"Hi, my name is Norma"
"I am an addict"
"I am addicted to buying any and all music in all forms"
Yes, my dear friends, this is so very true....we own somewhere between 250 to 300 record albums....we own over, I believe, 300 compact disc's....which doesn't include the various choir concerts of our youngest son....the ones of mixes that either boys have made us, my going to Deer Springs mixes that my Ya-Ya has made me, or ones we to one another for gifts....we also still have some various 8-tracks and even a handful of cassette tapes....even the ones of both our son's sono-grams....do they even make 8-track players anymore?....I should check the Antique dealers right?.....maybe on E-bay.....I know the cassette tape player we have is packed away in a box and is in our crawl space in the attic....I know the tapes themselves have to really bad....temperature changes, dust....we listened to Air Supply and we were in hysteric's!....it sound like the adults in Peanuts...."wah-wah"
I have narrowed my addiction's fix to once every 2 months at Zia Records here in Chandler....we can easily spend over 2 hours there very very happily...."such joy-joy!"....we get such a high off it all....it is a rush for us when we walk through the doors, hearing the music that is filling the store....seeing all the rows upon rows of the small square boxes, that are stacked on top of one another.....the running of our fingers down the pile of them and resting upon ones that you have been in search for forever....the ones your finger comes across that invokes memories of time past.....our hearts race....our breathing quickens....our hands get shaky....it is bliss in it's purest form!....for our sometimes much needed quick fixes, in between our trips to Zia, we go through our favorite artist's and band's websites, to see the latest they are doing...if any new releases are scheduled....oh my goodness, if we come across any record albums that are being re-released "remixed" and/or "remastered" onto compact disc, we are whipping out the card to order in an instant!....fingers flying across the keyboard to quench this fix!....it is utter madness for us!
I am not the normal addict some would view me as....like that even makes any sense, "normal addict"....I do know that we have never saved up our pennies for the yearly family vacations, for expensive jewelry, for big screen T.V.'s, or for even the much needed cars........we, after knowing the boys were taking care of first and foremost, would spend our "free" cash on our addiction....these round disc's of colors and shiny material, bring us such immense pleasure....it is obscene we know....our poor unassuming boys, they never stood a chance to be able to break this cycle of addiction....we have passed it on to both of them....they each have just about amassed, the same amount of compact disc's that we....our dear eldest has now taken up the "hitting" the hard stuff and is acquiring record albums now....Meghan is not a happy wife in any of this at all....
In my husband's upbringing from his parents, he was exposed to allot of Jazz and the Big Band's....his Mom was a concert pianist...she also, in my opinion, had a quite beautiful voice too....my husband's much much older brother and their sister, exposed him to the "Hippie" and "Flower-Power" genre's of music....The Beatles....Traffic....Cream....Jimmy....T-Rex....all these and more....in his later teens, his best friends were his influence....Pink Floyd, Elton John and more too....
My upbringing was from my parents first too....our household days were filled with Connie Francis....Brenda Lee....Percy Faith....Sing-a-long with Mitch....The Letterman....all Scottish music and of course bagpipes....my Father played the pipes and was in a drum and pipe band for many years....but I would have to say the most fun of the influences were from my sister and I's Saturday nights, listening to our parents drunken sing-a-longs of all the old Scottish folk songs and ballads....all their Scottish friends and any relatives that were visiting or lived close by would be there....my sister and I would have lullaby's of "Oh Danny Boy"...."Over the Hills to Skye"...."How Dry I am"...."You Canny Shove Your Granny Off The Bus"...."Just a Wee Dunken-Doris"....Roamin in the Gloamin" and so many more that I can't list them all....in my later teens, my Auntie and Godmother, exposed me to the classics's....The Beatles....The Hollies....The Rolling Stones....The Who....Buddy Holly....Neil Diamond....and for the first time, Swan Lake and Peter and the Wolf....amazing to me....I spent many overnights at my Aunt's apartment....she taught me how to dance and appreciate all types of music....we would dance all the time and with such abandonment....my little cousin, who was just 2 to 6 years old, would be apart of the whole amazing time....I so loved that time spent with my Auntie....I so adored her and I always took notice of her....so it is without saying that these were the roots and foundation to my addiction....no question....
Our boys influences began too at a very young age....I can even say while residing in my womb....I was pregnant with our eldest, at around 7 months....my husband, my sister, and I went to a concert....The Grateful Dead and Stevie Nicks opened for them....when we were all walking into the arena, to give them our tickets at the door, the lady taking them looks at me and then down at my belly and asks me, "are you carrying a beer-ball under your shirt there?"....I respond, "of course I'm not....I'm 7 months pregnant!"....she asks if she "can touch my belly to be sure"....I cracked up....during the concert our eldest was dancing and jumping around inside me....he was such a happy little guy!...for both of our boys when they were little, we would take them to concerts that they would be fine in seeing and being at....The Beach Boys....REO Speedwagon to name some....all through the boys early teens, my husband would accompany them and all their friends, to any of the concerts they liked here in the Valley....no other parent would do this nor did they ever ask to or went without invitation....each of our boys grew up loving all types of music....T.V. shows that they preferred were of the sing kind....the Disney musicals....Travis loved everything from The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music....our eldest went through a phase of Weird Al Yankovich....their influences and types are somewhat different from one another now but, they can always easily find some to share with one another....
