based artists and make a regional name. So we do a little bit of back and forth in that space of artists that are specifically rooted in Medford and then artists that are nearby us as well.
[SPEAKER_05]: Excellent, excellent, yeah. And it's a front end, with him it was a front end in the back and it came in with a wonderful opening and sold a bunch of stuff and then he had a closing to the show and a bunch of folks came in and It was like a reunion.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was really nice.
[SPEAKER_05]: I really, really enjoyed it, yeah. So how is Arts Collaborative Medford positioned for future success and longevity?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a great question. We have a super special gift in that space that I think only happens once in a lifetime, which is that because of the generosity of theory, we're gifted into that space cost free on a rent basis for 10 years. And so we have a future that we know is pretty stable. And with that, the other ways that we're positioned is just community input. So it's just people coming to us with ideas and with the verve to make it happen. And that is how we will succeed.
[SPEAKER_05]: Are all your artist spaces filled now?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have two spaces open. Okay. Anybody out there, you know, that's looking for a space? We have two spaces in a shared studio. It has a vault that we can't open and it's possible that the Isabella Stewart Gartner stolen paintings are in there. We don't know that that's not true. So come and get that studio space.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you could be a part of history.
[SPEAKER_04]: I love it. I love it. Oh my goodness.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's something, they're out there somewhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's something in there.
[SPEAKER_05]: No reason why they couldn't be at ACM. Okay. So, um, Will you play a little game of word association with me? Oh, I'd love to. Yeah. OK, so I'll give you a word and ask you to please give me a few sentences on what that word means to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK.
[SPEAKER_05]: Can you do that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_05]: OK. OK. Community.
[SPEAKER_00]: Community is, I believe, the thing that holds most people up on their darkest days and on their best days.
[SPEAKER_05]: OK. OK. Creativity.
[SPEAKER_00]: pretty much a life source. I think that it's pretty hard to go through life without some sort of outlet for everything you experience and I think creativity is that vehicle.
[SPEAKER_05]: Wonderful, wonderful. How about charity?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that we get so much when we give to other people. And charity is really rad.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. We say in the kingdom, we say, press down, shaken together, running over, he'll give it back to you. So yeah, charity is wonderful. How about courage?
[SPEAKER_00]: Courage? Courage really comes from knowing yourself, trusting yourself, and just wanting to do things that don't exist already.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, wow, okay, okay, all right, all right. Well, this probably dovetails into that a little bit, adversity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, adversity is the thing that you shape yourself against.
[SPEAKER_05]: Wow, I like that, I like that, okay. Perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's necessary, it's very necessary. It's so easy to get stuck in your own little, you know, we're like on our phones all the time, we're like in our little worlds, but when you step back and you have a larger view, it's just, it's a real breath of fresh air.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, it is, it is. Stewardship.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I feel like that's really synonymous with leadership, too. Just being a little bit more about other people than yourself and being willing to make those connections that are really fruitful.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it's absolutely essential in the role that you're playing now because resources are gonna come your way, people are gonna come, and you really do have to be a good steward of all of the gifts and the good things that come your way, and you also have to be a discriminating steward because everything that's good to you ain't necessarily good for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you do have to be slightly selective.
[SPEAKER_05]: Very good, very good. So five years from now, what will you want the people of Medford to know about the collaborative and about your stewardship of the organization?
[SPEAKER_00]: Ooh, okay. In five years, I want people to know that it's accessible to them, in whatever that word means. I want them to know that they have a home there, and I want them to know that I will always be so happy to see them. I think that's pretty simple.
[SPEAKER_05]: What's your statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion?
[SPEAKER_00]: OK, my statement on diversity, equity, inclusion is that Well, that's a tough one.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's not a specific thing. I promise you that there wouldn't be no gotchas, right? But this is, especially in Medford in this season, it's becoming so important for us to identify the organizations in the community that really are about allegiance and really are about fairness and really are about bringing people into the fold. So it's not a gotcha. I think it's just kind of essential to your leadership.
