Music
I consider myself to be a fan of anything good regardless of genre or packaging. I grew up with the Dr. Demento radio show, which I listened to at night in bed. My dad, having grown up in Hungary and Argentina, had brought a lot of interesting tango and exotic folk music into the house. And my mother took me to my first two concerts when I was about 11 or 12. The first was the Beach Boys and soon after, John Denver.
As a teenager, I went through two rather obsessive hard rock periods. The first, of course, being KISS. In fact, the first album I ever bought for myself was KISS Alive. The soundtrack to high school included a lot of Van Halen and oddly enough, I spent most of my senior year building a scale model replica of Van Halen's 1984 concert stage. Back when I was supposed to be going to college, I was instead toiling in the hard rock scene of Los Angeles and the Sunset Strip in the late eighties. After that it was the folk-inspired coffee houses of Seattle. And now, well, I just listen -- maybe fiddle around with one of my guitars from time to time. Though I still very much enjoy the process of going into an actual record store and purchasing a record, it's hard to ignore some of the new ways with which to explore music. Over the years, my friends and family have come to appreciate the many tape or CD complilations I would make for them -- laboring over just the right thematic flow and quality. It's a lost art I think, diluted by the immediate gratification of computers and the internet. I'm not complaining necessarily, just fondly reminiscing. |
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Some of my favorites
Martin Sexton, Sufjan Stevens, Be Good Tanyas, Innocence Mission, Leon Redbone, Pearl Jam, Bill Withers, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Ben Folds, Feist, Tom Waits, Black Crowes, Greg Brown, Nina Simone, Allison Krauss, Astor Piazzolla, Green Day, Beautiful South, Waterboys, Rusted Root, Bruce Cockburn, Grateful Dead, Jacques Brel, John Prine, Madredeus... just to name a few.
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Heavy rotation: 2007
(in no particular order - links to iTunes)
- Once (soundtrack) / Falling Slowly |
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Heavy rotation: 2006
(in no particular order - links to iTunes)
- Miranda Lambert / New Strings |
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Some memorable concert moments
While I don't attend live performances much any more, I have seen many in my lifetime. As for why I don't, well, the answer might lie somewhere between an impatience for crowds and a somewhat jaded view of the scene. Maybe I get more protective with age. Sometimes I just like to listen, and would rather not obscure that simple fact by introducing dynamics beyond those already present in a great tune. That said, there have been a few concert memories that stay with me still. But just as in life, an indelible event often has more to do with the one that you're with.
1983 / Police (with Flock of Seagulls, Fixx) / Holleder Stadium, Rochester
Summer afternoon outdoors on the grass. Mary Ann on my shoulders.
1983 / Iron Maiden (with Fastway, Coney Hatch) / Rochester War Memorial
1984 / Van Halen (with Red Rider) / Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
1984 / Motorhead (with Wendy O. Williams) / Hammersmith Odeon, London
1986 / The Ramones / University of Rochester gymnasium
1988 / Fishbone (with Living Colour) / Moore Theatre, Seattle
1992 / Bruce Springsteen / Tacoma Dome, Washington
1995 / Pearl Jam & Neil Young / Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
1998 / Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison / GM Place, Vancouver
2002 / Flogging Molly / San Jose, California
2003 / Martin Sexton / Moore Theatre, Seattle
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Copyright ©2007 Andrew Davidhazy
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