Eddie Vedder was the subject of the opening soliloquy at yoga class on Wednesday. Josh Vincent, the instructor, had been to the concert the previous night and claimed he was still buzzing from it -- in an emotional/spiritual manner not a "substantial" manner.

I was intrigued as he explained that he considered Vedder as a hero who represents an answer to Kurt Cobain's nihilism. He then went on to talk about the spiritual flowering of the late 60's, it's obliteration in the 80's, and the current explosion of yoga and spirituality.

After the class I over heard one of the students talking with Josh about the concert, "It wasn't as rowdy as his last concert at the Spreckles. Of course, the crowd was a lot more subdued last night as well."

Josh concurred.

The other student continued, "Richard didn't know what to wear. He asked me if he should wear casual slacks or something since the concert was at Symphony Hall."

Here we have the thorn in my side. The culture that has been cultivated around classical music is so stuffy that people don't know what to wear to a Vedder concert because it's at Symphony Hall.

As we walked to put our yoga blocks away I said to Josh, "We've got to change that perception. The classical music crowd is still too stuffy and pretentious."

He concurred with me as well. He's very agreeable.

My wish is that one day we'll be at a concert of Beethoven's 7th symphony and we'll be laughing along with Beethoven during the final--at least on the inside, that would be a great start. Who knows, maybe it's already started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15OUkJBZhBw&feature=related