Sunday, July 20, 2014

Music As a Unifying Force

Last weekend my granddaughter told me I look like a cross between Albert Einstein and Santa Claus.  Being compared to a man of great intelligence and one of great kindness is fine with me.  I know it’s because of my hair and beard.  My inner hippie has been re-emerging lately.  I am rather wild looking when I first get out of bed in the morning.  I am trying to encourage my granddaughter to be a free spirit and to be whoever she wants to be.  I think one of the reasons she likes me so much is that I try to do the same.   
 
This week we’ve had some beautiful weather that is totally out of character with the usual July weather in Kentucky.  A friend and I decided to take a walk during the lunch hour earlier this week.  We went across the street from our office to Waterfront Park.  There was a flurry of activity there as workers were preparing the stage and other structures for this weekend’s Forecastle Festival.  This is a music festival that has become one of the premier music festivals in the United States.  There was a time in my life when I would have been in thick of everything for such an event.  I am a music fanatic and I have been to many, many musical events  in my life from listening to blues in smoky clubs to huge festival events with hundreds of thousands of people in attendance.  These days I am not the man I used to be.  I no longer have the desire, stamina, or patience to endure all that one must endure in large, outdoor musical events.  I am still up for them in spirit but not in body.  I am also out of touch with most of today’s music.  I am stuck in the 60’s and 70’s and have little desire to be in the musical world of 2014.  Occasionally I dip my toe into the 90’s but I thought the 80’s was a musical wasteland.  I know some of you youngsters will disagree with me.  Music fanatics like me are a special breed.  Whatever our individual tastes or age may be we usually can relate to one another because of the shared love of music.  I believe that music is the greatest unifying force in the world.  If the music is truly good, it will bring people together.         

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