A Penny for Your Thoughts

Some of my favorite things in this world are art and music. I love everything they have to offer, especially the ability to share feelings or share your view of the world. There is close to 7.4 billion people on this planet, which leads to a lot of interpretation.

A recent inspiration I had, while I was listening to The Who, was I can download any song and listen to it, but in 1971, it wasn't that simple. You, or as my father would tell me, had to drive to the record store and pick it up, and drive all the way back home to listen to it.  While music is readily available to us, I believe some of the character of pieces are lost in the mix. I am a full time member of the digital age, I took notes in college on a laptop, and my homework was submitted online through a website that graded it for you. But this was not the intent for music. 

Don't get me wrong, I love all types of music, including today's hits. But the main point of this post is to remind others and myself, that there was a way to listen to music before the help of Apple. Vinyl. I often find myself wondering what it was like to sit on the opposite side of the recording booth and witness some the most popular tunes. For example, what was the sound engineer witnessing when he heard Michael Jackson sing the opening verse to P.Y.T.? 

Computers help with a lot today, but I also feel like it comprises some of the art produced in the 60s, 70s, 80s. Having the remastered "Who's Next" album that I downloaded off apple is a fantastic, but having it been recorded in the earlier 70's, the idea for it to be easily accessible was not it in its cards. 

Recently, I found my way to a vintage record shop and there I saw many albums, both old and new. Naturally, I had to buy some. While I limited myself to 6, I knew I would be coming back for more. 

With my dad being a musician, I had always been around music. In fact, I am writing this as he is having band practice in the basement. But nonetheless, having music being such an important part of my life got me thinking. How can I interpret music, how do I hear it? 

Most of the time when I listen to music, I am either at work or drawing/painting. My new feature is to pick an album and create a piece inspired by the album. With this coming two of my favorite things in this world, I hope it also creates a platform for others to get inspired and share their creation. 

"Creativity is contagious, pass it on" -Albert Einstein