Joan on the Road...of Life

I Love Rock and Roll...we were shopping at Von's and would you believe they were playing Joan Jett over the music system. I could not resist dancing through the dairy aisle.

I love music. I grew up on country. Hank Williams, Lefty Frizell..."I Love You a Thousand Ways". I remember in grade school coming home from a weekend field trip and my boyfriend was singing "I'd Love to Get You On a Slow Boat to China". In high school I was in a musical and sang "My Funny Valentine" on stage to Jack who was my heartthrob even tho he didn't know I existed.

We had a player piano that was the focal point of parties at my house. We sang to "South of the Border" and "Artist's Life". I learned to play a piano piece called "Twittering of the Birds" by watching the keys on the player piano and then copying that fingering. Lucky me! I learned it in the same key as the piano music that my mom and dad found for me years later.

I took piano and organ lessons for eight years and learned also to love classical and church music. I played Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and the magnificent old English church hymns on a powerful organ. I went to college and my roommate was studying opera so we spent many weekends immersed in Madame Butterfly. She introduced me to Eine Kline Nachtmusik which became my favorite classical piece of all time.

When Jim and I married we bought the classical music series of records (red vinyl) offered by the A&P supermarkets. We worked our way through 9 Beethoven Symphonies. This was another wonderful introduction/ collection of music. Jim also listened to country, WJJD and WLS in Chicago, but with him I listened to the special music of 1959. Then, the music died on my birthday, February 3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa. That was our music...La Bamba, Peggy Sue, True Love, Chantilly Lace...and we also loved Kansas City done by Wilbur Harrison.

Today we have 4778 music tracks on my computer that we play through Musicmatch on our Bose 123 system. Our collection includes all the songs I've mentioned and spans nearly 50 years of music. What a life. At the drop of a hat I can put myself into any year, venue, mood. Music memories are very powerful. Just a few notes can move me back to a place, a time, a special person or event...and I feel the emotion of that time. I cannot even begin to list the music memories I have. I've written about our DJ nights when Jim sits at the computer and picks one song after another...almost speaking to me through music. Sometimes I can predict what song will come next because he's leading me through a memory. God, I love music!