(This was going to be a short piece about how it’s the thirty-ninth anniversary of R.E.M.’s album Fables of the Reconstruction and how important the song “Maps and Legends” is to me.
What a beautiful essay. The right song at the right moment, that group that comes along just when you need them, what a holy experience that echoes across years. Thank you for sharing this.
Have you read Barbara Ehrenreich's Living with a Wild God? It's a very weird book, but the parts of your essay about feeling alienated and sort of dissociating from everything around you remind me of her account of her adolescence. I love that music was the lifeline for you. And I'm so jealous that you had such easy access to live music as a kid. <3
I have not read that, but I've enjoyed her other books that I've read--I'm curious to re-read Dancing in the Streets now. I've requested that book from the library.
I did get to go to a handful of shows in high school:
Sophomore year--REM, Violent Femmes
Junior year--Joan Baez (with my mom)
Senior year--Royal Crescent Mob (a Cincinnati band), Sting
And then once I got to college and lived in a dorm a couple of blocks away from several live music venues, I hit the ground running :)
It's weird (see my Goodreads review); I'm not sure what to actually think about it.
I have been to almost no concerts that weren't orchestral and put on by a university. LOL My parents took us to a Little Texas/Tim McGraw concert when I was in junior high. I saw Ray Charles at USM as an undergrad, and I went to Jazz Fest in NOLA as an undergrad (but the only band I really remember from that event is Steve Miller band). And that's the extent of my concert-going.
What a beautiful essay. The right song at the right moment, that group that comes along just when you need them, what a holy experience that echoes across years. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you so much for reading and understanding!
Have you read Barbara Ehrenreich's Living with a Wild God? It's a very weird book, but the parts of your essay about feeling alienated and sort of dissociating from everything around you remind me of her account of her adolescence. I love that music was the lifeline for you. And I'm so jealous that you had such easy access to live music as a kid. <3
I have not read that, but I've enjoyed her other books that I've read--I'm curious to re-read Dancing in the Streets now. I've requested that book from the library.
I did get to go to a handful of shows in high school:
Sophomore year--REM, Violent Femmes
Junior year--Joan Baez (with my mom)
Senior year--Royal Crescent Mob (a Cincinnati band), Sting
And then once I got to college and lived in a dorm a couple of blocks away from several live music venues, I hit the ground running :)
It's weird (see my Goodreads review); I'm not sure what to actually think about it.
I have been to almost no concerts that weren't orchestral and put on by a university. LOL My parents took us to a Little Texas/Tim McGraw concert when I was in junior high. I saw Ray Charles at USM as an undergrad, and I went to Jazz Fest in NOLA as an undergrad (but the only band I really remember from that event is Steve Miller band). And that's the extent of my concert-going.
I do! So much! I have such feelings reading your essay.
Thank you for sharing this personal and poignant account of the power of music to save us when we most need to be saved.
Thank you so much!
'Existential illness' seems like the perfect description.
So glad you came through all that, Monica.
Good luck with the guitar playing. I've had 55+ years of figuring it out now. There's always something new waiting for you there.
I love reconsiderations of music at different times in our life. Nothing speaks to us so much. Thank you for this.
Really nice!!!