The Music of My Life

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera sung about the Music of the Night and now I am going to write about the music of my life.

When I was 18 two of my closest friends in the world gave me a radio that came with a dual cassette player. It launched the beginning of a new career making music mixes. Ok, it was something that I had done prior to that, but it made it much easier. I was able to dramatically increase the number of tapes of bands, solo artists and soundtracks that I owned.

And as my collection increased I made more and more mixes, tape after tape of songs that had meaning for me. It is like a musical diary of my thoughts and feelings. I can look at a mix and in a moment I am back there, in love, heart broken, worried about the future, confused about what to do with my life or just floating on a raft, relaxing in the sun.

And sometimes there are songs that I shared with more than one person. I know, somewhere out there there are some women cursing my name, angered by that little nugget. It wasn't intentional, but sometmes there are songs that just cross over, you are all special in your own way. Of course if you are cursing me, there is probably a good chance that the song has little to do with your feelings about me.

Some things about me are constant. Ray Charles and I are old friends. Johnny Cash, Springsteen and Stevie Ray and I have tipped back more than a few beers together and Miles Davis has spent many a lonely night with me.

For a man that often stands apart looking off into the distance music has been the best of companions, steadfast, determined and reliable.