And in the end

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the funeral of Ben Larsen, noted musician and composer, who passed away last week at age seventy-six. His wife Corrina, found him deceased on Friday from a combination of the bubonic plague and a crossbow to the right temple. The arrow, fried inadvertently by Larsen’s dog, was quickly removed however he could not be saved.
Most well known for his all genre-crossing lifetime of performance on mandolin and guitar performance, the seventy-six year old is survived by his wife and two children along with a list of musical greats both living and dead. The service, which felt more like a night at the Grand Ole Opry, consisted of several performances by music’s most beloved characters, but featured performances of all seven movements of Larsen’s Acoustic Planet’s. An arrangement of Gustav Holst’s Planets Suite, arranged for acoustic guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass and mando-cello, Acoustic Planets is Larsen’s least known work, but has also been quoted as being his personal favorite.
The service began with Nashville great Tim O’Brien performing a traditional arrangement of Foreign Lander, for solo cello and voice. This haunting performance left the stage open for a teary eyed Corrina Larsen to recite a passage from the Essene Gospel of Peace. The first four movements of “Acoustic Planets” Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter were then performed featuring return-from-the-dead performances from Jerry Garcia on acoustic guitar, Darol Anger on Fiddle, David Grisman on Mandolin, and living members, Larsen’s two sons on fiddle and Bass. The audience waited quietly and somberly as the original four Beatles took the stage, also from beyond the grave, to perform the closing section of their 1969 release, Abbey Road. Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End were played flawlessly and to a momentarily overjoyed crowd. When the Beatles finished and disappeared into mid air, smiles lingered as the return-return-from-the-dead acoustic quintet took the stage to perform the final three movements of Planets: Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Despite the tragedy that united the crowd, the mood was surprisingly light. Perhaps it was because of the “no-black-allowed” dress code, or maybe it was because of the all-star lineup of ghost musicians. For me hearing Acoustic Planets played exactly how Larsen recorded it in 2016, made me feel as though, (excuse the cliché) that he really had gone to a better place, or that perhaps he return to being one with the cosmos, just star dust. Whatever it was, the day was anything but sad. The service closed with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, looking like they may have been around during World War One, played Big Country. An incredibly moving piece that Larsen once praised for making the listener feel, “the way love should make one feel.” As the service ended love was all that anyone felt. For a while the crowd lingered hugging one another and reminiscing about their mutual friend.. Their mutual friend whose presence will be missed for light years to come.