What You Should Have Heard #91

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up listening to Muppets, Sesame Street and Alvin and the Chipmunk records on a Fisher-Price record player. My first “real” record? Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It was in my Easter basket when I was in…first grade? Shortly after that I got a small radio/cassette tape player. The radio was always set to 96WSTO out of Evansville, and my tapes were primarily by Huey Lewis & the News and Weird Al. My mom had her own collection, though, and through it I was introduced to The Eagles, The Police, and Billy Joel. I was in middle school, I think, before I saved up enough money to buy my own CD player boom box. I can’t remember exactly which CD was my first purchase, but I’ve got it narrowed down to three: Harry Connick, Jr.’s She, Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits Vols. I & II, or Queen’s Greatest Hits (1992 U.S. edition with the red cover). I’ve only just recently abandoned CDs in favor of mp3s on my phone.

I love having music on my phone. I’ve got a premium Spotify subscription so I can listen to tons of music on my phone, on my netbook at home, and on my PC at work. It’s awesome, and it has almost all the music I love listening to on it. It’s also a great way for me to preview albums and new artists before giving them what little money I can spare.

I started playing the saxophone in sixth grade, and from there I learned to appreciate jazz, blues and various forms of instrumental music. I’ll admit that I don’t listen to much of that anymore, but every now and then I’ll come across a piece that just grabs me, and it just won’t let me go. Band was such a huge part of my life growing up, and I’m positive that I would be a totally different person now had I not been playing music in middle school, high school, and college.

One thing I love doing that allows me to relive my youth a bit is announcing at two local marching band competitions, the Hendersonville Golden Invitational and the Blue Devil Marching Invitational. I get to see a lot of area high school marching bands, I get to hang out a bit with friends who I see once a year, and I get to remember why I loved being in band so much.

Despite my appreciation of various types of music, I’ll always be a rock ‘n’ roll guy. Hard rock. Indie rock. Metal. Alternative. Nu-metal. Classic rock. Southern rock. I love it in almost all its forms. I like strong beats and fast tempos. I like a hard-driving song that gets my blood pumping. Occasionally I like to scream. I’ll even take the occasional ballad.

Like everybody, I’m sure, some groups I like tend to be fly-by-night fancies that I listen to for a couple of weeks and then forget about. But there are some groups that stand the test of time in my ears. There are some performers who will get my hard-earned money before I ever hear a chord from a new album. In no particular order, those are:

·         Foo Fighters

·         Ben Folds

·         Self/Matt Mahaffey

·         Seth Timbs and his various projects

·         Biffy Clyro

·         Bleu

·         Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer

I don’t go to concerts as often as I’d like. I’m trying to be a bit better about that, though. Let’s see if I can remember who I’ve seen:

• Foo Fighters/Biffy Clyro/Motorhead
• Paramore
• Better Than Ezra/Cowboy Mouth
• Gavin DeGraw/Maroon 5
• Hootie and the Blowfish/Edwin McCain
• Everclear/Tracy Bonham/7 Year Bitch/Spacehog --->
• Weezer/No Doubt
• 311/Goldfinger
• Self/Fluid Ounces/Features/The Katies (all numerous times)
• Cracker

I’m going to see honeyhoney in a couple of weeks, and I’m really excited about it. I’ll write up a review about it if I’m able to think about Suzanne Santo without drifting off into wonderful daydreams. And maybe I’ll say something about James Morrison, who they’re opening for, but I doubt it.


BIG BIG BIG REMINDER: When I can remember to add this to the bottom of my posts, I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But when you click ads, I get a little bit of money, and as a single father of three, every penny from every source helps. So I’m going to keep this tiny bit of begging at the bottom of my posts, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. The only thing it costs you is time. :) Thanks so much!