My husband and I's tastes are somewhat the same now....he openly admits he is more "snobbish" about what he chooses to listen to....though I can say in defense for him, he is getting allot more broader in his listening....I attribute that to our boy's....for me, my tastes are generally all over the place....I can say that Rap doesn't make much sense to either my husband nor I and neither of us will tolerate hate, degrading of women, and violence of any kind....just can't wrap our brains around any of that and why would anyone want to?....having the privilege of speech doesn't mean the abuse of it....for both my husband and I, finding a new artist is yet another kind of "fix" for us....if it gets me up and dancing all over the place, car seat dancing, or simply chair dancing, I am all on it....
My children, my new daughter-in-law included, have for a long time now given me for my various birthdays and Christmas's CD mixes of music that they think I would enjoy....all of my children know their Mom/Mother-in-law very very well....they have never failed in this gift of music....Christmas music I have never found to own, concerts that I was unable to attend....they always manage to find their way into my hands....I have come to love artist's with names like; Muse, The Deer Hunter, The Decemberist's, Mika, The Red House Painter's, The Snake The Cross and The Crown, A Perfect Circle, and too many others to continue to write down here....
This year for my husband and I's collective birthday's, Christmas, and Anniversary gift to one another, we purchased a record player that you can hook into your computer to record onto writable compact disc's....OH LORDY-BE!.......that has created an amount of such angst and glee for our addiction!....reason being that there is any angst, it is because we hardly see one another now......my husband is now usually up here at the computer, during what little free time the sweet man has, arranging all the various artists record album's that he wants recorded and then he starts the process of recording the album to the computer......then it's downloaded to the smart stick that he has purchased for each of us....lately, he has gotten the first stage down to an art now.......he can now walk away for some time to go and do other things like cooking dinner etc......and lastly for the glee in it for us both, is in the fact that, we can listen to the record album that is finished on the computer or smart stick....also too if the record album is one that had never been released on to CD's yet, it is an overdose for us!....we have allot of those kind of record albums in our closet right now!
Back in October, my husband downloaded the recording album of a band that I had followed all through high school....The Uncle Chick Band....oh, they were so awesome to me!....very very Southern Rock....along the lines of Charlie Daniel's and such....wherever they were playing, and usually that was down at the beach on a Saturday night, in the pavilion.... the group I ran around with, we would all be there singing, dancing, and partying with the band after each of their sets....I just loved these guys!....and guess what?....just recently I went onto the Internet to see if they ever had released another album after the one I have....to my dismay, they didn't but, it looks like I indeed possess the only one they recorded and released back in mid 70's....cooler too was, I found that it listed at selling for $150!....I just about choked!....I also further searched and was able to locate and e-mailed the drummer T-Bone...he was kind enough to e-mail me back.....I think to be kind also, he said he remembered who I was....I don't think I was a "stalker" back then or at least I didn't think I was....hind sight is scary when your an addict I suppose....T-Bone is now playing in another band down in Florida....very different music he says but, he seems happy and has very good memories of that time in his life....
Our family also owns every gadgetry item to fuel our addiction further....XM satellite for my husband's car....I-Pod's both regular and video....MP-3 player's other than I-Pod's....tabiture software for each of the boy's computer's to write music....car stereo's for each of us that have all the capabilities for everything to be able to have music playing on any gadget....be it to the grocery store or a long Jeep road trip, we have the means to play any amount of music and for any amount of time....a few years back, my husband and I bought for the boy's birthday's one year external hard drives to hold all their music that they have on their laptop's....it was killing the laptop's memory amount....anything to keep the addiction going right?
