Music and Family

I interviewed my mother for this blog entry.

Music has always been a big part of my mother’s life. I remember always hearing her get ready for work while listening to music, and she played the radio in the car every day when she took me to school. When she was young, my mother and her siblings all took piano lessons. She didn’t like the piano because she knew that she’d never be as good as her brother and sister, so she didn’t practice. She loved to listen to INXS, Elton John, Janet Jackson, James Taylor, U2, and Luther Vandross on 45s and LPs(33s)on a record player, 8 tracks, and cassettes. She shared a room with her sister and they plastered the walls with posters of their favorite artists. When they got home from school, they would turn their music all the way up, dancing and singing in their room until their father came and made them stop. She started playing the flute in 7th grade, and enjoyed playing in marching band and concert band until she graduated high school. She brags that her band teacher said that she and her friend, Julie were the best marchers. When she was in high school, she also participated in all-state choir. She told me that she also really enjoyed listening to Gregorian chant. She said that once, her choir had the opportunity to sing in an old cathedral and she really enjoyed the acoustics. When she was a teenager, she had the opportunity to see a lot of live concerts.  Her father worked part-time at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC as a ticket taker. He would often let her in for free and she would stand in the back dancing to some of her favorite artists’ music. Because of this, she got to see: Bon Jovi, Hall & Oats, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Billy Joel, Elton John, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Glass Tiger, Kiss (3 times), Styxx, Commodores, Patti Labelle, Luther Vandross, Bee Gees, Diana Ross, Journey, Loverboy, Hughie Lewis & the News, ZZ Topp, Cheap Trick, John Mellencamp, Robert Plant, Wynton Marsalis, REO Speedwagon, Rick Springfield, and Barry Mannilo. I think she is most proud of the fact that she has seen Elton John 8 times. When she was in college, she worked at Tracks Music Supply in 5 Points. While she worked there, she met Will Smith when he was still on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She remembers that he was sick and that she had to follow him around with a box of Kleenex.   

Music has always been a huge part of my mother’s life, and I’ve always thought that I got my love for music from her.