[SPEAKER_00]: I agree with you. I would say with that that I'm, um, it might not seem like it cause we've done so much in nine months, but I'm actually really trying to take my time because I don't think that you can create true equity quickly. Um, and so I think it's about a lot of face to face conversation. I don't have a lot of rhetoric and fancy words for it. I think it's just about relationship and being really honest. Um, so I plan to do that. I plan to take my time, um, and talk to everyone that wants to be a part of this and listen. Okay. and then take that and create what needs to be in order to create a space that is diverse and equitable and inclusive. But it will happen.
[SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely, absolutely. How do you tune out the noise? What are your go-to's in terms of relaxation and meditative spaces and all that good stuff?
[SPEAKER_00]: Music, long walks, white noise, and just good conversation where I can get everything off my chest.
[SPEAKER_05]: And you have all of that in your life?
[SPEAKER_00]: I do. I'm very lucky.
[SPEAKER_05]: In abundance, I hope.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do. I have great walks in my life.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay What would people who are just meeting you for the first time be surprised to know about you
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. That I'm not a natural redhead. That I used to be really into theater. Yeah, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_05]: How did you fall away from being into theater?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's here. OK. I think it's there.
[SPEAKER_04]: So you're still into theater.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I would say this is what theater gave me, the ability to sit here at this table with you. Oh, really? OK.
[SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely. OK. OK. So a turnabout is fair play. So you get to ask me whatever question you want to ask me.
[SPEAKER_00]: OK. What was your first thought when you knew the Center was happening?
[SPEAKER_05]: So I go back to the first community center. This is the second building on the site. And we grew up as kids in the first building with a little old army barracks called the Quonset Hut that sat on a foundation that was poured by some guys from the neighborhood. And the Quonset Hut, the military hut, was trucked down here by the same guys. from Charlestown, I believe it was, where they had a temporary military installation. And like I said, I can't easily remember a time when we weren't at the community center. We played basketball out back at Duggar Park. It had a basement, actually. We're on a slab now, but the first building had a basement. And they had a pool table, bumper pool table, ping pong table down there. And then they had some little spaces in the back. And in those little spaces in the back, we had modeling class, we had arts and crafts, we had all kinds of things that kept us kids busy and off the streets. And there were oodles of kids in the neighborhood when I was growing up. So the community center really was a hub of community engagement and a babysitter for the neighborhood's parents because they always knew that their kids were going to be pretty much in one of two places. They were either going to be at the park or they were going to be at the community center. And I can remember my father, he would drive down in his old station wagon, and he'd roll down the window. Now, he's from one of the deepest places in Mississippi, right?
[SPEAKER_04]: If Mississippi got an ocean, he was from the deep end of that ocean. But anyways, he would say, and I'm glad he's not in the room because he'd get me. He'd say, my brother's name is Jordan.
[SPEAKER_05]: He'd say, Jordan? Jordan! And then everybody, everybody who was playing ball at the time would chime in. And it was like a chorus.
[SPEAKER_04]: Jordan!
[SPEAKER_05]: Jordan! So those are the kinds of memories I have of the first community center. Coming back, and I've been here for, it's going on 13 years now, managing elder services. It gave me an opportunity to do a couple of things. One, my mother was ailing. My father was ailing. So I had a chance to come back, because I was living on the South Shore, I had a chance to come back and be with them. So working at the community center gave me a chance to reestablish my family community in ways that I hadn't been able to. And as they both passed, I was able to be present. That's a gift that I'm never going to be able to repay the community center for. And then the other thing is it gave me a chance to come and reclaim my place as a bit of the historian. History of the community center you know and be able to be one of the storytellers in the community center and I've sent it a lot of the poetry that I write on that particular aspect of being here so when I think of the communities and I. I mean, I think of it so fondly. I have a lot of love for this place. And you know, nothing lasts forever. But I came in as an interim. And I didn't think I was going to stay here for very long. But life shapes. Life shapes. OK, so I'm going to give you the last word. What are your parting thoughts?
