who was your first?...

posted 2 months ago, updated about 14 hours later

ok now...don't get too excited here...i'm talking music... :)...

one of the things i love @ eons is the ability to share music...the music groups...i love them...and the friends i've made here through that love...

music crosses all boundaries...the beat...whatever it is...is one of our common demominators...our hearts...pounding in time...connect at a basic level...through the rhythm of our lives...no matter how much they differ...our experiences/lives are played out to the beat of a metronome...r&b, soul, c/w, blues, rock&rock, reggae, opera, whatever...we are all doing the "boogie woogie" of life...

i grew up listening to music...it feeds my spirit...it colors my sky...it reads my mind...it heals my soul...and my soul definitely has had times of needed healing...i grew up in the south...to an italian mom...straight outta brooklyn baby...don't be messin' around now!...and to a daddy...straight outta of alabama...just a southern gentleman...a poor one...but god love him...no redneck...just a sweet and kind man...i used to think i was confused because of this far swinging of their parental metronome ...but lately i dunno...maybe i'm just "well rounded"?... :)...

anyway...i got thinking about my first music experiences and memories...all of us have them...special songs...special times in life...one of my favorite memories of my mom is of her dancing in the kitchen...she was free...meaning...she was not draggin' stuff around from her twisted childhood...she was free...no troubles...no worries...just happy...something i saw and see little of...every month she bought new records...from teresa brewer...to patti paige...to johnny puleo and the harmonica gang...those discs of vinyl gave her a few turns of freedom around the kitchen...and gave me those unforgettable little glimpses of the woman she might have been...

my dad was old time honky tonk...the sweet smell of cherry pipe tobacco...pall mall cigs...ring bells of friday night fights on tv...with just a little gospel/revival added to that pungent mixture...boogie woogie...swing...grand ole opry...it set him free...specially when he cranked up the volume...probably to drown out the sound of his own personal friday fight with my mom...

but on those rare...those very rare occasions...they connected at the same time...to the same beat...and it was magic...and i was happy...all was right in my world...i had been fed...nothing was flying through the air...and i was safe...lord...what a feeling...so rare that i remember it...what others might have taken for granted was brought to me through the courtesy of the newest 45 rpm...or the radio...to be played over and over again in a child's mind...

other first music memories come to me via my older brother...and i love him for that...seven years older...he thought it was a riot to give me a piece of "chewed" gum...saying..."oh yeah...my friend went to the elvis concert...elvis spit this out...here ya go!"...and i'm in heaven...OMG!!!...elvis chewed this gum!!!... :)...and then later listening to him play "come go with me" for the umpteenth time on his pink and gray portable phonograph when he was "mooning" over the latest girlfriend...

but my best music memories are the ones i made on my own...11 years old...falling asleep at night to the crackle and hiss of the transistor radio brought to me by that older brother when he was home on leave from the service...at night it took me away...to nashville tennessee ...station WLAC...and i was listening to "big hugh baby"...my favorite dj...view link...in between royal crown hair/white rose pomade hair dressing ads..."big hugh baby" brought me to into another world...the world of the smokey juke joints...and in touch with the thoughts of puberty's conflict/turmoil inside me...

god love ya "big hugh baby"!...may you rest in peace...you were my first...you comforted me in the night...you brought me the sounds of my soul...my blues...played out to the likes of some of the greats, like jimmy reed...and i will never forget the sound of your voice in the night...

the magic of music...it knows no bounds really...it's the rhythm of life...the metronome of our souls...here are a few of beats of my heart...my past...listen if you like...and share yours/make a dedication to your past if you have the time.. ... :)...ciao...

this one's for you "big hugh baby"... :)...

for my mom...

for my dad...

for my brother...

