Chronicles - "Let The Music Do The Talking"

As long as I can remember, music has been an important part of my life. Now some might think that odd considering I do not know how to play an instrument nor do I sing, but music is universal and I think that we all on some level enjoy it.

My earliest recollection of music revolves around Saturday night television. My mom and dad were big Country and Western music fans and watched "Hee Haw" and "The Grand Ol' Opry" rather religiously. My mother enjoyed watching "Lawrence Welk" (I think that came on Sunday nights) and I can remember sitting and watching all three quite frequently when I was young.

Orchestra, Big Band, Country and Western, and Gospel was the only music I can remember listening to as a small child. That was until my parents gave me an old AM transistor radio with an earphone. My friends (I must have been 10 years old or so at the time) asked me what station I was listening to and I told them WPDX, the local country station. They gave a chuckle and told me that there was better music available and quickly gave me the frequency to the local AM rock station, "13 Rock" and I was hooked. I quickly abandoned C&W and Big Band music and became a rock and roll rebel.

It was also during this time that I became a fan of the "Dumb Ditties" type of songs. You may know what I an talking about...the kind of songs Weird Al or Doctor Demento would play. My mom and dad bought me several of those and I have to admit that I still like them to this day. Oddly enough, so did my buddies Rycherox, Knightmare Duck, and M'Wonga.

I soon became a die hard fan of Bill Mahoney, the morning DJ at 13 Rock. I called in to his show frequently to answer the trivia question of the day and soon was banned from calling because of my penchant for getting through with the correct answer more often than not. Getting banned from calling did not bother me much because the notoriety of being blacklisted went pretty far.

During my early years of listening to "13Rock" I began my love affair with harder, guitar oriented rock and roll. Queen, Eddie Money, and Billy Squier were among my favorites. Air guitar in my bedroom in front of the mirror was a common activity for me (and for quite some time I must admit).

By the time I was in Junior High (now referred to as "middle school"), MTV was on the air. Now I know you younger people will have a hard time believing me, but at one time, MTV played nothing but videos. Mind you it was not 24x7, (I think they stopped programming at 1 or 2 AM) but they had "VJ's" (video jockeys), which were the video equivalent of "DJ's" on the radio today.

I loved MTV. They played a huge variety of music from pop and dance to rock and metal. They had a weekly show called "The Headbanger's Ball" that showed nothing but hard rock and heavy metal videos for three hours. It was great!

The older got (think high school), the heavier the music became that I listened to. While I still liked good ol' rock and roll, my favorite music was "heavy metal" and many of its varients. Iron Maiden, Metallica, Ratt, Def Leppard, and Saxon were some of my favorites. My buddy RycheRox shared this love and he and I spent many hours watching The Headbanger's Ball and listening to hard rock mixes.

I think it was during this time that hard rock infused with other elements began to intrigue me. One band in particular, "Momma's Boys", infused Irish fiddle with their pop metal sound. This fusion stuck with me but did not surface again until many years later after I remarried.

We (RycheRox and I) were also fans of Circus and Hit Parader magazine. We litereally could not wait until the next issue would be published so we could see when Queensryche or Def Leppard would release their next album. We had to rely on magazines because back then there was no real organized online information. Oh, the internet existed, but we only had access to BBS's.

After I graduated high school I still was very interested in the heavier music, but I had turned my attention to MOD, SOD, and Anthrax aka hardcore music. It was fast and it was aggressive...just perfect for an angry young man like myself.

After I got married the first time, I was asked to front a fledgling hardcore band called "Ded Horse" as vocalist. My stint with them was short...I recorded a very poor demo with them in my house. The song was "Grip of Death", one of many I had written but the only one that ever got recorded. I was told to "sing" in a very gravelly throated voice that sounded rather horrible, but it was what the Hall Brothers (John and Rob, the Saltwell Hardcore Duo) wanted so that is what I did. After we recorded it, I could barely speak...my throat was raw. While writing and recording were fun, I realized I could not sing, even for a hardcore band so I gave it up. I wonder if that demo will ever turn up one day...

As I grew a bit older, my tastes in music began to mature somewhat. While I still enjoyed hard rock and heavy metal, I began listening to musicians who were gifted/talented/geniuses in their craft. Joe Satriani and Steve Vai became commonplace on my playlists and bands (no matter what style) who had really talented guitar players (U2, Big Country, Yes, Testament, Metallica, Pink Floyd, etc) were the ones I wanted to listen to.

After I started dating and later married Mrs El Gee,my musical tastes began to evolve again. I was in a video store at Northgate Mall in Durham, NC when I heard what sounded like a cross between Celtic Folk and pop-rock. It was an interesting sound so I stopped to see where it was coming from. The obviously gay associate at the store pointed me to one of the larger TV screens showing a group of Celtic dancers. When I asked the guy what it was he said, "The Lord of the Dance", obviously one of his personal favorites from the way he sighed when he said it.

Whether it was a gay favorite or not, I liked what I heard, so I bought a copy and took it home. My wife and I watched it that night and we both loved it. She really liked the dancing and I enjoyed the pop-rock/celtic folk fusion that Ronan Hardiman created.

It was also during this period that I began to expand my musical tastes into the area of Christian music. While I never have been a big fan of gospel hymns, the merging of Christ centered lyrics with rock music really lifted my spirit. Soon I was gathering as much Christian rock as I could.

After "OD-ing" on Christian themed music (yes, you can have too much of a good thing), I began to balance my listening choices a bit more. I will go back an listen to all the fun 80's music every now and then and later on listen to as much Contemporary Christian music as I can find.

Every now and then I catch myself listening to a little Bluegrass or Celtic folk.

Holiday Photos

I saw this in the produce section of Kroger's this evening. Heck of a bargain, eh?



And I know this is a bad photo, but I had to at least try. It is a Christmas Cactus. My wife and I both want one.