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh my gosh, yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an honor to be here. I'm so glad that I'm here. My parting thoughts are that I hope that everything that you described is what we can create at Arts Collaborative Medford. I think that we're on the brink of a lot of generations of memory and a lot of really beautiful shaping of our community. I think that we're in a really cool and interesting time at Medford. I'm super excited to be involved in it like in any way. And so if you are swinging by Theory Wellness or you are swinging by Atlas Liquors or you're swinging by Great American Beer Hall, please stop in at Arts Collaborative Medford and say hello and look at some art and tell me what's on your mind.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah. Come with my absolute highest recommendation. And I know it's early in the game, but I can tell you from having had conversation with her and being over there for a couple events, it's going to be great. It's going to stay great. It's going to stay great. So avail yourself of the opportunity to go hang out, because she's a great host. She really is, OK?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll offer you water.
[SPEAKER_05]: She's a great guest as well, but she's a great host. All right. All right. So thank you so much. All right. Bringing a new perspective and great talent to the arts community in greater Medford. It's really important work that you're engaged in. And I hope the city will treat you at least as well as it has treated me. And to everyone watching, thanks so much for your attentiveness, your interest in our discussion. And thanks for coming along with us as we rebrand. for greater flexibility and bringing the best stories and entertainment possible to y'all. Get ready for something very special on the musical side of the coin. We're going to take a break to reset our stage and share some WMCC announcements. Don't go anywhere. All right.
[SPEAKER_06]: Do me a favor, Regina. Stick that in that mic stand right there.
[SPEAKER_05]: We're going to gavel things to order, so to speak. All right. So, first and foremost, thanks to everyone who joined us for our Summer 2024 events and our recent annual meeting. We have lots to do. And we will need your continuing participation and great partnerships to make us work, to make things work. So, elders, please continue to join us each week, Tuesday through Thursday, for a nutritious lunch and a vibrant fellowship. And if you haven't been over, stop by sometime. Lunch is served at 12 noon and you can always call us at 781-483-3042 if you need to make a reservation. And please join us in membership to this great organization and to make sure that we have your contact information for future outreach and news. In partnership with the city of Medford, we are hosting during the lunch hour a COVID and flu shot clinic. on October 16th, and they will have the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and they will have the high-dose flu shot that's especially for seniors. So, if you want to get your shots, you know, bring your health card, come on over, and we can get you set up. So, Pumpkin Smash. Okay, and if you don't know what the Pumpkin Smash is, it's smashing pumpkins! In conjunction with Mothers Out Front, we'll be hosting the Pumpkin Smash early on Saturday, 11-2, 10-30 to one o'clock with Mothers Out Front. And then we also want to, and unfortunately it's on the same day, the NAACP Freedom Fund Breakfast. And that's an important event. It's going to be over at Anthony's and Somerville. And it starts at 10 o'clock? 10.30? Okay. 1130, excuse me. And it's always a wonderful event. Great speakers, great music, a little poetry. It's going to be really nice, so make yourselves available for... for that. And then on 11-23, Saturday 11-23, we will have our annual Black Vendor and Holiday Fair here at the community center. Wonderful, wonderful vendors, all kinds of different goods. And it's a really, it's a great festive day. So come out, spend some of your money in the neighborhood, and we'll be happy that you do. All right. Let's see if I can get myself together here. All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of paper, man. What am I doing with all this paper? I don't think I started out with all of this.
