When the final chord vibrated into silence, there was a beat of absolute stillness before the applause broke. It wasn't the polite clap of a bored audience; it was the roar of people who had just been reminded of what it feels like to be human.
At first, the room didn't change. But as Leo hit the first line— “The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful” —the guy at the bar stopped mid-sentence. A couple in the corner booth stopped looking at their phones. Edwin McCain - I'll Be (Live)
The smell of stale beer and floor wax always hung heavy in The Soundboard, a dive bar where the stage was barely six inches off the ground. When the final chord vibrated into silence, there