Comments

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1. 2 months ago rsb1953 wrote:

My aunt gave us a hi-fi record player / radio in 1963. I remember it was 1963 because the only station we could get was "KXOK -- Radio 63" out of St. Louis:
view link
And the main DJ was "Johnny Rabbit".
I thought the phrase "Radio 63" stood for the year 1963, and I was pretty confused in early January of 1964 when they did not update their slogan. Because we never changed the station setting, I did not know that AM 63 was the setting.

2. 2 months ago jupiter57 wrote:

I don't remember not hearing music as I grew up...it was always around. Frank Sinatra, Nat 'King' Cole, Billy Eckstine, Cab Calloway when my dad had a hold of the record player and Chopin and Mozart when my mom got to it...my sister and her friends would listen to the radio as they talked and laughed...I could hear "the Locomotion" and "Johnny Angel" playing. When I was 9 and got my tonsils out, my dad brought a blue stuffed poodle to the hospital that had a radio (AM only) inside...I remember hearing "Tears of a Clown" a lot and also "To sir with Love"...I still have that poodle!

3. 2 months ago seattle99 wrote:

I remember buying my first album, "What I Say".

I'm pretty sure I had to be the only kid in MY 6th grade class listenin' to Ray; but hey.

4. 2 months ago tulipsNchimneys wrote:

from the time I had full awareness, I was aware of music. my parents always had either a radio or record player on, playing many of the artists and songs already mentioned here. my mom was a huge gene pitney fan, while my dad liked leonard bernstein.

listen if you like...and share yours/make a dedication to your past if you have the time.. ...

for my big brother


for my son.


for my father, who loved Galveston and took me there often when I was a toddler


for 14-year-old me


groovy, groovy blog, Miss Didi!

5. 2 months ago okhela wrote:

Similar to jupiter57, "I don't remember not hearing music as I grew up."
My grandfather took me to hear the big bands on the circuit at the end of the '40's.
I heard all of the big bands but my personal favorite was Lionel Hampton.
Particularly his finale, "Flying Home".

6. 2 months ago starrybright wrote:

I grew up with my father playing a guitar and harmonicas. It was the highlight of my childhood. we would all be singing and clapping. My father was my musical king and left his seven children with the gift of appreciating music.
I remember wanting to be one of the Supremes and learning all their moves as I sang "Baby Love, My Baby Love, Oh How I need You, Baby Love....
But when I was 13 I became aware of more groups and bands and then, Nancy Sanatra! (These Boots Are Made For Walking!)
Now,those were the days!
Starrybright

7. 2 months ago inallways wrote:

This song was my whole world.. I would dance in my bedroom, and play this over and over.. I think I was 8 or 9 yrs old. When I was 12, I went and saw the BEATLES in Las Vegas, Nev. And then it was on..........

8. 2 months ago Celt1 wrote:

For me, it was the very early 60's and Albany's 1540 WPTR . I remember Boom Boom Brannigan, and his Brannigan Shenanigans. "...mostly music here on the Big B show..."

I think I share your father's taste in music, Didi... and "Hello Walls" gets me every time...

9. 2 months ago Celt1 wrote:

OK, maybe this version is still available...

10. 2 months ago GlennRichards wrote:

Hi didi: This is great... My first love in lots of way has always been music... I remember when all else was not goin well their was always the music... I remember seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and how my dad hated them... Then there were the battles over turning the stereo down... Or anybody can make noise... Theatning then but now I just laugh about it...

I was born a miltary brat and so moving was always part of our lives... My dad played some guitar but it was not his driving force like me... I agee the music brings our sprits together and that is always a good thing... I got into the blues around 1973... For Christmas I recieved the Brothers & Sisters album by the Allman Brothers Band, The song that did it was entitled "Jelly Jelly Blues" after that every album i bought had a good blues influence in it...

Over the years I have listen to diffrent styles but the Blue was like the light left on so I could find my way back home...

I really like Chicago Blues followed by both Texas Blues & Cajon/Swamp Blues... My wife Carlyn was born in New Orleans & so over the last few years I have taken refuge is what New Orleans brought to the table music wise...

