"I think Im in love with my radio...."

Music has been a longtime friend of mine.  When I was younger and I misbehaved (shocker, right?) my punishment used to be that I wasn't allowed to watch TV.  Distraught, I retreated to my room only to find comfort in the warm arms of my stereo speakers.  I instantly became a radio listener, which introduced me to lots of music, both current and classic, and there was born my love for music in general.  Now, I often find comfort in the warm arms of my iPod's earbuds, and I realize myself a bit lost when my iPod is out of battery.  What I'm about to say might shock you, so you might want to sit down.  Ive previously alluded to my lack of enthusiasm towards the exponential growth in the technology world, and the prime example of that is with apple products.  It seems as though every week there is a new generation of ipod being released.  Summer of '04, after I graduated high school, I bought myself an iPod to store all my music on for my year abroad studying in Israel.  It was a generation 3 iPod.  This is the shocking part.... get ready.... here it is:  Im still using that generation 3 iPod. It looks like this:

 

Of  course this is a much cleaner, newer looking picture, but that's my current ipod.  It did die once, about 4 years ago, but being the dedicated user I am, I brought it to the apple store and they gave me a refurbished one.  I love this iPod - I particularly love that the buttons are seperate from the scroll wheel.  Ok, so the battery life isn't great, but it still serves an iPod's main purpose - it plays my music! And for that, I still love it and intend on using it until it officially dies (may it live until 120 - poo poo poo).

I dont have a particular genre of music that I specifically only listen to, or absolutely wont listen to, but I can safely say though that im not a die-hard Dead-Head or Phish-Head or Jam Band groupie.  Thats not to say I won't listen to it, but it's not my go-to choice.  Saturday night I had a really interesting experience.  It was my friend Shira W's birthday, and as a birthday treat, we went to hear a Grateful Dead cover band (WigJam) play at a local music venue.  Seeing as it was Halloween weekend, it was also a bit of a festive bash where people, including the band members dressed up (that wasn't integral to the show, but it did add an element of fun to the feeling - watching Shrek bounce around to heady tunes is bound to be funny).  Ive been to concerts before, and certainly ones where people "feel" the music and dancefully interpret what they are listening to, but being at this concert was a whole new world for me.  It was exciting to watch a lot of people, most dancing in the same enthusiastic, full body movement manner! It made me enjoy the music more seeing other people enjoy it the way they were.  Now granted, I may have been high seeing as though people were "blazing" (now do I sound like a dead-head?) around us, but nonetheless I really had a nice time! I would totally go back and hear them again.  Just kidding about my being high, but there really were doobies being lit and enjoyed in our surroundings.  

Its interesting how sometimes one can sync with music.  Here's an example:  I had a stressful end of the day at work today, and by the time I left the office a half an hour late, I was feeling flushed, annoyed and slightly rushed to catch the next bus.  Walking quickly to the bus station, as I was catching my stride, I turned on my iPod.  Apple must have been tuned into my brain because my trusty iPod knew exactly what I wanted to listen to (and they weren't songs that I often chose, so it wasn't like my iPod had previously favored them) and it played all the right ones!  By the time I arrived at the bus, I was already in a better mood and smiling.  Look how helpful music can be!

On that note I leave you with the following:

This first link is quite long - it is the trailer to a movie slated for a 2011 release about the oldest living Holocaust survivor (107!!!) and how music saved her in the Holocaust - really beautiful and inspirational.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AliceTheFilm

In case that is too long, here is a "lighter" and shorter clip of someone who really feels the music- it is absolutely adorable!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0REJ-lCGiKU&NR=1

Enjoy!