Our Take: Thanksgiving Thoughts

Soon, it will be Thanksgiving week. I say “week” because, over the past few years, what was once a holiday celebrated with an evening of preparation and anticipation, then a full day of food creation, excess libation and family conversation and culminating with an early morning migration to shopping centers to purchase gifts for the Christmas celebration (trying to stay within your budget estimation!), is now a week-long vacation. Let’s undertake an examination to see if we can find confirmation that this amazing transformation has taken place. Ready for the explanation?

The main culprits in this endeavor are the retailers. “Black Friday” has lost its meaning and its allure. For those who cannot remember how the term came to be, most retailers believed that the Friday after Thanksgiving was when the stores went from being “in the red” to being “in the black.” That day was famous for folks lining up at the doors of various stores preparing to pounce on the teaser low-priced items that were advertised the week before. The retailers’ goal was simply to find ways to get folks into the stores.

Another reminder. A “store” is a building or a designated space where goods are displayed for purchase and humans serve as guides to assist you with your selection and the completion of your transaction. Soon, museums which will have exhibitions showing how stores used to serve our needs.  

Enter the Internet. The kitchen table and a laptop have replaced the need to go to the store. This change was inevitable, but the Pandemic accelerated our move from face-to-face encounters in a mall to sitting at home with a cup of coffee wearing a robe and slippers exploring what bargains are available. With everything speeding up and becoming more impersonal, the next step was pre-ordained. Black Friday started earlier, lasted longer and has now become almost a meaningless cliché. Do you really respond to Black Friday ads?

With the shopping aspect of Thanksgiving going from an all-day traditional family and friend event to a few minutes, that left more time for other activities which, in turn, made Thanksgiving a vacation week. Cancun does have internet.

As for those who continue the Black Friday attack on the malls and stores, put on your Santa hats, reindeer antlers and your ugly holiday sweaters, grab whatever credit card with room left for purchases and head out. This venture may not have the same gusto as it used to have, but interacting with others is a good thing.

All of us need to fight someone over the last green turtleneck sweater or talking mounted fish, to be insulted by a store clerk for asking too many questions, to being embarrassed when that same clerk hands you back your credit card when your charge “did not go through” or to find that the item that you have to have for a child is out of stock. On more than one occasion, I believe that a clerk fabricated the “did not go through” claim for the sole purpose of embarrassing me. Seriously, how would you know?

Veteran readers of this column know what is coming next. Whether you go out to shop or do so at home is of no concern to me. I see pros and cons to both. But when it comes to enjoying our music, there is no debate. None. I do not care if you have the most elaborate and high-tech sound system in the world, nothing beats a live music event.

At home, you can hear the music, for sure. And, given the opportunity to modify the mix and dub in and around errors, the recording is probably the “cleanest” presentation of the tune possible.

Is that the music experience that you want? Watching the musicians perform, how they interact with their fellow musicians and with the audience and seeing the reaction of the patrons among themselves…that is the good stuff. If you recall the most memorable music experiences of your life, it is more about the human reaction and interaction than the tune itself.

Granted, I am partial to music as my form of entertainment, but the concept is true for other forms as well. Though many people prefer to watch football on television, the most memorable games you can recall were likely ones that you attended in person. The thrill of a crowd. The sights, sounds, smells and sharing of a live event not only makes you feel alive, but it proves that as well. From the “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?” world of logic, if you play music at home with no one around, are you really at a concert? Do the musicians really exist?

Now that Thanksgiving is a week-long holiday and the time you need for shopping has been minimized (no doubt that many of you have already completed your shopping by taking advantage of the October Black Friday offers), take that extra time and go see live music! Nothing in the world is better. Nothing.

By Michael Lazaroff, Executive Director of The Jazz Cruise, The Smooth Jazz Cruise, Chris Botti at Sea, Christian McBride’s World at Sea, Journey of Jazz, David Foster: The Hitman Cruise and Top Shelf Country Cruise. Feel free to express your views or pose questions to him at michael@scecruises.com.

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