On Musical Memories

I've finally got a chance to sit at my computer for a few minutes and write a blog. It's been an insanely busy week, and I've fallen behind.

Again.

It's a constant battle.

Anyway, today's topic comes from the book I mentioned here.

Songs can invoke incredibly vivid memories like specific sights or sounds. I thought about writing about a song that reminds me of my seventh grade year, but instead I'd rather focus on my present rather than my past.

The day I decided to start running I'd just dropped the Munchkin off at school and the Niece off at work. Rascal Flatts was playing on the player, because the Munchkin has decided her favorite song is 'Broken Road'.

The sun was shining, the roads practically empty while I waited at the world's longest stoplight. I admit that I tend to zone out, maybe take a mental nap while I wait for the lights out here to change. Especially the ones that make me wait for fifteen minutes when there isn't another car in sight for miles.

When the light changed my mind engaged again, and the first words that registered were these:

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life."

I turned up the music, rolled down the window and listened to the song that has now become 'my song'. It's the song that runs through my head every day. Every time I feel like sitting on the couch instead of going for that run, I remember the words that touch my soul.

When you get a chance you should listen to "When the Sand Runs Out" by Rascal Flatts. You can find it on YouTube, though you'll have to deal with less than Official videos.

I'm making myself a better person, I'm changing from the inside out every day. I don't know about you, but I want to be running when the sand runs out.

What song hits you today? I'd love to hear.

R.S.

On Music in Our Family

Music has always been a huge part of my life.

It's rare that I'll go an entire day without listening to some form of it.

My ring tones are songs.

I randomly burst into made up songs-- like a bad  horrible amazing musical.

Eat your heart out, Disney.

I listen to music when I share, when I workout, and when I do my hair.

My phone has hundreds of songs on it.

I have an ipod for the car filled with hundreds of songs, and an ipod for when I want to tune the world out.

If none of the music I have fits my mood, I'll go to grooveshark.com and listen to streaming music there.

Sometimes, like when I was pregnant with the Munchkin, I'd watch CMT and GAC--just to hear the music.

Itunes is my Kryptonite.

I'd go as far as to say it's E-V-I-L.

All those songs at my fingertips, just begging me to download them.

*Sigh*

The Niece and I will dance around the house to anything that catches our fancy, and we'll laugh and giggle like loons as the Munchkin mimics us.

It's a happy feeling.

Music has started showing itself in another way in our home.

The Munchkin will randomly break into her own songs, and she'll sing them anytime, any place.

Her favorite venue seems to be the dinner table, but she seems to enjoy the potty equally well.

Maybe it has to do with the acoustics in the bathroom?

Recently, the Munchkin and the Marine had an impromptu jam session in our living room.

Mary Had a Little Lamb seemed to be the favorite.

Some days, I really love my life.


R.S.

On "This"

What's tickling my Muse? "This" By Darius Rucker


Today's post goes along with one I posted earlier.

"For every stoplight I didn't make,

Every chance I did or didn't take.

All the nights I went too far,

All the girls that broke my heart.

All the doors that had to close,

All the things I knew but I didn't know.

Thank God for all I missed,

Cause it led me here to this."

                                                                                             --This--

We've all made decisions in our lives. Made one choice over the other. I know I have. I made the decision to marry my husband, made the decision to follow him from duty station to duty station, zig zagging across not only the Continental U.S., but Hawaii as well. 

I chose to give up the party life, chose to go back to school, and chose to finally follow the dreams I set aside so long ago. 

Every decision I've made has led me right here. 

To this.

I don't regret a thing.

Isn't music great? 

R.S.

On Keeping the Music Playing

What's my muse right now? "In Orbit" by Derek Flynn.




Music has always been a part of my day. At least since I received my first boombox and disc man with the cables to connect them together.

I still remember that Christmas, and the two CD's I unwrapped from my sisters.

Amy Grant: Heart in Motion and Wilson Phillips. 


Though I can't recall a particular instance where a specific song or lyric changed my course in life, like "Wall of Death" did for Derek Flynn. (You can read about it on his blog, Rant, with Occasional Music.) It has gotten me through everything I've experienced in life.

Much like Ally McBeal, I've always heard a soundtrack playing in my head as I move through each day.

Like everything else about me, there is little rhyme or reason to the style of music.

It's eclectic.

Sometimes I'll be country--usually, I'm country. Once in a while I'll be rap, but that is a rare, rare moment. For a series of years between junior high and high school when I was my angriest I listened to nothing but grunge, alternative, and hardcore rock.

