TheGorge
01-09-2007, 11:04 PM
I put together another "essay" of sorts. Hope you enjoy it!
"He Wakes Up in the Morning"
How I Found the Dave Matthews Band
While it wasn't referred to as such when it was happening, the summer of 1995 has since become known as the "summer of the leg" to the members of my family. I was fifteen and, due to my ill-advised idea to participate in a pick-up football game, had a cast on my left leg that went from the tip of my toe to the very top of my thigh for the entire summer. Certainly, the "summer of the broken leg" would be the more apt title for that summer, but the "summer of the leg" has better suited my family's purposes, which have been two-fold: (1) snickering about my predicament and behavior that summer; and (2) generally laughing at me. For years now, if any event related to that time period or my broken leg is discussed, someone, without fail, throws in the obligatory, "Right, that was the summer of the leg." Laughter ensues and everyone has a good time. It has gone down in Jones Family History. At the time, it wasn't funny--broken legs generally aren't--but now it is. We all have our share of crosses to bear and that summer is one of mine. Given the circumstances and my performance, I suppose the family is right; there is some comedy there.
For the better part of two months, although it certainly wasn't a medical necessity, I spent (approximately) twenty-three and a half hours per day on the couch in my parent's living room. I just couldn't find the urge to hobble around and leave the couch. But, what a couch it was. On it, I: watched every episode of the "Real World: London" four or five times (I felt a bond with those bored Americans in London); read twelve Star Wars books (Bet you didn't know that Han and Leia have jedi twins. Well, I do, and it's still embarrassing); ate McDonald's five times a week; had an inordinate number of thirty second conversations with family members as they quickly walked (and I mean quickly) through my living room encampment; woke up twice a day to the dog licking my face; and watched videos on MTV until 4:00 in the morning every night. I could surely continue, as I haven't even discussed my experimentations in hypnosis and hours of gameshow watching, but you've likely gotten the point. And anyway, with the mention of my "lying on the couch until 4:00 in the morning watching MTV" routine, we've reached the point of this story. Because it was then, at the end of the second month, while watching videos on MTV at 4:00 in the morning, that I first heard "Ants Marching."
...
Looking back, I now realize that music had been a large part of my life well before I first heard "Ants Marching" on that summer night. At no more than nine or ten, I spent hours playing my parents records. I remember playing songs like "House of the Rising Sun," "Wide World," "In the Year 2525," "Takin' Care of Business," "American Pie," " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,"and "Wipeout," to name a few, over and over again. I should acknowledge that I also spent, during my pre-teen years, my fair share of time listening to such classics as "Highway to the Danger Zone," "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul, "Ice Ice Baby," by, he needs no introduction, and MC Hammer's entire album (for instance, the phrase, "please Hammer don't hurt 'em" just popped in my head and I have no idea where it came from). And before I had heard of the Dave Matthews Band, during my early teens, I became enthralled, at one time or another, with Primus, Soundgarden, Blind Melon, Megadeth, Metallica, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Beatles.
But, it wasn't until I first heard "Ants Marching" that I really found a band in its entirety. The first time I heard it, I was floored. It literally stopped me in my tracks. God, I liked that song. The following day, I ventured off the couch and went to KMart so I could find the album and hear that song again. With some difficulty (to this day, I don't understand why Dave Matthews Band is placed under 'M' and not 'D') , I tracked the album down and I went home and I listened.
I listened to "Ants Marching" fifteen times in a row and, realized that, not only did I like how the music sounded, I found the words interesting. And over the next month, I listened to the album straight through over and over again; I read the lyrics; I tried to learn "Satellite" on guitar; I wondered what it was like to be twenty-three and "so tired of life" like Dave, and I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, and thought about life. And I loved every minute of it. No one had ever told me to listen to this music, no one had told me it was cool, it wasn't some classic like my parent's records, the media hadn't said it was great. It was mine. And because of that, I found myself in music for the first time. My interest in Dave's words and the band's music was a reflection upon me and who I was. I liked the music because I liked it, simple as that, and in so doing I was finding myself.
