PASS THE DUTCHIE.

I continue to learn that so many experiences from my youth have shaped my interests and who I am today.

I often think of my parent’s record player and stereo speakers.  For the longest time I thought the speakers were end tables. It makes me smile to think that thanks to Craigslist, these same speakers found a new home and now reside somewhere in Swissvale.  Hopefully another young child is lucky enough to hear influential sounds through those speakers.  For me, my memories include listing to The Carpenters (“We’ve Only Just Begun”); Bye Bye Birdie ("A Normal, American Boy"); The Beatles (“I’m Looking Through You”) in my living room through those big, magic boxes.  

Now when I play music in my house, I feel that I am not so subtlety trying to influence the soundtrack of my boys’ youth.  Will they retain the songs that I have been playing for them?  Will they eventually come to appreciate one of the bands that I like?  Or will the cycle continue when they play Ed Sheeran and Imagine Dragons for their family?

In addition to the recorded music of my childhood, I often think of what got me interested in the business side of live music.  I like to thank band members from The Empty’s and many late night conversations in Foggy Bottom during my college years, but  another prominent childhood memory of mine is watching a KISS documentary from the late 1970s (“A Day In The Life Of KISS”).  It was not necessarily the music that stood out to me but watching the intricate set-up and breakdown of a KISS concert will be forever imprinted in my mind.

Currently, when attending concerts with my boys, I constantly find myself either pointing (or wanting to point) out behind-the-scenes details about the band’s stage configuration or instrumentation.  I often think of where the band just arrived from and how quickly they need to pack their van to head off to their next show.  Now the parent in me wonders if they have a place to stay and if they have a back-up plan in case they no longer decide to live the life of a touring musician.

An age-old bar stool conversation is “What was your first concert?”.   The answers can sprout embarrassing tales or prideful memories.  I know that I have taken my boys to see their first concerts, but I wonder if they will claim them as their own or choose their own adventures.

Thanks for reading.