Stories Will Be Told
This issue of Tulsa Times was begun during Back To The Island.
listening to the radio on a rather dull Friday morning and a programme called Desert Island Discs comes on. This show features celebrities who choose their favourite 8 songs for being cast away on a desert island.
Today’s cast away makes salient points about the first music you fall in love with and how for some people it draws them into telling stories, writing prose of many kinds, all with the intent to capture a moment, to express a love, to unravel what is mysterious and meaningful in this life.
This can be nowhere, no more true today, than in Jamaica.
For the past 4 days, Hanson have been holding their fourth Back To The Island event and from the experiences and images being shared, there will be lots for some to write about.
This year has featured three main Hanson concerts with echoes of the Roots and Rock N Roll Tour, solo shows by Zac, Taylor and Isaac, and support from Paul MacDonald and Parachute.
The music has been interspersed with activities hosted by each member of the band, allowing for more intimate, informal conversation and proximity.
These features of the BTTI experience promise and deliver much for the fans who travel far and put their hearts into the hands of Hanson.
Over time, especially strong bonds are formed between fans, whose friendships grow through sharing. And just about everything is shared. The anticipation, the planning, the waiting, the accommodation and of course the experience.
So it would only be right, that after such an all encompassing adventure, the sharing, plus the music beloved of a life time and the personalities, looks and charisma of Hanson, should inspire many stories to be told.
By the time some fans return home, moments will already be legends and the odd myth will have sprung from the sand. Those who watched the stories unfold via face book, twitter, snapchat and private message, will hesitantly fill in the gaps, imagine the context or ask questions about the whys and wherefores.
Hanson have always lived in the world of social media and their journey and career have been documented by it, not always with accuracy. Many current fans wouldn’t know of Hanson or have been able to sustain interest in their music without it.
So the story of this band, the music, the fans and the encounters continues to be written, one picture and comment at a time.
It has been said that, “It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story”. Maybe those thousand voices can be heard online, but you will have to look beyond the image and listen beyond the video-byte, to find the truth.
For the truth is as hard to grasp as the sand on the beach at Jewell Paradise Cove and it is made up of a million moments for each individual singing the songs of Hanson.
The first time they heard a particular song, the first time they spoke to one of the band, the time the band played a requested song or remembered their name; all these things and more are lines in the telling of the truth of it.
The songs that have been played this week have histories of their own. Hanson have played songs from the early days of their career to their latest compositions. They have referenced their ups and downs and played the music of artists that inspired them and that featured on their latest tour.
The music, the unexpected moments and the trials and delights of travel will all take their place in the tales recounted, however they are presented. No doubt plans are already in the making for an even better time to be had next year, by both fans and Hanson themselves.
The images being shared by fans in Jamaica, do justice to the beauty of the location and the classy venue.
They also whet the appetite of those who have never made it to Back To The Island, with many wondering how to make it happen in 2017.
As stories are shared online and fans generously allow others to learn from their experiences, the window on what Hanson deliver for their fan base is opened a little wider and the view is an interesting one.
However the writers will be wise to stand back from too many presumptions about future Back To The Island experiences, for Hanson are nothing if not inventive and unpredictable.
In the past few days, Entrepreneur magazine has published its February edition and featured Hanson, the musicians who survived and created opportunities to become business men.
In the feature, Taylor Hanson speaks about the processes that keep him and Hanson constantly moving ahead with their ideas and outcomes.
He describes a goal orientated, multifaceted approach to creativity, which is driven by hard work and a constant visualisation of what could be possible.
It seems that Hanson collect lists of ideas, which work as bits and pieces, come to the surface and find their place along side other bits and pieces.
At one stage, when talking with Entrepreneur about creativity, Taylor talks about ego, saying that it “sucks the air out of the room”. Perhaps it is because Hanson work collaboratively, and with a generous humility, that they have such a capacity to stoke fires and burn the candle, at both ends where necessary.
So expect the entrepreneurs to come up with something to surprise in the next round of events including Hanson day 2016, The Hop Jam, Back To The Island 2017 and whatever the Hanson To Do List, has in store.
As much as stories will be told about what has already been, we are sure that there are many, many more in the making.
Thanks to Brenda O’Connor and Danielle Fredette for the Images.
