by Terri Castillo-Chapin
On Sunday, March 9, 2008, the anniversary of the 51st birthday of Thomas Chapin, the last of the three ""Lift Off! Remembering Thomas Chapin"" concerts was held. The concerts commemorated Thomas on the tenth year of his passing.
In an intimate, smaller, personal loft-space setting of long-time friend, Pamela Kraft, ""Lifting Our Voices: Sharing Words, Memories & Instrumental Soloists,"" about 32 musicians, poets and friends gathered together. The venerable loft space had been host to many Thomas Chapin events in the past--from where his spiritual Gurdjieff group gathered under the sage tutlelage of Gil Barretto, to Trio, Tango, Quintet/Quartet concerts by Thomas, to tree-trimming Christmas parties, to healing circles with friends during the year Thomas was undergoing treatment for leukemia, to chanting Tibetan monks who toned prayers for Thomas during same year, to many memorable relaxed and casual moments, mostly eating, around Pam's long, butcher-block kitchen table.
On this day, the guests gathered in circular rows around a low table filled with lit tea candles, scattered with 3x5 color portrait photos of Thomas which the guests took home. It was intimate, magical, intense, a sacred few holy hours with musicians performing solo, and remembrances shared by friends. Thomas' loving spirit permeated the proceedings.
Multi-reedist Ned Rothenberg opened with a shakuhatchi piece that is played at bardo (Tibetan moment when the one passes into the afterlife), and so all that breath and and haunting, soulful notes spilling with deep consciousness out of the wooden flute, masterfully played by Ned, was piercing--straight to the heart--and moving.
Next Gil Barretto, Thomas' spiritual teacher and friend of ten years, led the spoken word and shared how he and Thomas spoke every week, how ""together we walked through our darknesses,"" and how Thomas played every note on purpose and intentional to be fully in the moment, giving purely of himself.
Then young, next-generation saxophonist Brett Ryan aka Nadar Nihal Khalsa (his formal Sikh name) from Tucson, AZ--then transplanted New Yorker--performed a high-energy arrangement of Thomas' ""Lift Off"" after which the tribute concerts were named. Brett soared and screeched, in slow-down, clipped, soft-and-piercing sax tones that evoked Thomas' spirit and playing, and yet opened up space for what brilliance new players who have been influenced by Thomas, but never met him nor saw him perform, can bring to the already inspired Chapin compositions. Ryan also opened the earlier Bowery Poetry Club tribute evening with this same stunning rendition of ""Lift Off.""
There were moving poems by Steve and Yuko Dalachinsky, Paul Mayer, and words/memories, intermingled with solemnity and laughter, and more soloists--a moving flute piece by Thomas' niece Sonia Caltvedt from San Francisco; saxophonists' tributes by Sue Terry, a friend-colleague from college, and Josh Harris a musician-colleague fromt Rutgers, played soaring and tender notes. There was long-time comrade Michael Rabinowitz on bassoon offering a sparkling and bright dedication, and Mark Feldman, violin, and partner, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, concluded the program with two improvised, heated, hair-raising duets that certainly shook and roused Thomas from the other side! (He loved/lived ""raucous""!)
Energetic eighty-five-year-old artist Lynda Wismer, a friend and fan, shared how Thomas' playing and solos were so penetrating that your insides tingled and exploded, as she put it, “into one delirious orgasm after another.” Paul Mayer, fellow Gudjeiff explorer, 60s activist--today, into global warming--and ex-Catholic priest/Buddhist shared about Thomas, the Dreamer (see Poem in ""Articles/Memories""), and how he married Thomas and Terri in the hospital while Thomas was undergoing a last round of chemotherapy--he would pass three months' later.
Terri Castillo-Chapin shared how she and Thomas met in Jan., 1987: Walking through the main floor of Grand Central Station, hearing thrilling flute sounds ringing in the upper domed, blue-skied, lit galaxy above. Crowd gathered around Thomas and Michael Rabinowitz's quintet group playing near Metro North booths. A soaring solo by Thomas. Terri walking up to Thomas: ""I'm making films. I'd like to use your music."" Exchanging phone numbers. The rest is history.... Their first date three months' later: Sitting at Public Theatre waiting for Thomas, reading a book. First a heady, mesmerizing, sensual, wafting scent--patchoulli. It was Thomas' signature fragrance. Looking up, she remembers seeing ""beauty personified""-- Thomas standing there, a smile so wide and golden, wearing a red-and-black Guatemalan poncho, black pants and boots, hair pulled back in trademark ponytail and wearing a black--widest brim--bolero hat IN NEW YORK CITY! (""What guy walks around in a bolero hat in NYC?"" Only on Thomas it looked natural and stunning!) That wasn't all, he held out three, long-stemmed, shimmering PEACOCK FEATHERS! (""What guy is imaginative enough to greet his lady with peacock feathers???"" Only Thomas Chapin.) ""I fell in love right then and there!""
Pamela Kraft, the ever-generous hostess, sat silently throughout. She seemed to be taking in all these inimitable, scrumptious offerings, putting them into her festive, mental scrapbook of unforgettable, never-to-be-repeated, loft-space moments of many, many years: there were the many spiritual meetings Thomas attended there, the music performances he gave and attended, the confidences Thomas shared with big-sister Pamela, there were the special healing circles with friends and fans Pamela organized at the loft the year Thomas was ill, trips to the hospital to check on Thomas and offer support, finally speeding in a car to Rhode Island hospital with friends when his time had come, sitting with his now-cold body in the room with nurses scurrying about unplugging equipment and such, and saying heartfelt prayers, still experiencing unbroken communion with his huge, dear spirit; gratitude.
And so the magical evening went...
The evening was dubbed ""the million dollar concert,"" a living-room setting with world-class musicians, poets, spiritual teachers and citizens--all of us there together bound by the memories and impact of Thomas Chapin, held together by every sigh, word and note sounded. It was a priceless and inestimable experience that seemed to charge and change everyone. Deep, electric, like our DNA transformed and expanded by the high-quality vibrations in that room! The moment was ""history in the making,"" and we were there.
After the program we all gathered around Pam's butcher-block table and ate ""million-dollar-blessed"" food--juicy ham, smoked salmon w/lemon & capers, roasted chicken, potato salad, green beens, variety of cheeses & crackers, salsa & guacamole and chips, pies and cakes! And, in smaller circles, shared more of our excitement about what had just happened, the glowing ""lift off"" we all personally were high on, about Thomas, and one another. No one left; we just stayed and lingered, bathed in the bright light and energy of a beautiful, reverent occurence.
It was a great evening--intimate and raw--of a different tenor than the other two big, formal ""Lift Off"" concerts previously held in the uptown/downtown arenas. At the loft space, feeling intensely a dear friend, a husband, an uncle, a spiritual seeker, a fellow poet, a colleague, a great musician with monster chops.... in each note, in the silence, in the listening, in the laughter, in the opening of all hearts to Thomas, to Love. WOW.