Mine is a young person’s story. But see if there’s not lessons for all ages. It is a musical jouney of self-discovery for which I'm truly grateful.
Every kid’s neighborhood has its alpha dog, and ours had Bart.
Athletic, handsome and outgoing, his sharp wit galvanized his crowd of admirers. He could also play the tough guy when he wanted. I wished I was like him.
So when Bart asked me to play in a band that he was forming, um… duh! Here was my ticket to “cool.”
I had learned the keys well enough to quicky master any Top 40 song that caught my attention. It was a great era for popular music; from the mid-1960s to mid-70s the airwaves were wide open to every cultural and social influence imaginable. One could hear it all without “changing the dial.” And now, I had become Bart’s bandmate, and he was going to focus me.
“This is the really cool stuff!” he’d say as he began to exposed me to hits from the 1940s and ‘50s, from what we call “the Great American Songbook.” There was one contemporary style he treasured: R&B. As time went on our lives intertwined, musically and otherwise.
My brother and his friends were into a completely different universe of sounds. Our seperarte musical worlds became a powerful metaphor for the things that separated my brother and I. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and the Allman Brothers thundered from his room. I limited my exposure to it. After all, my mission was to be like Bart.
Bart’s influence over me soon extended to cars, clothes, how I expressed myself, how I spent my time and wore my hair. Live Bart’s way and eventually, enjoy the benefits of being like him. That was the plan.
Then, University happened. For me, it didn’t involve moving away from home but it did mean a whole new set of classmates from all over the country, all over the globe. A new set of influences and viewpoints rubbing themselves on me. Not all of them shared by my neighborhood role model.
I was becoming friends with Dominic. He and I were constantly asking one of our professors the hardest questions, and we noticed that about each other. When we discovered that we also shared an interest in the culinary arts, he invited me to a dinner he was preparing for his three female housemates. Would I accept an invite like that? What’s for supper?
The dinner conversation was mainly about music. Dominic and his housemates seemed to be humoring me as I somewhat dominated the conversation. I noticed one of the girls giggling at me, and not because I was the man of her dreams. Then Dominic invited me to listen to some of his favorite music.
I was blown away by what I heard. “Who is that? This is incredible!”
“You call yourself a musician and you don’t know? These are the Allman Brothers!”
But? Um! Could it really be that I actually liked the cavalcade of annoying sounds invading the safe space of my room at home through the wall that separated me from my brother? (Stay glued for Part 2!)
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