I looked just like every other teen trying to be unique (only I really was, because I was a natural redhead--and I hated it more than anything.) with my baggy ripped pants, sloppy graphic tees, and worn Vans.  It didn't matter that I couldn't skateboard and had no desire to learn.

My style reflected who I was and what I felt.

Did I mention I was angry?

There was a period of time during my mid twenties where the only music I listened to was music found in clubs and bars. Normally that listening was accompanied by dancing and drinking into the wee hours of the morning. Luckily, I survived them with little damage to my internal organs, my body, or my life itself.

Even today, years after I left the party scene my heartbeat accelerates and I get the urge to shake my ass and hips whenever the songs I clung to during those times come on. Sometimes, the scent of fast flowing alcohol and cologne covered sweat seems to waft from the speakers.

I'm pretty sure it's just my imagination--my sensory memory--kicking in.

Or my stereo is secretly scratch and sniff.

That could be interesting, but couldn't it smell like something more tasty? Maybe chocolate cake or cookies?

Regardless of what music tickles my fancy at any given time, it's always there.

A part of me.

As long as there is music playing, life will continue and nothing will be impossible.

So, DJ, keep that music playing.

Are there particular songs or types of music that help you get through things in life? Or changed your life?

I'd love to hear about it.

R.S.

On "Dear Mr. President": A Rant

The other day after I'd dropped the Niece off at work I was heading sedately down the twenty-five mile an hour streets of the base, and I heard the song "Dear Mr. President".

It isn't the first time I've heard the song, it is after all by Pink and has a permanent spot on at least one of my playlists. It's always held a spot in my heart not only as a Marine Wife, but as a person who has been involved in military life since I was born.

I've been a fan of Pink's for years, and I've seen her in concert. When she wrote and released this song, it raised my respect for her even more.

When I listened that day, a specific set of lyrics caught my attention.

"Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Minimum wage, with a baby on the way

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Building your bed out of a  cardboard box

Hard work

Hard work

You don't know nothing 'bout hard work

Hard work

Hard work"

I understand the point behind the song, and I understand the message she's delivering.

It's a good message. 

It is, but it got me thinking. 

Should it be delivered by a person who has an approximate net worth of $70 million?

I find it incongruous at best when singers and actors speak of their understanding of the working class. Of poverty and doing without. 

Could they have come from the slums?

Yes.

Could they have at one point been poor kids from Urban America?

Yes. 

Have they been since Clinton was President?

No.

Am I glad she sang about it, regardless if she actually has any more experience with it than Bush Jr did?

Hell Yes.

Why?

How else will the message get out? 

I could write the same message on my blog, and maybe a hundred people would see it. She sings it in a song and thousands of people, including the President will know about it.

Is that fair?

No. 

It's complete B.S.

We have a National Debt in the Trillions, poor people line the streets in cities big and small, our country borrows money from China-- who will forever have us by the short hairs, and people who do little more than entertain us--both on stage and with their actions in the media--make millions of dollars a year.

The President might not understand hard work, but do they?

Really?

They don't worry about where their next meals come from, or whether they'll be able to afford their electric bill. 

They're worried about what designer gown they're going to wear to the current awards show, what they'll drink at the next launch party, and whether or not their newest album will go platinum. 

I'm sure they're wonderful people, humanitarians even... aiding the less fortunate in foreign countries-- but we're swimming in debt, and Congress is talking about cutting the military and their benefits.

Will Congress cut their own pay and benefits?

No, they'll continue collecting their six figure yearly salaries. 

How is this right?

How does this show an understanding of hard work, surviving and providing for your family on minimum wage, or any of the other things the uber rich and famous sing about?

Jennifer Lopez might still 'remember where she came from' and consider herself 'Jenny from the block', but she's looking through a pair of rose colored glasses that cost more than most people's mortgages. 

/Rant

Thoughts?

R.S.

Hollywood's Effect on the Music Industry

     If you'd been plugged into the television on August 1, 1981 when MTV launched for the first time you would have been greeted with footage of the Apollo launch, and John Lack saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll."   For the 80's generation this was a whole new experience in music appreciation, but it wasn't the first time that the music industry had been tied to television, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. For as long as people have been watching television, music has been tied to it. In this essay you will see how Hollywood has directly and indirectly affected the music industry.

            As early as the late 1940's families gathered around the television to watch variety shows; shows that we would come to know by another, quirkier title, 'reality television'. Much like American Idol, Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour, a show that aired on various channels from 1947 until 1992, introduced the audience to unknown performers; allowing them to vote for their favorites.  For over sixty years, musically themed television shows have ran prevalent across the network airwaves, although, not all of them have been of the variety/reality show genre.

