Harmony, Carols and Years Gone By

I haven't posted to this blog in more than a year.  Lots of reasons for that.  Maybe I'll get into it later, but I'm feeling like sharing right now.
So, I will.

I've been listening to Christmas Carols for the last couple of weeks. 
Singing along. 
Finding my harmony. 
Just me in the car. 
That's enough. 
But, today it wasn't.
I started to have really vivid memories of another time, another place when singing was everything to me.
I want to acknowledge those good friends from that time.
Good friends who could sing their asses off.
Many years ago, I was part of a group ... the Abstractions.  I called us the "Pimptations"  because we pimped everything the Temptations ever recorded. 
We were, however, our own instrument. 
That was evident around the Christmas season. 
We always had seasonal gigs. 
Jobs in places that smelled like cheap booze, cigarettes and pure joy. 
God, I loved it. 
There was something special about singing in front of a crowd, drunk on the season and 80-proof whatever.
They embraced us and cheered whatever we sang. 
We celebrated the holiday together and The Abstractions were part of their good memories.
In spite of that, the time we spent away from the band, just us, five voices, on some frigid streetcorner, just singing together, makes me want to cry.
Hell, it does make me cry.
Not painful tears, but comtemplative crying. 
Wishing I had embraced the moments more fully
We were five brothers from different mothers.
But, I love Wilfred, Unfreno, Francis, and Philip like I love any Lomax.
Five big voices, willing to dial it back so the harmony was just one big jar of honey.
Warm, sweet and comforting.
We would sing Christmas carols.
Just us in the cold night air and songs sung millions of times before, but not ever quite like we did.
Nothing soothes the soul like harmony done right.
And my soul was never at peace as much as it was on a frigid late December night, on a street corner in East Knoxville.