Music

The following post is the first thing I ever wrote for this blog. I was waiting for my flight from LA to NY and had just spent the last few days with my cousin surrounded by music and musical people. On April 3, 2010, I was inspired:

I love music. That’s a fact. A declaration. And an affirmation. I didn’t realize just how much until recently. I didn’t realize that I do the same thing now as I did when I was 12 years old. From the second that I rose from bed until the moment I shut the light to sleep there was music. Now, I walk home with my ipod, unlock the door to my apartment, put away my ipod (who I affectionately named Stinky) and turn on itunes. It plays until I go to bed. I used to lock myself in my room and listen to music for hours. I knew all the songs, all the words. I didn’t realize that that love was stronger than some other things I thought I loved at the time.
It makes everything better. I love how music can make you remember a person, a moment in time, a whole event or even a feeling. We listen to music according to our moods. Sometimes we use it to try to change our mood. Sometimes we use it to make us feel what and how we’re feeling at that moment even more intensely. I love how I can remember where I was, what I was wearing, and how I was feeling just by hearing a song. Whether good or bad. It’s a memory. It makes us and shapes us. Music is a major part of life whether we actively realize it or not.


Cut to August 26, 2010 when I won a spot to go to a live taping of Grace Potter And The Nocturnals. I discovered her in June and have not stopped listening to her since. I've been dying to see her live but they never come to NY. She is the person I wish I could be because, frankly, she's a badass rocker. I was inspired to write this:


I got goose bumps the second they began playing and it didn’t subside until I was down the block and could no longer hear the music. My whole body tingled from my feet to my fingertips. I kept telling myself that I had to remember that feeling. I want to feel that every second of my life. There’s a point at the end of ‘Tiny Light' where the whole band just rocks out. Hair flying and fingers moving so fast that you can barely make out that they actually belong to an arm—overall awesomeness. It builds and builds until there’s a tiny explosion at the end.
I felt the beat of the drum in time with every beat of my heart. Every time he hit it, my insides tingled. The drum WAS my heart beat at that moment. At the same time, the guitarist was emitting riffs that rolled over my body, crashing into me like a wave. You know, that wave that doesn’t knock you down but washes over you and makes you feel as one with the ocean. There was such a build up as all the instruments were going that I didn’t know whether I wanted to scream in ecstasy or burst into tears. I've never felt that before. I’ve been in awe of individual musicians before—the ones where you don’t realize that you haven’t blinked or closed your mouth in the last two minutes because they exude so much awesomeness.
That happens with one of my favorite NYC bands-Audio Fiction. The guitarist leaves me standing with my mouth open every time he shreds his guitar with a solo. “Dead To Me” is one of my favorite songs ever---largely because I get goose bumps every time I hear it. The combination of the guitar and Kristin’s voice hitting every high note gives me chills the entire time. I cannot wait for their second album--from what I've seen so far, I think it's gonna be pretty awesome.
Grace Potter is a jam band—Which means that their albums kick ass but they’re so much better live. I saw both bands live first and was blown away. Then, I listened to their albums, and although good, I craved the live performance factor because the feeling they create is infectious. It leaves you wanting more and I want to feel my body tingle like that every second of my life.

Here's some examples of why I love them (I threw my cousin in the mix too--she's pretty awesome!). Turn it up and close your eyes.










THAT is why I listen to music. And once the music stops, my hear beat will cease as well.