            When musicians began appearing on television shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Perry Como Show, music, and by default the music industry had another medium to sell through.  Television was bringing the talents of Bo Diddly, Elvis Presley, and the Everly Brothers straight to the viewers in the comfort of their homes. Young girls who screamed and swooned at the sexual gyrations of Elvis' hips, could see his performances regardless of where they were located. On September 9, 1956, Elvis appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and introduced the world to his ballad, Love Me Tender. This advancement was a boon to not only musicians, but to music executives as well. RCA, the recording company that held Elvis' contract, received over one million advanced orders for the song the following week.

            June 11, 2002, Hollywood once again made huge waves in the music industry with the launch of American Idol. Similar to the variety shows of the mid to late 1900's, American Idol brought the music of unknown performers to the television masses. Idol which is in its tenth season, has created several music superstars including: Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and [Chris] Daughtry, not to mention a handful of other not-so-well known singers.

            In season one, Kelly Clarkson wowed America with her voice and style; taking home the honor of being the first winner of American Idol. Since her jump to fame she has released four albums, with her debut album, Thankful, reaching double- platinum, and her sophomore album, Breakaway, reaching multi- platinum. According to Nielson SoundScan, the company responsible for compiling album sales data for Billboard, Clarkson has sold more than 36 million singles and 23 million albums, making her the most successful American Idol winner, to date, worldwide.    

            Underwood, the winner during season four of the show has released three solo albums; the most recent one, Play On, sold 318,000 copies during its first week of sales, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. With the debut of Play On, Underwood has been certified as a seven-time platinum recording  artist with a slew of prestigious awards including being the first ever female singer to win back to back Academy of Country Music Awards for Entertainer of the Year.

            Daughtry, though not the winner of Idol's fifth season, is currently the lead singer and guitarist for the self-titled band, Daughtry. Their debut album, also self-titled, Daughtry, sold more than 5 million copies after five weeks of sales, and made it to the number one spot on Billboard's top 200. American Idol, has since adopted his single, Home, as the song they play each time another singer is knocked out of the running. In 2007 at the NBA playoffs the single, Home, was also used by the eliminating home team.

            American Idol, might be the most recognized show that has turned out singers, and changed the way the music industry does business, but it's not the only one. Other musicians have come straight out of Hollywood planning meetings. O-Town, the boy band created in 2000 for the MTV show, Making the Band, as well as the 1960's sudo-Beatle's band, The Monkees, were both created by auditions. The television executives, and show creators had a specific idea in mind, and they hand selected the actors/musicians that would best fit the dynamic they were looking for.  These bands, though not as successful as those from Idol, still had a modicum of success; The Monkees, more so than, O-Town. 

            Even though American Idol would appear to be the standard for television created musicians, that wasn't always the case. Many well known, successful singers of the last decade came from the Disney Channel. The Mickey Mouse Club, introduced the world to superstars: Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, and Britney Spears. These three singers have known great success during the last ten years; with the former N*Sync, boy band member, Justin Timberlake, having the most continual success, first as a member of a group,  then as a solo artist.

            Hollywood has managed to infiltrate the music industry in another way as well. An increasingly large number of Hollywood actors and actresses have tried their hand at making the crossover between acting and singing. Well known actors;  Kevin Bacon, Stir of Echoes; Keanu Reeves, The Matrix Trilogy; Jeff Bridges, Stick It; and Russell Crowe, The Gladiator; along with fellow actresses; Jill Hennessey, Crossing Jordan; Minnie Driver, Return to Me; and Amy Jo Johnson, Flash Point; have each put out at least one album, with varying degrees of success. Other actors have used the name notoriety they'd achieved in Hollywood, and created bands, and a following that way.   
          Gary Sinise, the actor who is best known for his role as Lt. Dan, in Forrest Gump, created The Lt. Dan Band, in 2004. He, along with his band mates, tour the world in support of the military; making stops at military bases stateside, as well as overseas, and giving free performances while attached to the USO.    

            It is becoming increasingly noticeable that Hollywood, and the music industry are closely tied together.  This has been the case since the very beginning, and it is unlikely it will ever change. Hollywood's effect on the music industry is noticeable in almost every genre of music, in one way or another. Whether the artist was discovered on a talent show, has performed on Saturday Night Live, or started their career acting, Hollywood has had an influence and affect on the music we listen to, enjoy, and buy.