And, as I grew, the music grew with me. The lyrics made more sense to me in college than in high school. I learned how to play the guitar by playing the band's music. And the band introduced me to other music. I began going to concerts, which led to other concerts, which led to more concerts well outside the scope the band's music. And I heard the band cover the likes of John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan (to name a few) and realized that yep, I like their music too. And I listened to the band for hours, at concerts and alone together, with the first love of my young life. The music became an integral part of my young adult life. And, like one's feelings for their first love, the music will never go away completely. There are times when I won't listen to the music for months at a time. But, the opening riff of "So Much to Say," or Carter's drums at the beginning of "The Best of What's Around" are like old friends to me when they pop up through the shuffle function on my iPod. Or, last weekend, when I was in a casino with six friends from law school and "Tripping Billies" started playing over the casino's speakers, I couldn't help but smile.
With anecdotes such as these, when something becomes such an integral part of one's life, the beginning of the story is a nice place to look-it helps explain the story. Looking back on all the time I've spent listening to the band's music, I can't help to think how appropriate it is that I found, or maybe it found me, while I was lying on my parent's couch at four in the morning. Because it was the "summer of the leg," I was in a "bubble" of sorts, outside the typical experience of high school students. I was given an entire summer to be with myself and figure me out a little bit. And during this time I figured out, among other things, that I loved music. That music can change my viewpoint, that it can move me, that it can make me think. And I learned all of this, for the first time, through the Dave Matthews Band.
Of course, the "bubble" eventually closed. The leg healed, I got off the couch, and I, once again, became a high school student. And since that summer, I've found scores of other artists, in the same way, that I first found the Dave Matthews Band. I've now been stopped in my tracks a number of times after hearing a piece of music for the first time. Songs have given me the chills, lifted my spirits, and have taking me places I never thought I'd go. It's an indescribable feeling and I love it. And the Dave Matthews Band showed me the way.
"He Wakes Up in the Morning"
How I Found the Dave Matthews Band
While it wasn't referred to as such when it was happening, the summer of 1995 has since become known as the "summer of the leg" to the members of my family. I was fifteen and, due to my ill-advised idea to participate in a pick-up football game, had a cast on my left leg that went from the tip of my toe to the very top of my thigh for the entire summer. Certainly, the "summer of the broken leg" would be the more apt title for that summer, but the "summer of the leg" has better suited my family's purposes, which have been two-fold: (1) snickering about my predicament and behavior that summer; and (2) generally laughing at me. For years now, if any event related to that time period or my broken leg is discussed, someone, without fail, throws in the obligatory, "Right, that was the summer of the leg." Laughter ensues and everyone has a good time. It has gone down in Jones Family History. At the time, it wasn't funny--broken legs generally aren't--but now it is. We all have our share of crosses to bear and that summer is one of mine. Given the circumstances and my performance, I suppose the family is right; there is some comedy there.
For the better part of two months, although it certainly wasn't a medical necessity, I spent (approximately) twenty-three and a half hours per day on the couch in my parent's living room. I just couldn't find the urge to hobble around and leave the couch. But, what a couch it was. On it, I: watched every episode of the "Real World: London" four or five times (I felt a bond with those bored Americans in London); read twelve Star Wars books (Bet you didn't know that Han and Leia have jedi twins. Well, I do, and it's still embarrassing); ate McDonald's five times a week; had an inordinate number of thirty second conversations with family members as they quickly walked (and I mean quickly) through my living room encampment; woke up twice a day to the dog licking my face; and watched videos on MTV until 4:00 in the morning every night. I could surely continue, as I haven't even discussed my experimentations in hypnosis and hours of gameshow watching, but you've likely gotten the point. And anyway, with the mention of my "lying on the couch until 4:00 in the morning watching MTV" routine, we've reached the point of this story. Because it was then, at the end of the second month, while watching videos on MTV at 4:00 in the morning, that I first heard "Ants Marching."
