Thursday, October 27, 2011

In Good Company

Sooooo... I was thinking some more about what I posted yesterday, and I wanted to add a couple of things. First, as I said, I am no longer judging people according to their musical tastes... AND I am also not judging anyone according to their relationship to the Almighty... That's really not my thing. I was just saying that it was silly of me to rate my own worth – or anyone else’s – according to musical preferences... 

Also, a great bonus of having a deep interest in music is the people you meet who share it – it’s like being in a foreign country and finding someone who speaks your language. You may be sitting at the weird kids table in the lunch room, but you’re in pretty good company!

Here are just a few examples: 

• With my junior high friend Allison, I listened to Elton John non-stop and attended my first concert – that’s right, Elton John. 

• In college, my friend Suzanne and I listened to the Rolling Stones and discussed the Glimmer Twins at length. It was with Suzanne that I first put my toe into the local music scene with visits to the Pier. (Howdy, Suzanne!)

Time for a night of fellowship
with my girl Alecia!
• My post-college roommate Alecia: though we met in the extreme prep-dom of the expensive dorm, we found pretty quickly that we preferred similar music... As roommates we slathered on plenty of eyeliner for club nights together... and we are friends to this day. (Hey Alecia!)  

• Alecia and I met Eric, while standing in line to see Quadrophenia at a late show. He was wearing an army jacket like a real Mod. Yep - I’m still friends with Eric... (Hi Eric!)

• And then there’s Todd – a beautiful, sweet guy I met in a record store, like, a zillion years ago, and have been so pleased to find on Facebook recently. I LOVE that he is back on my radar! My son can hardly believe I have an actual friend with dreadlocks. (Hi Todd!)

Sweet, beautiful Todd
• And I loooooove all my brothers and sisters with an immeasurable kind of love, but there’s a reason my brother Andy and I are so close... (Hey, Fudd!) It all comes down to the music. Click HERE to hear a song he wrote that explains it all. (This is the best way I could figure out to add a song – if anyone knows a better way, please share!)

• Last, but most, my husband, Tom, and I were able to step over the invisible line between news and advertising staffs in the little newspaper office we worked in because of our shared love for music and movies. It’s still something that adds great dimension to our relationship.


It’s a little like the friends you make at church in a way – broken people sharing their lives... Inasmuch as rock and roll is an expression of great angst and alienation... And when you get together and share this among yourselves, well – that’s fellowship. 

Robert Smith
of the Cure
Sure, you may have dark circles under your eyes from staying up all night discussing song meanings... or you may have a headache from bobbing your head up and down during “fellowship”... you may be deaf the next day in the ear that was next to the amp tower... you may never get the smell of cigarette smoke out of that black shirt that you think makes you look like Robert Smith... (I’m dating myself, aren’t I? People don’t smoke in clubs anymore!)...

But the feeling you share with your fellow headbangers... It's a beautiful thing... if you allow music to invoke the Divine... to pull truth out of those late night discussions. Maybe our relationship to music, to each other around the music is sort of a picture of our relationship to the Divine and His people. I guess it would be sad, though, to  mistake one for the other... If we're lucky, though, one will lead to the other.

1 comment:

  1. Ahh you just have to mention the glimmer twins, and my ears perk up. In 1963, i had a penpal in invernesshire and all we wrote about was music. letters would take 4 or 5 days to get from me to her, but they kept coming and going, king of like an out of sym chat or IM. we first started with the easybeats and the Swinging blue jeans (Hippy Hippy Shake, then one day a friend mentioned the beatles to me, so I wrote to her and inquired. Her response: "They're pussies, listen to this, and she sent me a 45 rpm EP ( you mature people know wht that is, Hint: it's made of vinyl (it took me 6 tries to remember how to spell it)of the Rolling stones) the songs were: Around and around, confessing the blues, Walking the dog and I Wanna be your man. I never looked back. from that moment, i knew I wanted to be part of tha scene.
    Incidentally, she also sent me a 45 of the Who: :Bald headed Woman ( almost impossible to find) and Any way anyhow anywhere. Again, I had to meet these cats. This is how much music can shape the rest of your life. I ended up working with both of these bands, and if i die broke, who cares, I was part of that scene!
    To sweeten the pot, i also had a pen pal in mechanicsburg Ohio, not sure where it is, but her brothe was a GI bound to France, so my family who was fond of Americans ( did I mention we lived in France) decided that he could be a permanent guest. Guess what, he shoed up with a guita, and instantly became a member of my band! Rock on...

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