My Musical Origin Story

 So I’ve been trying to figure out how to start this new blog. What would be the best way to introduce myself to the whole of the internet.

Then this meme came across my Facebook feed and I realized one of the best ways to get to know me is to get to know the music I love. 

So thanks to Sadie and Angel for posting it.

Welcome to the inner workings of Me Volume One. 

What was Your Favorite Band When You Were Under 10 Years Old?

No doubt dating myself here. But thinking back, the first artist that comes to mind is Barry Manilow. My grandmother loved him and had every single of his records.

When I got tired of creating song and dance numbers for my Sesame Street Disco album, I put on Vegas worthy showstoppers in our kitchen to “It’s A Miracle” and “Daybreak” and the like.

To this day, I use “Somewhere In the Night” and “Could It Be Magic” to help me create the feelings I want around my always stupid but so worthy of love Yaoi boys in my and my partner’s novels.

What was Your Favorite Artist During Your Tween Years?

Probably a two way tie between Bon Jovi, and one of my Dad’s and still also my favorite rock bands, Styx. 

Bon Jovi was so anthemic but also could tell a damn good story.  

And as far as Styx goes, I had the As-I’ve -Learbed-Over-Time-Incredibly-Polarizing Kilroy Was Here on repeat. I even had the VHS of the live concert. I knew every word and fell in love their whole catalog.

Who was the Band/Artist that Caused the Holy Crap There’s Better Stuff Out There Moment?

I think to speak to that we have to go a lot later in life, like 30. And better? Eh, I’m using different because I’m a let them enjoy their pumpkin spice kind of person.

So I’m going with the most uplifting and cathartic band I’ve ever encountered, Blue October. There’s nothing like them. Musically intriguing, vocally powerful, and lyrically divine. There is a Blue October song for every emotion from destructive rage to deepest love. And there’s a violin. I love the violin.

Who was your Favorite Artist/Band in High School?High school?

There were a few songs of the day like this one called “Waiting For a Star to Fall” and weirdly UB40’s “Red Red Wine” and Loverboy’s “Workin For The Weekend” that I associate with that time. 

But it was Billy Joel who got me through it. I think being a New Yorker(lol, Albany, not the City), he felt like something I could claim at a time when nothing else fell that way. I loved the way the characters came to life and the subversive just the way you are encouragement in a lot of his work.

 Like the world was filled with intensity and flawed people, and still so beautiful. And guess what, you, young scared lonely teenager, are part of that too.

Truth be told, without “Piano Man” I’d never have brought RT from the Parliament of Twilight books to life. 

So yeah, he’s kind of where I first heard the notion of complicated people are worthy of love and creative genius even when life is a struggle which it often is. Even when they make bad choices and hit rock bottom. All of that in a song.

Who was Your Favorite Band During The New Adult Years?

New Adult? So college to crazytown, huh? Depeche Mode and Linkin Park. I’d like to say MCR and my beloved Adam Lambert(For Your Entertainment and all that came before and since) who I love with a passion but sadly, I was not “New Adult” at that point. Sigh.

I was damn near thirty something and there’s no question for that. That’s ok. I’m sure my imagined readers will hear about them in many other blogs. But I digress.

Depeche Mode. From the freeing dancing beats to the deep haunting sensuality, this band inspired me to find more of myself and absolutely started the wheels turning that would someday make me the naughty boundary pushing storyteller I had no idea I was shaping into.

Linkin Park. My beloved band. My medicine for the harsh reality of clinical anxiety and depression.

When I first heard “In The End” it broke my heart open to deal with the feelings of abandonment and betrayal I was trapped in. I had to move from all to that, the friends who walked away when I chose happiness over lying to myself anymore. And LP helped me move forward.

If songs can keep you alive, these songs did that for me. These songs kept me from going over the edge even when I was only one step away. They made me keep trying, make words, make magic in the world. 

When the bright brilliant light that was Chester took his life, it wrecked me. And I, like so many other, listen to the songs now and want to take the healing within their songs and be a light in the world.

Own my genius. Love myself enough to allow myself to heal and fail.  To get up every day, face the void, and turn back to life.

That there would be no more new cathartic anthems of the heart from them was devastating. But I seek now to honor Chester.

Give my gifts to the world.

Just fucking embrace the fact that I write fantastical stories of flawed people falling in love and fighting to thrive in the world with a raw honesty that dips into the dark places that some people can’t handle. But it’s what I know. What I’ve lived. What I can share.

Okay so there’s the meme...just a few final thoughts.

That got way more intense than I thought it would when I started the meme.

Next time someone asks me to give them an idea of who I am I think I might use music to show them.

 In fact I’m working on a Spotify list that tells my musical biography that I can share with people who want to know me better.

So how about you?

Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments or use the meme in your blog (let me know so I can read it).

What’s your musical origin story, you amazing ROCKSTAR?