Spring, especially in New York, is fleeting. It appears for a moment after a long and horrible winter, then immediately gives way to hot humid summer. Cherry blossoms are the best known symbol for this, blooming so briefly that there are hosts of websites dedicated to forecasting “peak bloom.”
Sam Owens of Celestial Shore, going by “Sam Evian” for his solo project because there is apparently an entirely different New York musician named Sam Owens who locked down an internet presence first and because “bottled water is weird and totally irresponsible (kinda like playing music) but that one tastes the best to me,” wrote a song about this transient moment. “Cherry Tree”, recorded in Gravesend Studios, blisses out with epic sliding guitar riffs and gentle keyboards in an ode to spring, cherry blossoms, “a deep gentle sadness for the passing of things,” and George Harrison.
We’re streaming the song along with an image stream of posts tagged with #cherrytree and a livestream of Sam and friends hanging out in the cherry tree grove that inspired the song, located at GPS coordinates 40.786688, -73.966879 (near 89th street on the west side of the Central Park reservoir). Drink in some virtual cherry blossoms, or, if you’re at all free on this beautiful day, venture out join the hang. The stream goes live at 1pm, so there’s still time.
