Jon Anderson + The School of Rock = Earth Day

On Friday, just outside the doors on Grand Central, there was an Earth Day Concert featuring Jon Anderson of the legendary rock group"Yes."
Jon's was backed by a group of kids from "The Paul Green School of Rock." They're an incredibly talented group of kids, aged 13-16, who weren't even born when the songs they were playing were originally recorded. They were so good, that if you closed your eyes, you would swear you were listening to "Yes."

The lead guitarist was a fifteen-year-old girl named Sarah Zimmerman. Her playing style reminded me of Bonnie Raitt (a lot of sliding up and down the neck of the guitar). I predict that she'll be a big star someday.

My brother Brian turned me onto "Yes" back in the "70's," so it was very fitting that I ran into him in the crowd. We both agreed that it was one of the best shows we had ever seen, and ...it was FREE!


After the show, Brian and I went backstage where I asked Jon Anderson to take a picture with me. He told me to make it quick because they had to go to lunch. He reminded me of a kindly, elfin, college professor.

Just as Brian snapped the picture, some random dude ran up with his Blackberry and took a picture, (that's me behind the Blackberry.) Unfortunately, Brian couldn't figure out how to take another shot (he was using my cellphone.) Jon apologized and said he had to move on. Obviously, he didn't know he was with the "Conductor to the Stars."

Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxks-PWvY0w