...and that's why we're related.

I did not begin listening to my own music until I was in seventh grade. Before then, it was the sounds of oldies playing through the radio of my mom's minivan after school on the way home. Sometimes she would play music in the house over the old record player that they still have. I was well aware of most of the Beach Boy's catalog, as well as the early Beatles and most hit singles between the years of 1955-1968. By this time, most of my other classmates had already started to listen to their own style of music. I knew who Hanson was, N'Sync, Savage Garden, The Wallflowers (which are still good), and Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane" was also still popular—though not many probably recognized the coolness of Tom Petty at that time. As a consolation, I am a little embarrassed that I just mentioned some of these "bands"... It will not happen again.

My first cd that I bought with my own money was Third Eye Blind's debut. It was money that was well spent. I listen to it incessantly. I did not own a personal cd player till I was in tenth grade (yes, I was behind on this as well—along with ipods, but that's much later). So to listen to my 3eb album, I had to copy it to a tape. This cut off the last two songs and I never heard these with the same appreciation as the other twelve songs till much later. 

I mark this purchase as not only my own musical liberation, but also my brother's. Since he is just over four years younger than I am, his own musical revelation was not due for another year or two. His head-start though has been a marvelous companion to my own exploration. During a performance of mine, I told a story of the two of us and stated that our musical preferences overlapped generously like a vin diagram, where he leans more to hip-hop and I lean more towards folk. He agrees with this idea. I tell him about what I believe he would like in the world of folk music and he graciously does the same concerning his genre of hip-hop performers. 

A recent suggestion of his was Girl Talk. He and I have been fans of musical mash-ups for a long time, but this is the epitome of songs strung together with central harmonies and melodies each taking their own time to shine. Listening to Girl Talk is a musical all-you-can-eat-buffet of every genre that you want to taste. My brother sent me the suggestion along with letting me know that he was going to see this DJ (if that even gives him enough credit) perform. Unfortunately, he had to make a choice between a championship club basketball game or going to this show. Like most of our conversations lately, he called asking me to help him make the right choice. We both ran through the pros and cons and happily decided on Girl Talk. Later the next day I asked how he enjoyed the show. He couldn't talk due to class, but texted me saying that it was the best party that he'd ever been to. "We danced for about two hours straight". 

Listening to Girl Talk for the first time is comparable to sipping espresso for the first time after drinking regular drip coffee for years. It's a similar taste, and you know that it is familiar, but there is a kick to it that makes you wonder if you really like it or not. Some choose not to and others begin to see their preferences and palates broadening. Girl Talk is fine on my own, but I would have paid good money to have been there with my brother. It is not the way the songs are mashed together, nor the beat that drives each of them—it is everyone in the room coming together to enjoy and experience what only happens very few times. That's what music can do. My brother gets it and he digs it just as much if not more than the biggest music fans out there ...and that's why we're related. 

Why I sing...

Girl Talk