...
Looking back, I now realize that music had been a large part of my life well before I first heard "Ants Marching" on that summer night. At no more than nine or ten, I spent hours playing my parents records. I remember playing songs like "House of the Rising Sun," "Wide World," "In the Year 2525," "Takin' Care of Business," "American Pie," " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,"and "Wipeout," to name a few, over and over again. I should acknowledge that I also spent, during my pre-teen years, my fair share of time listening to such classics as "Highway to the Danger Zone," "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul, "Ice Ice Baby," by, he needs no introduction, and MC Hammer's entire album (for instance, the phrase, "please Hammer don't hurt 'em" just popped in my head and I have no idea where it came from). And before I had heard of the Dave Matthews Band, during my early teens, I became enthralled, at one time or another, with Primus, Soundgarden, Blind Melon, Megadeth, Metallica, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Beatles.
But, it wasn't until I first heard "Ants Marching" that I really found a band in its entirety. The first time I heard it, I was floored. It literally stopped me in my tracks. God, I liked that song. The following day, I ventured off the couch and went to KMart so I could find the album and hear that song again. With some difficulty (to this day, I don't understand why Dave Matthews Band is placed under 'M' and not 'D') , I tracked the album down and I went home and I listened.
I listened to "Ants Marching" fifteen times in a row and, realized that, not only did I like how the music sounded, I found the words interesting. And over the next month, I listened to the album straight through over and over again; I read the lyrics; I tried to learn "Satellite" on guitar; I wondered what it was like to be twenty-three and "so tired of life" like Dave, and I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, and thought about life. And I loved every minute of it. No one had ever told me to listen to this music, no one had told me it was cool, it wasn't some classic like my parent's records, the media hadn't said it was great. It was mine. And because of that, I found myself in music for the first time. My interest in Dave's words and the band's music was a reflection upon me and who I was. I liked the music because I liked it, simple as that, and in so doing I was finding myself.
And, as I grew, the music grew with me. The lyrics made more sense to me in college than in high school. I learned how to play the guitar by playing the band's music. And the band introduced me to other music. I began going to concerts, which led to other concerts, which led to more concerts well outside the scope the band's music. And I heard the band cover the likes of John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan (to name a few) and realized that yep, I like their music too. And I listened to the band for hours, at concerts and alone together, with the first love of my young life. The music became an integral part of my young adult life. And, like one's feelings for their first love, the music will never go away completely. There are times when I won't listen to the music for months at a time. But, the opening riff of "So Much to Say," or Carter's drums at the beginning of "The Best of What's Around" are like old friends to me when they pop up through the shuffle function on my iPod. Or, last weekend, when I was in a casino with six friends from law school and "Tripping Billies" started playing over the casino's speakers, I couldn't help but smile.
With anecdotes such as these, when something becomes such an integral part of one's life, the beginning of the story is a nice place to look-it helps explain the story. Looking back on all the time I've spent listening to the band's music, I can't help to think how appropriate it is that I found, or maybe it found me, while I was lying on my parent's couch at four in the morning. Because it was the "summer of the leg," I was in a "bubble" of sorts, outside the typical experience of high school students. I was given an entire summer to be with myself and figure me out a little bit. And during this time I figured out, among other things, that I loved music. That music can change my viewpoint, that it can move me, that it can make me think. And I learned all of this, for the first time, through the Dave Matthews Band.
Of course, the "bubble" eventually closed. The leg healed, I got off the couch, and I, once again, became a high school student. And since that summer, I've found scores of other artists, in the same way, that I first found the Dave Matthews Band. I've now been stopped in my tracks a number of times after hearing a piece of music for the first time. Songs have given me the chills, lifted my spirits, and have taking me places I never thought I'd go. It's an indescribable feeling and I love it. And the Dave Matthews Band showed me the way.