Do You See What I Hear?

As usual, I was listening to All Things Considered on the way home from work today. They did a story on one of my favorite things - the people who do sign language at concerts.

I think the first time I ever saw this happen was about a million years ago at a James McMurtry concert when I lived just outside of Washington, DC. It was 1989 and James had just released his first album, "Too Long in the Wasteland." At this point, I should mention that yes, James is the son of recent Academy Award winning writer Larry McMurtry. James is quite a writer, too. His songs were/are like short stories, set to music. I can't remember James he was opening for that night in DC, but when he arrived on stage, a stocky, balding man came out with him and stood on an edge of the stage. As James sang, this man's hands fluttered around, trying to keep up with James' words. I was instantly mesmerized. He rocked from heel to toe, keeping time with the music. His body, his arms, his hands all brought the music to life. After the show I asked him how he knew all the words...he said he had never heard them before. He was literally translating them as they were coming out of the speaker. Amazing.

It turns out that with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, every venue has to accommodate everyone with disabilities. Most of us have seen wheelchair ramps or special seating for wheelchairs. However, if there is just ONE deaf person in the audience (who has to contact the venue ahead of time), there will be a sign language interpreter at the show.

As my suspicions were confirmed in the story today, there is no great money to be made in this field. I look at it as an art. A great interpreter can let a deaf person "hear" the music. They'll be able to communicate the tempo, the instrumental step-out solos, the intensity of the music and/or lyrics. I've seen interpeters at a lot of concerts - Springsteen, U2...but one of my favorites had to be at the Grand Opening of the Experience Music Project in Seattle. A huge multi-act, multi-day concert took place back in June, 2000. The "industry" section was in the same place as the hearing impaired section. We got our very own interpreters! I was pretty impressed with how they handled the music selection - everyone from Rufus Wainwright to Metallica. The interpreter blew me away with Eminem - "My name is..." He nailed it. When Kid Rock came out with "Bawitdaba, da bang, da dang diggy diggy diggy, said the boogie, said up jump the boogie" the guy was just lost. He bopped up and down to the music, swayed in time to the beat, but held his hands out, palms up in a giant "I have no idea what this guy is saying" way. Every few seconds, he would point to his ear, shrug his shoulder and go back to the palms up position. It cracked me up.

Anyway, needless to say, I have a special place in my heart for the art form, and was glad to hear a story about it on NPR.

If you're interested, check out the story. They also have 30-second clips of two of the interpreters interpreting classic Simon and Garfunkel songs.



Bye bye.