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I want to publicly thank whoever who came up with the idea to put speakers on the street light poles on Main Street which play all genres of music continually. What an awesome idea!

After the Streetscape was completed and Milt and I got our first walk on Main Street, the first song we heard was one of our favorites, Spiral Staircase’s I Love You More Today Than Yesterday which caused us to break out in a spontaneous swing dance right in the middle of the street. I can’t tell you how much fun that was.

Stroll down the street and you can hear all the music greats. James Taylor’s Carolina In My Mind, Andy William’s Moon River, Luther Vandross’s A House is Not a Home, Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon, The Temptation’s My Girl, Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi, Bill Wither’s Lovely Day, Dave Brubeck’s Take Five, and Belhaven native Little Eva’s Locomotion.  Then there’s the music of Al Jarreau, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Washington’s very own Craig Woolard and The Embers. I could go on and on.

The coolest thing is to hear other people’s comments such as “I have been to a lot of cities big and small all over this country and I have never experienced anything this. It’s remarkable, music playing in the streets. This is wonderful. “Another person stated, “I wish our city could do something like this.

Siting outside the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum, we get to meet people from all over the United States and a myriad of other countries.  They are all impressed with our music in the street and how that it is such a wonderful asset.

I too have lived in and visited a lot of major cities and I have not heard music playing like this.  I love to hear people walking down Main Street singing along or commenting on the song that was playing as the one they met and fell in love to, or a song that reminded them of being in the military, and how a song eased their home sickness such as Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen or Aretha Franklin’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.  Or, a how a song like Brook Benton’s A Rainy Night in Georgia made their home sickness worse.

The music coming from the speakers takes me back to when the nationally known singing groups came to Washington to perform at the Amory. There would be giant-sized posters attached to utility poles that announced performers like Jerry Butler, Sam and Dave, The Righteous Brothers and Wilson Pickett were coming to Washington.  You would see people looking at the posters and breaking out in song to the performers hits.

I love the music playing from the speakers and I am so happy that someone thought of that idea.  Along with the new trees and benches, beautiful brick work, the large planters with flowers, renovations of buildings and new businesses, we have a beautiful and a music filled Main Street that everyone can enjoy.