[SPEAKER_05]: I know. I know. It's my curse and my blessing. All right. let's turn our attention to what I like to call the lyrical miracle that we've engaged for this evening's musical side of the ledger. Now tonight we feature a well-established and highly professional performer that has gained a huge Not that huge, but you know, that kind, you know, the good huge, not the bad huge. A huge following and has also made some international friends as a singer, songwriter, musician, and teaching professional. Lydia, the lovely singer. Harrell is one of Boston's exceptional. Musical treasures, her sultry, soulful voice, this always chokes me up, and evocative songwriting have garnered her the attention and respect of the nation's finest musicians and venues. Lydia has shown an unbreakable ability to mold herself into any musical situation, jazz, pop, folk, soul, you name it. Be it performing with the Boston Pops, presenting her own original tunes, or serenading NBA fans with America's national anthem, Lydia's dedication to extracting the pure essence of the song goes virtually unmatched. I'm here for this. Lydia consistently performs in more than 150 shows a year, and not only as a solo actor, but in collaboration with other artists, such as world-renowned jazz musician, Bobby Floyd, and as one half of the duo, The Lady Parts, providing background vocals for Zap Mama, Ryan Montblanc, Albert Cummings and more. Recent musical accolades include singing lead on a Bob Marley tribute album, distributed by Sony Music Latin, winning the 2015 Duke Ellington Jazz Vocal Competition, performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, winning the 2017 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Voice Competition and recently being promoted to Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music. Yes, yes. She is a really hard-working musical miracle and the mom to an exceptional young son who takes great pride, I know this for a fact, in his exceptional mother. Okay, now the lovely singer is ably assisted by the multi-talented musician and songwriter Shindi, who we are welcoming. Yep. Absolutely, two Fresh Fridays for the first time. Shin is a New Yorker, currently based in Malden, Mass. He plays the bass and the acoustic guitar and probably a whole bunch of other stuff. He is also a sound engineer and music producer who has a lot of music out there on various platforms. He is also the proud father to a young son. Is that right? And daughter. And daughter. OK, very good. I'm getting it, you know, sometimes on the way. So musical parents are in the building. Welcome back to West Medford, Lydia, and nice to meet you, Shindig. I'm gonna get out the way and let y'all do what you do.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you. So Terry told me that it would be nice if I sang something from the Billie Holiday show. I didn't come here with my pianist. And usually, that's what I do the Billie Holiday stuff with. I wanted to try something new with you and have a, because I do a lot of stuff. I figured, let's go a different direction. But I am going to sing Strange Fruit. I figured I would start with that and just do it acapella, because that's a song you don't always need the accompaniment for. Southern trees bear strange fruit. Blood on the leaves and blood at the root. Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze. Strange fruit hanging. From the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south. The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth. Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh. than the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot,
[SPEAKER_10]: for the trees to drop.
[SPEAKER_11]: Here is a strange and bitter crop. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's a deep song, and I figured I'll do it now instead of doing a bunch of other songs and then trying to get into that. It's like, I can get there from the start. It was so sad for me to not do that show. It bummed me out. It really did. And I still apologize to this day for people that did get tickets. I'm sorry. I have no idea why it happened the way. Well, we all know why it happened. But the company closed as well, so I'm broke my heart, but thank you for wanting to hear more of it, because I love singing Billie Holiday. I brought my ukulele. I've been playing it a lot lately. I've been writing on it. Many years I've been writing on it, actually, but this one, yeah, this one's who's coming with me. This one I wrote, it's one of the first ones I wrote, because I learned blues on here first. I didn't learn Hawaiian songs, you know what I'm saying? No shade, I love Hawaiian songs. I just, I didn't, everyone's like, tiny bubbles. I'm like, I don't know anything about bubbles. I just know, I just know these. All right, here we go. It's about that time for some change. If you don't like how things are, that's when you rearrange. Who's coming with me? Don't be scared, step right up. If it's half-empty, come and fill your cup for who's coming with me. Ooh, we gotta stop. Think about what we're doing. Don't think too long, got to get busy aside this schooling. Oh, who's coming with me? Who's coming with me? Oh, I can see right under the door. Ain't nothing stopping me no more. Who's coming with me? We may feel as if we're lost and all alone. Sometimes that's when you got to stop playing with your smartphone. Things stop you from your dreams. Come in with me. Ooh. Someone said something, give them something now, yeah.
[SPEAKER_10]: know what could happen tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_11]: Honey, pull yourself together. Let go of your sorrow. Who's coming with me? Who's coming with me? No, don't you ever, ever stop.
[SPEAKER_10]: We're going straight through.
[SPEAKER_11]: Are you coming, are you coming, coming with me?
