Today is Thanksgiving and as I reflect back I am thankful
for all the usual things (friends, family, pets, health…you get the idea) but most
forefront in my heart today is the influence that music has had on my life.
Music has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. As a young child growing up my parents had what it seemed like lot of parties in the 1960’s and the stereo was often cranked up in our
house. My sister and I share many
memories of those parties and peaking down the stairs when we were supposed to
be asleep…asleep with the music up full blast..yeah, right! From Steppennwolf, to Buffalo Springfield,
the Rolling Stones, Animals, Doors, CSN, Neil Young, and CCR. For a few years, our neighbors included Jimmy
Fox (drummer) and Roland Paquin (road manager) of the James Gang. Recently, my dad shared a memory with me… My mom
was working at a store which sold music and one day she brought home Neil Young’s
first self-titled album in 1968 and it blew him away. My dad still has that album and it is no
wonder that Neil Young remains one of my favorite artists!
Then the journey continued with the various babysitters we
had who turned us on to David Bowie and Todd Rundgren. I will never forget the first album I bought
in 6th grade…Aerosmith’s Toys in the Attic. I have been lugging that album all over with
me since (19 different moves) and still treasure it. During my teenage years I rocked out to all
the hits from that era, but that was also when I was turned on to The
Blues! My step-father had an amazing
stereo system with all kinds of components and speakers which were bigger than
me. He loved the Blues and I was so
lucky to be able to have had that influence.
The Blues is one of my favorite genres today.
Looking back, it is no wonder that once turning 18 I headed
to New Orleans. It was a very volatile
time in my life and I landed in what I consider the music capital of the
US. There, I spent 3 crazy years bartending
and hanging out with my new group of friends who all were musicians/fans of heavy
metal/hair metal bands from southern Louisiana: Lillian Axe (who are still
recording today!), Savage White, Melange, 24K, and Deus Vult. More often than not, you will now find my
Sirius satellite radio tuned to HairNation, channel 39.
The past few years I have been totally into hearing live
music again and find myself going back to my musical roots. My sister and I snagged front row center to CSN
at a small outdoor venue in our hometown of Cleveland last year and the music
brought back so many memories. Then
there was Neil Young with his original band Crazy Horse, Todd Rundgren, Los
Lobos, and new favorites Trombone Shorty, Gary Clark Jr., Indigenous, Plateros,
Tommy Castro, and local Blues band Elm Street Blues. December, alone, will run the gamut from a
heavy metal marathon at Beachland Ballroom to Baroque Vespers at Trinity Cathedral.
It is fitting that today I am receiving a turntable from my
step-father’s bad ass stereo system. After
Thanksgiving dinner, I will drag out all my old albums and reminisce about
music’s influence on my life and look forward to all the great music I will
hear in the coming year!
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Indigenous
Trombone Shorty
