a bunch of rambling started by listening to a dave matthews cd

I jumped on the Dave Matthews Band bandwagon considerably after everyone else did. I fell in love with the song "Crash Into Me" upon first listen. It has all the criteria of a song for me to love. Acoustic guitar, lyrics that are deep and simple at the same time, and a crescendo that resolves itself in a lovely way. The first album I really had was Everyday which is possibly a blasphemous fact to most DMB fans. But I also had the whole Lillywhite album downloaded off of Napster before Busted Stuff became a reality.

My friend Rebecca introduced me to the Live at Luther College album one night while a carload of us were headed to Santa Cruz and I realized there was a lot about Dave Matthews I didn't know yet. I absolutely adore that album, the second disc especially. It is on my list of perfect driving albums. It's also perfect for the beach and for listening to while writing (academic OR personal). Someone borrowed it from me and never gave it back, but I will be remedying that soon enough.

A few years back when I was living in Northern California, my friend Tina and I decided on a complete whim to go to Southern California to visit some friends. It was a crazy trip with us taking turns driving like madwomen to get to Riverside, staying on couches in Dan's parent's living room, and hanging out. Dan was playing in a band that happened to be opening for Tim Reynolds in San Juan Capistrano and so we just went to that too. I got my industrial ear piercing practically on the way to that show which was not the best of ideas but it is the only piercing I still have jewelry in, so obviously it wasn't a waste in the end.

It turns out that Tim Reynolds by himself is kind of weird. He's a small man and just a little odd. Breathtakingly talented, but most of his solo music is not acoustic. He annoyed actually that a lot of the people there wanted him to play songs like Stream and he explained (growled) that's how he plays with Dave Matthews, but for his solo work, he prefers the electric guitars and synthesizers he was using. It was weird but I could see the talent although I was disappointed it wasn't more of the acoustic stuff I knew him for.

Tina and I drove him from the venue, slept, and then met up a few hours later to go see Dave Matthews Band. Then we got to see them AGAIN the next night. They played a couple of the same songs both nights, but they basically had two set lists. It was truly fantastic. Later when we talked about it trying to decide which night we would have gone to if we could only get tickets for one night, neither of us could decide. If I had the time, money, and opportunity, I'd go see them two nights in a row again for sure.

K said Starbucks just started carrying two Dave Matthews cds and he wanted to get them. When he told me he got one and it was live, I was curious, and then when he said it was with Tim Reynolds, I asked him to immediately bring it over so I could listen to it/rip it. When we put it in my cd player in my truck, happiness immediately washed over me. I looked at the songs and got a little more excited because most of my favorite DMB songs are on there and it seemed like there were a few of Tim by himself as opposed to the one on Live at Luther College. I have loved listening to it and hearing the little nuggets of conversation Dave offers through the songs. It is a truly fantastic set of discs and not just because my boyfriend effectively gave them to me.

I've been thinking about music a lot lately. For a fairly significant portion of time, it seemed like music surrounded my life. Most of my friends were in bands, I worked at a music store, and I did grassroots marketing for a record label. I worked for a band for awhile and loved knowing what was new, what was hot, and what was coming around the corner. That passion has waned over the past couple of years especially beause I've moved on to other things. I was cut off from my supply of free new music through changing jobs and whatnot and my friends have changed over the years as well. Ever since I started thinking about how this happened and whether or not it was okay, I've had songs stuck in my head.

Getting a chance to listen to this new set of cds came at the perfect time. It has revived my love of the acoustic guitar. I still don't have the cash to fund my music habit in the way I would like. In any case though, my iPod will be getting a lot more use as I rediscover other artists I haven't heard in awhile and enjoy all the new music Mike just brought me today.

It's not bad to change the focus of where your life is it. But sometimes it is really lovely to pick up a habit from the past, dust it off, and put it through some speakers. :)