Part of Me: Music

Music has always played a big part in my life. From when I was little, I used to play music - flute and classical piano. Growing up in a traditional household, music was always what I used to see beyond the little world I lived in. My first CD was Ace of Base, purchased for $1 from a garage sale. My first real CD was purchased at PC Richards, and it was Alanis Morissette. My first date was to the Source Mall, to buy the J.Lo CD "waiting for tonight". My first relationship centered around buying as many emo rock CDs as I could afford (BareNaked Ladies, Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Eve 6, Edwin McCain, etc) I used to have one friend from Chinese school who would give me her old CDs to listen to, the first one I asked for was Boyz II Men. My first break up was over "Water Runs Dry" by Boyz II Men.

So it is fitting that one of the few things I wanted to accomplish this year was to listen to music live. That comes in the form of intimate stage settings, dim lighting, or arena concert style, or straight up festival style. Since February I've been trying to find Mommy-duty-free time to attend at least one of each category. It hasn't worked out in the past few times that I've been Mommy-duty-free but I can't express how glad I am to have had the opportunity to watch U2 live. It was a friggin awesome show, such an amazing performer to see for my first stadium arena concert. I tried to catch Edwin McCain at his show that same week in Bayshore, Long Island, since he's touring now, but that didn't work out. And now, with my ticket that I bought a few months ago to Lollapalooza - one that I anticipated having to sell because I wasn't sure about whether I should go or not - I will have completed two of the three categories under "Music" that I wanted to accomplish this year. The original plan was to bring Adam with me to Lolla, because they have a Kidsapalooza stage where bands come and go and perform kid-friendly songs. But that would have probably made "kids music" the center of attention for that weekend, which I guess wouldn't have been a bad thing at all, but given the chance, I'd rather attend the adults version of the festival. So many headliners in so little time. I will have to rely on the experience of my festival-going friends to show me how to best maximize the time and concurrent show schedules. I would have loved to share this experience with you. You'll definitely be on my mind when I go!

Boy does it make me proud to accomplish this!!! I wish I could share it with you!

Addedum to this post is the breakdown of what I did want to do this year. There were two things I wanted to accomplish this year - Impulsive traveling, and Listening to Live Music.
Impulsive traveling: Domestic, and International
Accomplished: International - Mexico, February 2011

Listen to Live Music: Intimate setting, Arena setting, Festival setting
Accomplished: Arena Setting - U2, July 20 2011. Soon - Festival Setting - Lollapalooza, August 5-7 2011.

Conversion Rate: 60% !!!!!!!

Forever Young

I wanna be forever young! Man I love this song. The first time Adam went down to visit, a few months later I went to visit him, and this was the anthem of my trip down there. Blaring this whenever it came on when Adam and I were driving to places foreign to me. LOVE THIS SONG!

The lyrics ring true. I wanna be forever young. I'm painting you a portrait of young.

Let’s dance in style,
Let’s dance for a while,
Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst,
Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?
Let us die young or let us live forever,
We don’t have the power but we never say never,
Sitting in a sandpit,
Life is a short trip,
The music’s for the sad man,

[Chorus]
Forever young,
I wanna be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever and ever
Forever young I wanna be
Forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, forever

[Jay-Z]
So we live a life like a video
When the sun is always out and you never get old
And the champagne’s always cold
And the music is always good
And the pretty girls just happen to stop by in the hood
And they hop their pretty ass up on the hood of dat pretty ass car
Without a wrinkle in today
Cuz there is no tomorrow
Just some picture perfect day
To last a whole lifetime
And it never ends
Cos all we have to do is hit rewind
So lets just stay in the moment, smoke some weed,
Drink some wine,
Reminisce talk some shit forever young is in your mind
Leave a mark that can’t erase neither space nor time
So when the director yells cut,
I’ll be fine,
I’m forever young...

[Chorus]

[Jay-Z]
Fear not when, fear not why,
Fear not much while were alive,
Life is for living not living up tight,
See ya somewhere up in the sky,
Fear not die, I'll be alive for a million years, bye bye,
So not for legends, I'm forever young
My name shall survive
Through the darkest blocks, over kitchen stoves,
Over Pyrex pots, my name shall be passed down to generations
While debating up in barber shops, young slung, hung here,
Shorty, the nigga from here
With a little ambition just what we can become here,
And as the father passed his story down to his sons ears,
Younger kid, younger every year, yeah
So if you love me baby this is how you let me know.
Don’t ever let me go, thats how you let me know, baby,

[Chorus]

[Jay-Z]
Slamming Bentley doors,
Hopping out of Porsche’s,
Popping up on Forbes lists,
Gorgeous,
Hold up,
Niggas thought I lost it,
They be talking bullshit
I be talking more shit
They nauseous,
Hold up,
I'll be here forever
You know, I'm on my fall shit,
And I ain’t waiting for closure, I will never forfeit,
Less than four bars,
Guru bring the chorus in,
Did you get the picture yet,
I’m painting you a portrait of young...

[Chorus]

Music that reminds me of...

This weekend my friend Rohin and I went through youtube and cobbled together a list of songs that remind us of high school and college. In no particular order, here's the list:

Renegade, Eminem
In Da Club, 50 cent
One Minute Man, Missy Elliot
I Just Wanna Love You, Jay Z