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: All right, so that one's one I just like to do to get people uplifted and excited and everything, but I'm looking at my list to make sure I cover the ones I really wanted to do and then go back to the other ones if it's like we're out of time, you know what I'm saying? And so I want to go straight to Stevie Wonder. Which one? Because I love him so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_11]: And yeah, we have to do switching because he's so talented. We have to, you know, give him a moment to go to the other. But that's all right. I promise it's worth it. I have known Shindig, goodness, early 2000s. And I knew him when he lived in New York. So actually, he lived in Medford when he first moved here. And he didn't know about this until today. or well, until I asked him to do the gig. And he's just like, when he walks in, he's like, we were up the street, what is this? And I'm like, well, now he knows. I mean, he's still only in Malden, so it's, you know, he could still come by and hang and bring the kids, you know what I'm saying? Like, yes. I'm really, I love when people see something for the first time and it's something beautiful. And I've just, this is tremendous that it has been here this long and that it continues. Thank you, Terry and all of your team for making that happen. All right, this song is, I don't remember the album, but it is part of a double song release thing. The song's title is Superwoman, but then it says in parentheses, where were you when I needed you? It's not because it's an alternate title, it's because it's two different songs. If anybody's heard it, you know what I'm talking about. It goes out of the other one, it goes, Mary wants to be a superwoman, very well, all of that, right? And then it goes into this amazing song called Where Were You? When I Needed You. Thank you, thank you. Yes, excellent album. Stevie Wonder is, I teach advanced improv at Berklee College of Music. It's one of the many things I teach. Stevie Wonder is my all-time favorite singer. So I had this really great opportunity to do a whole deep dive into my top singer. We just did it. We actually had them sing in higher ground, which I will be doing later, hopefully. We'll try to fit that in. And some of them picked things that I didn't think they would pick. So it was really fun to see that. Now we're on to Brandy, who's a whole other. whole other can of worms, but it's really fun. And pretty soon we'll do Earth, Wind, and Fire, too. I'm pretty excited about that as well. Right? Let's just get right into the good stuff, right? All right. When the summer came, you were not around. Now the summer's gone, and love cannot be found. Where were you when I needed you last winter? My love, when the winter came, you went further south, parting from love's nest, leaving me in doubt.
[SPEAKER_09]: Where were you when I needed you like Right now, yeah. Our love is at an end.
[SPEAKER_11]: But you say now things have changed.
[SPEAKER_10]: But tomorrow will reflect love's past.
[SPEAKER_11]: When the winter came, you were not around. Now you say you changed, but it just can't be found. Where were you when I needed you? Where were you when I needed you?
[SPEAKER_07]: La, la, la, la, la.
[SPEAKER_09]: ♪ La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
[SPEAKER_10]: Oh, our love is at an end. Give it up for him.
[SPEAKER_11]: But you say now things have changed. But tomorrow, tomorrow will reflect love's past. Spring will fill the air when you come around. Will the summer love and will it let me down? Where were you and I when I needed you last winter? My love, my love.
[SPEAKER_09]: Oh, my love, my love, my love, my love. My, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My love. Love. Yeah. Sweet. Where were you when I needed you? Like right, like right, like right. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: Ooh, I got hot, I knew it was gonna happen. Hold on. I was like, I'll wear a sweater, but I'll probably take the sweater off. Actually, I play the ukulele better when my skin is touching it rather than cloth, it slips. And then I'm like, I can't get that. So this is better. All right, what am I gonna do? This is so much fun, I love doing this. Okay, I have a new song. Which one is it? Under the Same Sky. The one that I was talking about. And I do, I know you see me looking at this, on this one, I have to look at it still, because it's that new. But I still want to share it. And I have a lot of it memorized, so we'll see what happens. If you see me stumble, you're getting the brand new song. And it's, I'd say, what, right, Fresh Friday, come on. I like that. I have like a rough recording on my phone or something, so I cannot wait to get this done. Shindig wants to record it. We're both hearing really great ideas, so yeah. And it's about, I tried to make it as general as possible so that we could all relate. I don't know about you, but when I'm sitting and people watching, I actually think about things like, we are all under the same sky, we are looking at the same things, and life is happening. And it can be good, not be good and even like right now our lives were in progress and now we're all in this room together and i just think that's so amazing that we're i don't even know how to put it into the right words except for the little bit that i said in my song so i hope you enjoy it um we're trying to deal with it i hear we're hearing a distortion so we're trying to like work on that if you're if you're seeing that no it's okay you're fine though you really are still playing great even through the distortion. I like this hat, the Celtics pink hat. I almost wore my Celtics dress today. Yes, I sang for the Celtics three times. I sang the national anthem. I don't remember the years, I'm sorry. I think when it was 2009. And then the third time though, when I did it, I believe that was 2014 or 15. And I had to sing the Canadian one as well. Oh my goodness, I was so nervous. I'm like, I'm gonna screw up somebody's national anthem. And then I start to sing and everybody that was from there started singing. I'm like, I'm fine. Okay. Not as many people were singing along to ours. Ours is hard. It's a lot of octaves and stuff. But theirs, it stays kind of in this general area. So as I started to forget, I heard somebody else sing. So I was like, oh, OK. We're good. It's safe. It was frightening. But it was quite an experience. It really was. And I like that they won recently. That was nice. If you're a sports fan, I know I am.
