Memories of Music

“It’s urgent, like literary appendicitis. In writing, you operate on yourself and save yourself.” - Ray Bradbury

I’ve never felt the need to write my own music, but I've often felt a strong desire to listen to it. Like a lot of things in life, it happened in stages. At first it was something I encountered in school, singing songs in music class. It was fun. Then I discovered my parent’s record collection. Tom Jones, Julie London, random Christmas albums. I don’t remember much of the music but I sure do remember the Julie London album cover of her in draped in furs, jewels, and nothing else. I mostly listened to the Christmas albums. When we visited my grandfather in Germany, I listened to a Herman's Hermits single that he had, over and over again. Eventually I got a small record player with a built in radio and I started buying pop music singles.

After listening to the radio and playing records, I decided that I wanted to do more. I got it into my head that I would be a DJ. We had a tape cassette recorder at home. I set up the tape recorder next to the record player. I introduced songs using the call sign of my imaginary radio station, then played the songs on my record player, all the while recording everything on the tape recorder. After filling up one side of the tape I'd stop and play the tape back as if listening to the radio. Doing things like that seemed so effortless back then. My DJ career didn’t last long though and like my other creative attempts I lost interest and moved on.

I discovered a real love of music when I was in high school. Specifically rock music. Jazz came later. One day while visiting a friend's house we were listening to record albums and tapes. We listened to a lot of stuff that day but one album really grabbed me, Heart's Dreamboat Annie. After going home I couldn't stop thinking about it. Soon after I went record shopping with friends. Up until then I had only bought a few singles. I bought my first LPs, Heart's Dreamboat Annie and Fleetwood Mac's Rumors. Eventually going to record stores became a regular thing.

The first record store I visited regularly was a place called Oz Records and Tapes. I seem to remember a yellow brick road winding through the place. They had a system where a flying monkey would deliver albums and tapes from one part of the store to the other. I'd be browsing records and a suddenly the monkey would fly overhead. No, it wasn’t a real monkey, but it was still pretty cool. Eventually I started shopping at Turtle’s Record and Tapes. Funny how animals were part of the record stores I went to back then.

When I was in high school my favorite band was Heart. One day my family and I were on vacation in Florida. Dad's driving, mom is sitting shotgun, and I’m in the back seat. We were staying in a motel by the beach and we were out getting lunch or something. The car had no a/c so the windows were rolled down. Heart started playing on the radio and my ears perked up. The song was “Barracuda.” Listening to one of my favorite songs, from one of my favorite bands, on a sunny day in Florida. Life was good. That memory is burned into my brain. Another band that I got into and became one of favorites is Led Zeppelin. One morning I was eating breakfast at the kitchen table before heading to my part time job at a supermarket. Looking out the window on sunny morning listening to Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California.” Another memory burned into my brain.

The first concert I ever went to was Fleetwood Mac. We had pretty good seats, off to the side but with a clear view of the stage. It was so interesting to hear live music for the first time. The songs were the same but the music was different somehow. Less polished but more raw. I loved it. More concerts followed over the years.  Heart, Boston, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, The Police, The Go-Go's, Kitaro, Akina Nakamori, and Namie Amuro.

These days I’m into electronica. My favorites right now are a Emancipator, a DJ based in Portland Oregon, and The Glitch Mob, a band from L.A. After watching the first two John Wick movies I’m also into Le Castle Vania, a DJ based in Atlanta, GA.

I’ve been writing on the go a lot this year. I used to need complete silence to write. These days I can write in coffee shops, restaurants, and craft beer bars. If it gets too noisy I’ll put in my earphones and listen to music. Besides my short stint as a tape recorder DJ, my creative endeavours never involved music. Now music helps me tune out distractions and tune in to what I’m trying to put into words.

Next: How about some fiction?