On the Road #2: Love Heals

• Posted on 12th January 2016
• in Entertainment, entertainment books, Love Heals, Love Story
• by Ben

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In the summer of 1990 Elizabeth and I made a six week

“Love Heals”

mini-concert tour. She did about a dozen appearances in New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado. The details can be found in Chapter 27 of Waiting for Elizabeth. Here’s an excerpt:

“Elizabeth’s first Santa Fe gig was that Sunday at a New Age gathering called The Forum. …

“These little gigs were a lot of work for me. I had to schlep the sound system into the place, set it up, run a sound check then arrange our product for sales and after the gig wrap it all back into the car. With her pianist, Richard Shulman, Elizabeth had created a library of accompaniment … audio tracks of the piano part without the vocal which are played back as she sings. …We had several of these tapes with various tunes on them and part of my job was to cue them up, play them back and do a “live mix” with the Tascam [sound mixing deck] as Elizabeth sang.

“Ah, as she sang: my heart burst with pride. Being in support of my wonderful woman was  always a thrill for me, her biggest fan. Occasionally someone would address me as ‘Mr. Hepburn’ and I loved it. Made me feel that I was married to a Star (which I was). …

“I need to give you some background so I’ll briefly revisit the time when we met at the Mount Gretna (PA) Playhouse. There’s an entire chapter (#9) about her in book one. I was playing Billy (the lead) and she was playing Carrie (the comedienne) in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel. I’ll just tell you that I recognized and fell in love with her the moment I saw her. (For the details see Chapter 9.) And an hour later my enthrallment was reinforced when I saw and heard her at work. Her … voice had a crystalline resonance that thrilled me to the bone and the comedic skill with which she delivered the lyric only intensified the pleasure of hearing her.

“After her remarkable – some would say miraculous – personal healing experience in the ‘70s her work shifted toward the healing arts. In her concerts and programs the music and commentary were subtly metaphysical (Spiritual) and always about inspiring and uplifting her audience. Her raison d’etre had evolved into being a healing presence not simply an entertainer.

“Over the subsequent years Elizabeth had become aware that she no longer belonged in show business but was, as I put it at the time, ‘a minister of the Light’. She had realized that the years of Spiritual/Healing training that had saved her life coupled with her background as a singer and an actress had provided her with a unique set of tools which could be applied to healing and Spiritual growth in others. Her desire to share these concepts and practices prompted a series of what we then had called ‘healing concerts’. Her programs ran from classical to pop but they included guided visualizations designed to open people to the love and beauty within. And she was funny. Elizabeth knows that laughter is one of the greatest healers and her talks are punctuated by her facility with humor. All of Elizabeth’s theatrical skills were brought to bear in her presentations.

“We got some interesting reactions to the concept of a ‘Healing’ concert. My favorite was from the quintessential New Yorker Lenny Cohen: He asked Elizabeth what she meant by that title and she told him that her goal was to open peoples’ hearts. ‘What the fuck does that mean – you doing heart surgery?’ After attending two or three of the concerts Lenny came around and gave her this quote. ‘Being at one of Elizabeth’s concerts is like spending a day in the country.’

“So this is what she was doing, albeit in abbreviated form, at these appearances on our trip.”

As I post this in January, 2016 her website is elizabethhepburn.com but we’re working on a new site that we expect to have up soon: lovehealswithelizabeth.com

You can read more of our adventures together when you click here and get Waiting for Elizabeth.

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Tags: Elizabeth Hepburn