[SPEAKER_03]: It sounds OK now.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes, thank you.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, here we go.
[SPEAKER_11]: Ž Ž Ž Under the same sky Ž Ž Ž People are living Ž Ž People are dying Ž Ž Ž Scheming and dreaming Ž Sharing and stealing, reveling in the glamour of it all. Suffering in disaster and downfall. Under a watchful eye.
[SPEAKER_10]: Under the same sky. All of the sun and the moon, the brilliance of all those stars. What happened this afternoon? Let it go. Give it no more space in your mind. Life has such limited time.
[SPEAKER_11]: Don't regret you're down the line. See the sky. Don't cry. There's your answer.
[SPEAKER_10]: Why? Why? Under the same sky.
[SPEAKER_11]: People are living and people are dying.
[SPEAKER_10]: They're scheming and dreaming. They're sharing and stealing.
[SPEAKER_11]: Burbling in the glamour of it all. Suffering and disaster and downfall.
[SPEAKER_09]: Under a watchful eye. Under a watchful eye.
[SPEAKER_10]: And under the same sky.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes, that's what I'm talking about. Thank you. So I'm like hearing strings. He's actually beatboxing the beat he's imagining. I think you hear it too, right? Yes, absolutely. Okay, good. Now let's look at, oh yeah, I don't know if I'm ready to do that at all. Let's do the shimmy. Yes, yes, all right. So I watched this documentary. I wanna say, I don't remember when this person passed away, but it was recent. And the reason I'm waiting to tell you is because I want everybody to go, oh, okay. But I watched this documentary about her, and I thought, oh my goodness, her story is so tragic, and she was such a beautiful person and artist, but she got a lot of, when I say her name, you're gonna know exactly why. Sinead O'Connor, right. And she passed away two weeks after I watched her documentary, so that just touched me even more. I was like, oh man, I wanted to go to Ireland and say, hey girl, it's okay, you know? And she was all for black folks. She was about that life. She had public enemy on the side, and Shin met her. He told me about that today. Or he saw her, he didn't meet her. You saw her? Yes, you saw her, that's what it was. What a rough life and tough thing she went through, but she made beautiful music. And this song was in her documentary. It's pretty simple, but that's probably why I love it so much. So I'm going to try to play my uke on it, but it's mostly Shin playing on this. All right. Actually, let's just do you. What am I interfering for?
[SPEAKER_07]: Thank you for hearing me.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you for hearing me. Thank you for
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you for hearing me.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving me.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving me.
[SPEAKER_11]: And for not leaving me. And for not leaving me.
[SPEAKER_10]: And for not leaving me.
[SPEAKER_09]: And for not leaving me.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you for staying with me, yeah. Thank you for staying, staying with me.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you for staying with me.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you for staying with me.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thanks for not Thanks for not hurting me. Thanks for not hurting me.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thanks for not hurting me. You are gentle with me. You are gentle. with me. You are gentle with me. You are gentle, gentle with me. Thank you for holding me.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you for holding me. Thank you for holding me. Thank you for holding me. Thank you for breaking my heart. Now I have a strong, strong heart. Thank you for not, for breaking my heart. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_10]: Thank you for hearing me. Thank you for hearing me. Thank you for hearing me. Thank you for hearing me.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you so much. I just, you see how it's a simple, it's a lot of repeating, but it's just, it drew me in and I was like, oh, that's going on the set, that's happening. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. I need to sit for this one. So I'm just gonna. So if you can't see me, I apologize. But I'll try to make it so you can. I'll sit right where I was. But it's because I hate to sit this uke on my lap for a moment for this song. Do you want the boom? No, no, no, I'll be okay. I'm so used to having to adjust to not having the boom. Whoa! Way lower than I thought it was, but that's all right. Actually, maybe I need the higher ones. The black ones, maybe? Yeah, let me try one of those black chairs. Thank you. I appreciate you. If you can. If not, though, yeah, we can take this off. Thank you. Oh, just a minute, let it come down. Okay, I see what you're doing.
[SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_11]: Okay. And actually, what I'm gonna do is move the sky. I don't need it fully. I only needed a little bit. So this song, I've been part of a thing called The Club Placime Folk Collective, and you know, I've always been known as more of a jazz R&B artist, but ever since I picked up this uke, it's opened up a lot more just genres and fans and stuff. But also, folk music is more than what we think. often think it is. It's not all banjos and, you know, so it was really nice to be part of that collective because it was our way of educating people that there needs to be more diversity at Club Pessim, but at other places in the entire folk community, but honestly just in everything, but you gotta start somewhere, right? So it's been a pleasure doing that and I did a show with one of them and they said, bring a traditional folk song and I was like,
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know what that is.
[SPEAKER_11]: I do, and I also don't. So I immediately went to You Are My Sunshine. And I was like, I am not going to play You Are My Sunshine, my only sunshine. So I decided to play it like this. The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed you held me in your arms. But when I woke, I was mistaken. And I hung my head down and cried. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
[SPEAKER_10]: You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.
[SPEAKER_11]: Please don't take my sunshine away. Sorry. I'll always love you and make you happy if you would only say the same.
[SPEAKER_10]: But if you love me, why'd you leave me for another?
[SPEAKER_11]: You gonna regret it someday. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.
[SPEAKER_10]: Please don't take my sunshine away.
[SPEAKER_11]: Please don't take my sunshine away. You told me once, dear, you really loved me. And no one else could come between. But now you left me for that other, and you shattered all. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away. Please don't take my sunshine away. Please don't take my sunshine away.
[SPEAKER_10]: Please don't take my sunshine.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you. I just cannot play that standing up. It's too many things happening, so I needed it on my thigh. Anybody ever notice that? You ever wonder, like, how are they holding that? There's no strap. What happened here? And it's, there's little tricks we do. Like, see how he's holding the, that helps to play it better, yeah. But it also helps me to stand up when I'm singing. So that's why I had to go kind of back and forth. Thank you for bearing with me for a moment I love that song, oh my goodness. I need to think about that. But you know what, in the same kind of, oh, the other one. Right? Yeah, that one. I forgot the name of it. I don't know why I forgot the name of it. I know the song. But here I am going, I don't know the title. I just know that I'll hum it. I was just telling him how sometimes people will walk up to me while I'm playing, by the way, playing something. Tell me later. So funny. I mean, sometimes I didn't laugh at that, but that I just, when I remembered, I was like, that was actually pretty funny. Cause they really thought I was listening. I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about, but we can talk about it later. All right. So this one, I just liked it. Another uplifting, fun one. All right. Plus Shin, Shin likes to play this one. I was like, oh, if we can play, okay, yeah, let's do it. All right. This one's by Sam and Dave. Don't you ever feel sad?
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: OK, cool. We've made our decision. It's Stevie Wonder. I actually gave him two Stevie Wonder choices, so it was going to be Stevie no matter what. Stevie or Stevie. OK, Stevie it is. At first I was thinking, oh, we put Stevie in the semantics. I would hope that everybody yeah I even said I was like even if you don't know you love Stevie right because sometimes you don't know what's a song that he wrote you know things like that I love I love teaching when it comes to that when it comes to people opening their eyes to He wrote what now? I'm like, he wrote I Can't Help It by Michael Jackson. He wrote Tell Me Something Good for Rufus and Chaka Khan. He wrote all of that stuff. And the dude's just, I mean, Minnie Riperton, he's all over her stuff, because she's all over his. They just harmonizing and doing. I remember Maya Rudolph saying, yeah, he's Uncle Stevie to me. I'm like, well, what a life to sit in the living room with Stevie Wonder and just be like, hey, uncle, give me a song. But this one's one of my favorites. I sang this at the Apollo. This is one of the ones that got me to get there for a second round, and it was really cool.
