MuchAdoosie...: Music Elitist that I am...

We are all products of the people by which we were raised.

This idea was brought to my attention on my drive home from work today, Mom and I had switched cars and so I had a radio (which is crazy nice) and as I flipped through the channels over and over and over again like some sort of ADD squirrel I realized that I didn't recognize a single song that blipped by. I finally turned off the radio in disgust and tried to come to grips with the fact that I am a musical elitist, I am prejudiced against new music. I only want the old and the classic. Where did this trait develop in me, an otherwise open minded and free spirited being? I have an answer...it came from this guy:

This guy is my dad. Dad likes music, he likes a lot of it and for the most part he likes his tunes old and loud.

So today we are going to take a photo journey through my childhood and talk a little about music.

This is the beginning of my Beatles phase (a phase which still persists to this day). At this point in my life my favorite song was 'Fixing a Hole' and in a few short years I would write in my journal "I love Beedles" which leaves you wondering if I was talking about the band or the bugs, but since I have no recollection of any particular fondness for beetles I'm going with the band.

Another thing I heard a lot growing up was the infamous Pink Floyd. I didn't really start gaining an appreciation for the Floyd until Jr. High, but I am the odd one out on this subject. In one of the little Bother's first grade "all about me" posters he listed his favorite song as being 'The Lunatic' (Brain Damage) and he used to request us to sing, "the one about school" on Family Nights. It's also interesting to note that throughout our childhood my brother James is always dressed like a British school boy...just saying Jim...

Caramba, oh yes now there is a good one. Mom used this for dance time in the preschool she taught and I feel like there was a soundtrack to my life this would be it. Just imagine putting on your favorite fuzzy biker hat and getting your dancing fool on to this music. Better yet go get your favorite fuzzy hat right now...put it on your head...click the link...now dance....just do it...don't feel silly no one can see you...besides you're gonna like the way you feel.....................I guarantee it...

My dad was a school teacher...and a forest ranger...and a Sam's Club employee...as such our family outings were usually low budget and nature based events. I relished the long hot car rides out to the desert to collect bugs and rocks, actually I don't really know if that was why we went on those trips, but that is what I did. Dad would pop in our 'Regae for Kids' tape (oh yeah I'm serious, click the link for a sample and you will not be disappointed mi amigos) and another one of my musical affections was born.

In case you can't tell I'm in the middle of the desert somewhere, I'm barefoot and I'm rather dirty.

Then there was all the groovy feel good music that Mom would play for daycare and Dad would dance to with us on the way home. There was Simon and Garfunkel and Cat Stevens and Fleetwood Mac and Mutabaruka and Bob Marley and Billy Joel and Sir Elton John and The Grateful Dead and The Doobie Brothers and Styx and Talking Heads and The Proclaimers...and so much more...Oh but let us dare not forget the musicals! Oh how many rediculously low budget renditions of Les Mes did we perform on our dining room table? How many times did I try to hit Christine's high note and fail miserably in The Phantom of the Opera? And how many times did we depart from the text and make up our own musicals with sub par scores and only slightly original ideas? Countless times. That is the answer. Countless times........

But for all of this I think we turned out all right. Non of us has committed any mass murderings or drunk a unicorn's blood or anything.........yet

In conclusion: I like my music, I have a lot of newer stuff, but the music I was raised on colored my childhood and if perhaps I want to marry someone that closely resembles Ringo Star and have all the groomsmen at my wedding wear Sgt. Pepper uniforms...well then I think that it will be a fine wedding and there will be a lot of old people dancing and you should all come....

...Live long and Prosper...