On Kent Avenue, should you ever happen to stop by, you will most likely hear some kind of music coming from our home......be on the stereo, radio, or from ourselves.......both my husband and our youngest are instruments themselves.....they both can sing and sing very well.....our youngest has the most amazing voice!.....he has taken voice lessons since Sophomore year of high school....he had sang in the chorus at Hamilton High through to his senior year....in those years there and even to this day, he has become best friends with his music teacher, Chris Evans.....she has been an amazing influence on him and his choices in life....last year, he began interning in her class without credits applied....he just wanted to be there doing it....back when he was attending NAU and in his Sophomore year, he was with the top choir there....was President of the Men's choir his Freshmen and Sophomore years there....he was a music major and was studying to be a high school choir director....my husband and I are beyond words to describe our happiness in that he is returning to NAU come this Fall semester....he has attended CGCC since a year ago this month....needed to come home and regroup....last week he was approached by the music department faculty and was given a $500 scholarship to put towards his continuing voice lessons....he never asked nor applied for this gift....it is my belief that CGCC isn't going to put up a fight to keep him there....he also announced that he made the musical and is playing a singing Deputy...the name of it escapes me, I apologize....can I tell you too, if you ever happen to hear his singing the blessed Silent Night, Holy Night, it will bring you to your knees....not only is it the words and written verses of this hymn, it is our son's timber and structure of his voice that makes me shake....then there is our eldest and believe me, his voice is equally rich and of strength....both the boys are perfect pitch too...they are amazing....our eldest has performed in a band since in the 8th grade....lead guitar and the style of "singing" that he has done recently in his band, is the guttural voice that the kid's love in that genre of music....and oh my goodness the child can write lyrics and music....just like their Dad....both my husband and our youngest play piano.....my husband was taught by his Mom and our youngest self-taught himself....he is taking a class to correct though, the bad habit's he did pick up though....back when I had first started dating my husband, he has always written all his own stuff....there are many tattered notebooks with pages upon pages of songs that he has written....I so wish my husband would play more....he never has enough time for those things anymore....even when I do my part to enable him to do so....
For me and before that, the me growing up, I never had learned to play any instrument at all....I do not believe that I was ever encouraged to do so....I do believe I know that I had the want to....especially when my sister took up clarinet and bagpipes....I remember trying to mimic her on the recorder for the bagpipes, when she wasn't using it to practise....still, I know I wasn't encouraged....it was only for my baby sister and she was the one that was doing it, not me....I'm sorry that I digressed....
I remember in grade school, 5th grade, being asked to be a soloist in chorus for the song Tammy....I remember being somewhat nervous and I so loved to sing....so, when the spotlight hit me on my mark, I stood there, head up high and in my prettiest of dress and sang it out loud....afterwards, I remember being praised by my follow classmates and by all the teachers too....my teacher gave me a rose to bring home....I can recall the ride back home in the car being very different then what I received from school....my parents remarks were, "that was very nice Norma...no mistakes which is good" and nothing more was said after that and nor was I ever encourage to do more....I didn't believe that they liked my singing or me for that matter....with the exception of my dear dear sister....she on the other hand was always kind, loving, and protective of me...she said, "Oh Norma, that was really great....you sang it without being nervous!"....how I so adore my sister....I remember never wanting to sing in chorus or anything after that....I also remember a time so much later in my life, when I was driving over to my Granny's, to pick her up to bring her back over to our house 20 minutes away....on our way back, the boys all buckled in their car seats in the backseat, we were all singing to a sing-a-long tape....my Granny says to me,"pet, you have a very pretty voice....why haven't I heard you before now?"....my response is, "oh Granny you are just so sweet to me.....thank you"......"now I could really use your help in this next song for the boys....would you help me teach them You Canny Shove Your Granny Off The Bus"....we laughed so much....I am not a fool, I know that I do not have a good voice and that I sing to myself for the most part....I have tried the karaoke at parties and neighborhood pubs on the corner....and those were disaster's from the very first note....even when all us girls went to see Mamma Mia and it was the sing-a-long version, I sat next to Carol and tried to harmonize to her amazing sweet voice....now that girl has pipes!!
So as you can see our addiction is real....our family simply and reverently appreciates music....we are enabler's to a fault....we listen to some styles more than others but, it is what it is right?....I absolutely adore it all!....I can get so very lost in it all....it brings me immense joy to my soul when being in it....the dancing....the singing.....all of it!.....I know that we will never not have music in our home or our lives.....our addiction will bring us to our grave....I can think of worse addictions really....for us, it is of who we are....it's funny, there are times that we, our just myself, go to visit our/my friends at their homes or we/me am riding in their cars and there isn't any music on....oh I know, but of course being able to have and hold a conversation with these friends and family are far more important I agree but, why not have the background be filled quietly with an aria, some kind of music that is your favorite, setting a mood, having the artist playing that you danced your first dance to, at your wedding, what was playing during your first kiss....all the bands that you grew up with....all these can not only cure a "fix" to an addict of music but, to any person it can change their mood or the saying goes, soothes the savage beast....I can even say for the ones that make me cry in sorrow too, like Amazing Grace, I can't imagine not having this addiction.....no, there isn't any rehab for me but, I can honestly say, I don't want there to be....music invokes feelings and senses that are of passion, joy, love, hurt, and beloved Peace....I could never imagine nor ever want to imagine not hearing a piece of music and the emotions it invokes to our hearts....
Can you?