[SPEAKER_03]: All right. Yeah. People.
[SPEAKER_11]: Keep on warring. I don't think they club like that. I said that backwards. It's all right. World, keep on turning. because it won't be too long. Powers keep on lying while your people Keep on dying. Very appropriate for this time of world. Keep on turning. It won't be too long. Oh, no. I'm so darn glad he let me try it again. Because my last time on earth, I lived a whole world of sin. I'm so glad that I ain't no more than I knew then. Going to keep on trying till I reach the highest ground. Yeah. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.
[SPEAKER_08]: Mm.
[SPEAKER_11]: A teacher. Keep on teaching. Preaching. Keep on preaching. Mm-hmm. Oh, world. Keep on turning. Yeah, yeah. It won't be too long. No, no, no, no, no. Uh, uh, uh. Oh, lovers, keep on loving. Oh, believers, you better keep on believing. Stop sleeping. It won't be too long. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hey, I'm so darn glad he let me try it again. Because my last time on Earth, I lived a whole world of sin. I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then. I'm going to keep on trying till I reach the highest ground. Yeah.
[SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_10]: Till I reach the highest ground.
[SPEAKER_11]: No one's gonna bring me down. No, no, no, no, no. Till I reach the highest ground. Till I reach the highest ground.
[SPEAKER_09]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: What do we have time for? One more? Okay. One more. Should it be more Stevie Wonder? More Stevie Wonder. Hold on. Let me just make sure I did all the ones that I really wanted to do. I did, I did. I don't know why I went there. I wanna do all of them. All right. I was thinking of going, I didn't say this to you, but I know you know it. Oh, yeah. In A? I can play this too. A major, not A minor. Wait, let's go a little faster. has come, and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light we'll see. Stand by me. Stand by me. If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall. Darling, darling stand by me stand by me, stand by me. Thank you so much, everyone. Shindig, everyone. My name is Lydia Harrell. Look at lovelysinger.com. It's the easiest thing to remember if you want to find me. I don't have any business cards or anything. I'm sorry. But lovelysinger.com. Thank you so much, everyone.
[SPEAKER_05]: All right, so you know what they say, you know, half the battle is just showing up. So if you just show up, we're going to keep on doing what we do. That is a wrap. for this live edition of WMCC's monthly Fresh Fridays words and music program. We're so happy to be back here at the center and visiting with you in your living rooms and other household places. I wanna thank all of our guests for showing up and allowing us to invade their spaces, showing their faces and sharing their graces. Special thanks to Regina Parkinson of the Arts Medford Collaborative on the word side. And to Lydia Harrell, the lovely singer, and Shindig on the music side. There's an air high five to Kevin Harrington and Mark Davidson, Medford Community Media, for helping us be live on local cable and the web. Thank all of you for spending another evening enjoying what the WMCC has to offer. We will be back in November, for sure, with another edition of Fresh Fridays, Words and Music, getting everyone ready for the winter holidays. Here's one more reminder of the stuff that we've got going on in the neighborhood over the next several weeks. Again, COVID and flu shot clinic here at the lunch hour on October 16th. The Pumpkin Smash with Mothers Out Front on November 2nd. Also, the NAAC Freedom Fund Breakfast over at Anthony's in Malden. And that's also on November 2nd. It's an important event, and so if you're able to go, you definitely should check that out. We have the Black Vendor and Holiday Fair coming up on November 23rd. Just a lot of stuff going on in the neighborhood. It's a lovely neighborhood. So avail yourself of all of the good things that you should and can do here in Medford. How you can help us. Your tax-deductible donations help to support the mission of WMCC. Partner with us in carrying this mission forward. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to this vital community organization. You can make your donation by phone, online, or by check. Please contact Lisa Crossman at 781-483-30 for more information or to become a member. Thanks as always to the great sponsors of WMCC Fresh Fridays programming, the Medford Arts Council, a member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and our lovely friends at Medford Community Media, make sure we have your email address if you want to be included in our regular constant contact connection, or you can also call us at 781-483-3042. That's all I got. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Y'all have a wonderful evening. All right. Thank you.