My favriotes have always been The Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie from Chicago Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Luter Allison & Houn Dog Taylor... Texas Blues Albert Collins (loved his story telling) Jimmie & Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Winter, Smokin Joe Kubek Band & Freddie King... Cajon/Swamp Tab Benoit, Kenny Neal & Clarence Gatemout Brown... Others would include Elvin Bishop, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, John Mayall & the Blues Breakers, Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac. Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Bernard Allison, Omar & the Howlers, B.B. King.... Ah shucks really all blues is good... Thanks Rick

11. 2 months ago Musiclover wrote:

Didi, I love your story. I grew up in a musical family. Everyone in my family played some sort of instrument "by ear." My memories of family get togethers were all of us sitting and listening to my father, uncles and grandfather play and all of us singing and dancing. We sang a lot of spirituals then, later I fell in love with rock and roll, the blues, motown music, classical and everything else. I guess this is the song that makes me think of my family the most and those early weekends of song. May the Circle Be Unbroken...

12. 2 months ago IrishRose2007 wrote:

I have mentally interwoven a song or two into the memory of every major and some minor events in my life--first dates, etc. I have also used music to set or elevate my emotions at times. What would life be like without the existance of music...the thought is unbearable to ponder upon.

Great post!

13. 2 months ago jupiter57 wrote:

I just remembered that the very first film I saw on my own (age 13) with my very own money was 'Let it Be' and of course it was a music film! The loyalty between the couples made quite an impression on me...I loved the part where John & Yoko are dancing a waltz as though no one is there...off in their own little world. I recently bought the DVD and it was still as much fun now and it was then...

14. 2 months ago MistyBlueWolf wrote:

You can bet on music being the heart of ones' soul. Music CAN calm the raging beast inside of anyone. It depends when and where I am hearing music as to how it touches me.

If I am alone and listening to something that catches my ear, well I just flow with it and my spirit sings along.

If I am driving..I am usually singing along, esp if it is a tune from the sixties or seventies...ahhhh bliss..

If I am alone WITH someone..it may just make me feel real romantic..that is if I am with someone I care about.. : )

If I am OUT somewhere at a club...etc.hear music..LOOK OUT cause you ain't gonna get me to sit down...I will be out there doing the boogie.. : )

Like Jupiter said we grew up with music..our Dad loved it and loved to sing..He would get up stage with a band in no time flat..have the mic in hand and off he would soar with a tune..the audience loved him..he loved it..

Yes, didi music never dies...thank you for reminding me of just how great it was as a teenager....singing and moving to the tempo.....ciao..Wolfy

15. 2 months ago jupiter57 wrote:

omg!!! I am going to post the pic I took of my blue poodle my dad gave me after my tonsillectomy that has the radio in it..if it is like, HUGE! delete it, ok? Thought you'd get a kick out of it though...here goes...eeee

16. 2 months ago POLLYSson wrote:

My first....it was the first time that I was in Summer camp, first time I got poison ivy, and finally, the first time that I was in a dance. It was the first time I heard GRAZING IN THE GRASS by the R&B group Friends of Distinction and I was so possessed by the beat and rhythm, that I got the "canolis" to ask the girl that I was eyeballing for an hour to dance. My first dance with a girl...my first slooow dance in Catholic school was: I'll BE THERE by the Jackson Five...I could go on, but it just shows how I connect some of my life experiences with music. Music is part of my life.

17. 2 months ago artist4life wrote:

What a meaningful post! I was leaning on every word. And you activated the scenic play of your words through my mind.

I love music~~all kinds! My first exposure was jazz, introduced by my father, he liked Miles Davis. (I adored Miles music~~he was the birth of the cool). Nat king Cole Sarah, Vaughn and Billy Holiday were frequently played. When I got older I enjoyed the Beatles (I wanted to be the 5th Beatle), Rolling Stones, they were super cool, and of course Mowtown. Such sweet memories!

Peace~~