To Music

I have a musical obsession. Out of the 16 hours a day I am awake, I spend at least 8 of them with music in my ear. The other 8 are spent either wishing I was listening or playing my guitar or singing to myself. Maybe it's more of an addiction.

I am constantly on the search for new music, yet have no time to listen to all of the music I currently have. Most of the time I'm not looking for new new music, I'm just digging for hidden gems from my favorites. I can't get enough.

And once I find an artist I like, I need to own everything they've ever done.

I love all kinds of music, too. I'm not picky. Sure, there are certain areas I prefer: The singer/songwriter/acoustic guitar formula will usually draw me in the fastest. But I love me some Britney Spears, as well. As I said in an earlier post, I'm also enjoying American Idol winner David Cook and his flyover rock sound. Other favorites include: Cloud Cult, Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis/The Elected, Jens Lekman, Ani Difranco, Damien Rice, Air, Erin McKeown, Bob Dylan, Regina Spektor, Cat Power, Sufjan Stevens, Blur, Mates of State, Oasis....the list goes on.

As I said above, I play guitar, as well. Love to play my guitar. If I'm just sitting around watching tv or waiting to go somewhere, the guitar is in my hands. I've been playing for 18 years now. I think I'm alright. I have some issues with my pinky finger that cause it to lock up, so I don't get too tricky. I love to write songs. I love to just sing and play as loud as I can. Unfortunately, I don't think my husband or neighbors appreciate that so much. I've decided when we finish our basement that I need to create a room down there that is sound proof so I can have my own space to play.

I love going to live shows. I get so inspired. I'm not one who likes to hang out afterwards because I usually just want to go home and play my guitar. I just love the immediateness of them. I love being in the moment with the musician.

I also love to dance. Put a couple of beers in me and I am a dancing fool.

Where am I going with this? Nowhere. I'm at work with my headphones on. The New Pornographers are currently playing. I was just thinking about how if I'm awake, I have music in my ears. I love music. I wrote this ode to music a while back:

TO MUSIC

the notes emanating from the fuzzy black speaker
swirl around my head
making my thoughts go deeper
inside my little room or shoved in my ears
they speak to me in a volume i choose
in melodies i love to hear

and it seems there is never enough
i can never get my fill
or soothe the itch that creeps through me still
i long at all hours to hear the plucking of strings
or the pounding of ivory
i long to hear voices from heaven
or voices from hell
snarling or harking
sometimes it's hard to tell

the difference

the difference between love and hate can be smudged in a song
the song is sometimes the only thing that can keep me moving along
whether down in the deepest pits
or high on the northern most star
it follows my mood no matter how far swung
takes hostage my lungs
vaccuums up my breath
pulls the water from eyes
doesn't matter whether a flower blooms
or a friendship dies
there is hope
in harmonies
there is realness
in wrong notes
there is change
in melodies

there is a life in every song ever written
every word is lulled from somewhere
every chord is a call to every emotion within
everytime i sing
or just listen
i can seem them
memories as distant or as new as the day
floating from behind my eyes
wanting to share their tales
of successes and failures
of songs lost in time

lives lost to my eyes

i toast to music
to the song and the writer
i toast to southern harmonies
and to smokey clubs
and to concert halls and stadiums
i toast to jazz
to r and b
i toast to what moves me
i toast to folk
the protest singers
i toast to the pop tarts
who make the skies more blue
and the grass a little greener
i toast to garages across the world
and all the songs i'll never hear
i toast to the outdoor festivals
with eclectic bands and domestic beer
i toast to rap for making life more interesting
with all it's controversy
and to funk
for making me dance
i toast to every artist who's ever made it
and for those that never got a chance
and i toast to hoping i never get my fill
that this itch is never relenting
and that music be my will