I've got the music in me

I love music. I don't think there's anyone in the world who doesn't. The right song can pull you back in time. It can make you laugh, or make you cry. It can inspire you to be a better person.

I've listened to a variety of music over the years and as I've gotten older, my tastes have changed. As a child I listened to whatever my mom listened to (mostly Spanish performers, but for the life of me the only one I can remember isTrini Lopez, although it was actually an English language album). Then I started listening to whatever my oldest brother was listening to, which was what every teenager was listening to...The Beatles! I can still see him at the kitchen table with a box-sized radio, his ear against the tiny speaker, singing along.  Later, when he started buying their albums, he'd lounge beside the speaker of the console stereo system my mother bought. When I hit my pre-teen years I started listening to more of the "bubblegum" pop...Barry Manilow was my all-time favorite and I'm still a big fan. But, for the most part, my music choices were forged by whatever the adults in my family were listening to. Which meant I listened to a lot of country-western and Spanish music and the rock & roll of my older cousins.

Needless to say my music choices haven't changed much over the years. I still enjoy a wide variety of music, mainly because I have teenagers and they listen to what's popular now....and thankfull they aren't big fans of rap with the exception of Eminem....who I can tolerate to a point.  Of course, my kid's taste in music came from both me and my husband (who, being a musician, loves Rock, 'hair bands' and country). Our kids also like the "oldies" (anything before 1990 is an oldie to them.)  and they're also big Beatle fans, so I've done my job well teaching them about music. hah

This past weekend my husband and I took our girls to the Carrie Underwood concert. Hunter Hayes, a 21 year old newcomer, was her opening act and the main reason daughter number one wanted to go. While sitting there waiting for him to finish his set (I really don't see the appeal) I started thinking about the first concert I ever went to. It was.....you guessed it....Barry Manilow. He played in Carbondale, Illinois where my older sister and her now ex-husband, lived. They got the tickets and surprised me with them. Her Ex was a fan but my sister wasn't, she only went because we wanted to go. Of course, once the concert was over, she totally changed her mind about him...it was that good! Anyway, it was my first concert and my biggest idol so you can imagine how excited I was. I was literally like those girls you see on old footage of a Beatle's concert...in fact, the minute Barry stepped on stage I cried....seriously! I never make fun of those girls anymore. haha  I've since seen Barry four times and he's just as entertaining. Of course I don't cry with excitement like I did the first time, but I still get giddy like a school girl.