Tom Who?

Karen Brown writes:

I'll admit it. Although I've certainly heard of Rage Against the Machine, I'd never heard of Tom Morello and never heard him play. When Lauren Onkey supplied this You Tube link of Tom Morello playing with Bruce Springsteen in Anaheim, I wasn't all that eager to watch it. Why? I didn't know who Tom Morello was and as I read comments from others who'd been sent the link and heard that it was about his guitar solo, I thought, "I'm not going to get this." I seldom "get" musical solos because I have no basic understanding of what a good technical performance means. I know about singing; instruments not so much. It's why I don't participate in discussions about musicians and their abilities. It's beyo nd my area of expertise, over my head, out of my league. It would be like me showing up at the Indy 500 in a Model T Ford. But, finally, curiosity got the best of me and I thought I'd just privately watch and listen and see if I could decipher any nuance of brilliance out of Morello's sharing the stage with Bruce.


At first, nothing. "Yup, as usual I don't get it," I thought with this sense of resignation. Then slowly, then quickly I started to get it. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. My heart seized up and filled up my chest. I drew in breath and didn't let it out again until I realized I was beginning to feel lightheaded. When Morello took the song away from Bruce, I felt whole. Completely whole. It was amazing. I still have no idea if what he did was technically brilliant but spiritually brilliant? Absolutely.