Laura Nyro – Perception Deception

Did you know that Laura Nyro composer, songwriter of “Eli’s Coming”, “Stoned Soul Picnic”, “Wedding Bell Blues” and so many other hits, had her own insecurities. The story is this. Laura was performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival. She might have even followed the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. For years following, Laura told of how she was booed off the stage at Monterey. However, many years later, Lou Adler, one of the producers, found a video of her performance and said that wasn’t true at all.

She was actually told that people loved her, and that no one booed, and they actually said “Hey beautiful.” and not “Boo”. I can imagine how traumatized Laura must have been, but it was all a misunderstanding and misperception. Lou offered to show and prove to Laura what actually happened at Monterey, but she died before she could see the proof of her success there.

Be very careful if you believe something dark about yourself. Sometimes we do not see things as they really are, and it can color our entire lives.

I love Laura Nyro. I have all of her music. She wrote for Blood, Sweat and Tears, The Fifth Dimension, and Barbra Streisand. It doesn’t get better than that. I play a lot of Laura’s songs on our station. I hope you enjoy them.