The other day I was cruising down the I5 freeway going from Seattle to Olympia to visit Jetta, an old college friend. It was a day off. I was free from the job, the hassle of life in general, everything.
It felt like summer vacation when I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania. More than anything it felt like I had space— in my mind, in my heart and on the open road.
I was sort of sick of the million songs on my thumb drive so I dug into my CDs and pulled up a band called The Himalyans. Who the hell are they? They are Adam Duritz’s previous band. Adam is the main guy from Counting Crows. I f*ing LOVE the Counting Crows.
On this album you can hear the coming of age of a songwriter. You can hear melodic ideas and lyrical images being tested by a guy who would soon pen songs that would blast across the world. Some of these tunes are absolutely amazing.
I cranked it up. Stepped on the gas.
Every once in awhile I am so blown away by music that it literally rocks my soul, transcends everything. It fuels my heartbeat, open my heart and reminds me of one of the pleasures of being human.
For seven or eight songs in a row The Himalyans rocked me bigtime. With the warm air blowing across my skin, the music cresting through my body and heart, I was free. Really, really free.
I love music and I listen to it all the time. But it doesn’t generally hit me this hard. When it does, it is blessing. A miracle. I want more. I want to remember it. Shine it.
As the tunes begin to fade, I wrote a poem in my mind. Soon after I scratched it in my little book.
the pleasures of being human
summer. warm, easy. i fly
down the freeway of
open roads, open windows. the stereo
answers my prayers. melody,
rhythm, guitar. the art of timelessness
—wind on warm skin
music inside me, blinding me
with beauty, reminding me
of the pleasures of being human.
>>> illustration by megan hills______________
When was a time that music blew you away? What song? At a concert? What was the scene? How did it affect you? What does music do for you?
I love this Jeff. I love that you are doing this period. This blog, this forum, this” giving a fuck”. Its awesome.
Music always moving in one way or another, thats what music does, invokes, pulls, steals, begs out of us an emotion.
I like what you wrote because i try to live every day like that, finding “the feeling”, of something juicy and fun is how i stay floating along in a lucky dance with the universe.
The days or moments that suck, and now days for me, its just moments…
Are easily navigated out of either into a neutral thought, meditation, sleep, or just looking for something that makes me laugh.
We can live happy, create, and plot our course not with just work, but with JUST feeling…
love,
Lori
thanks, lori! yeah, music has always been my heartbeat. sometimes it whispers and sometimes it pounds. and sometimes it kind of sneaks up on you and blows your mind. f yeah!
“The stereo answers my prayers” snap, snap, snap!
my prayers too! crank it up…
I’ve felt this way many times while driving around in my convertible… the earth is so amazing, the clouds wisping by, tulips, millions of colors of green in the trees, the silky feeling of the air on my skin…
Loved the story and experience music the same way. It can always be good, yet sometimes it is highly magical and healing!
The first time I fell in love, back in the ’80s, we were listening to Journey. We spent hours making out to Journey in my boyfriend’s Camero!!! It was very heady stuff. More recently, I was doing a job that was very difficult for me, that of sales. I am NOT a salesman. I had to go around to all the AM/PMs and other mini-marts to inventory candy, and sell more to the Manager of said establishment. SOOOO not my thing!!! The only way I made it through, was by listening to the Christian Station in my car. It would literally wrap me up in LOVE in-between stores. How it lifted my soul! It was a cushion of comfort, for which I am grateful. Currently, I am looking to join a local Drumming Circle.