la musica es...

I had an epiphany today. Several, in fact. One had to do with unplugging the toilet, another with my line quality, but the one that matters concerned music.

Music is a funny thing. Sometimes, I try to imagine what it would be like to hear music for the first time. Like on TV when, through a long, meticulous scientific process, someone's hearing is restored. They usually cry to the sound of an orchestra. Or like in The Giver when the main character runs into music.

What I feel about the indie genre so far. Appropriate, no?

In my lifetime, I have gone through many different phases of music. As a child, all we ever listened to was classical and church tapes. In highschool, I listened to hip hop in one state, then quirky rock in another. My sister went to Mexico, and we listened to folkloric and popular hispanic. Then I went through a country phase, and now I am rumbling into indie.

That was all a little irrevelant. BUT, my epiphany during breakfast and Arcade Fire, was, "What if I only like the music the poeple I'm interested like?" Runaway Bride galloped into my thoughts. How she professed to like the same eggs the guy she was dating at the time enjoyed. It was horrible. Did I not have my own opinion?? I quickly called my friend to find out (ironically). She said she was like that too, except if she found herself listening to the music on her own, it meant something. I calmed down, because I'm always listening to something, and, eight times out of seven, I'm alone during fantastic musical discoveries.

Evidently, one can have a VERY wide variety of listening habits. I find that it all really depends on the day and your mood. I suggest:

• On rainy, complacent days, The Weepies keep good company.
• On sunny days, nothing beats belting out that country tune in your best southern drawl.
• When your inner punk wakes up, Cake is always willing to appease it.
• And on days when you feel your best, and the world is bright and at your fingertips....well, that's a song you have to assign yourself.