It is time to write again. It is so hard to not say anything about politics, with so many inaccurate things being said. But I will refrain today. Well maybe just a small somtin somtin. No, no, no I won’t. I won’t do it! Not this time.
I was relegated to bathroom cleaning duty today. Yes, I do that. Jen and I share house responsibilities regularly, as it should be between partners. We each do dishes, clean the kitchen, bathrooms, powder room, vacuum floors, cook and clean the basement. Ok I’m the only one who cleans the fish tank and mows the yard. But we share all other responsibilities. That’s “What a Man” does as song by Salt & Pepa. One of my favorite groups growing up.
I grew up around music. Music was constantly playing in our house, or my father was singing some of his favorite songs. Music was like food. Always present, always necessary, and always made you feel good. My oldest brother Vito played lead guitar and sung like Peter Frampton. Every time I hear that song “Show Me the Way”, I close my eyes and see Vito practicing down the basement of our South Philly home. The sweet sound of his voice and how smooth his fingers moved across the guitar. He was good. He played for several bands, traveled with an Elvis impersonator (The Big El show), and even cut a record called “Head Aching Woman” with his group SPIKE (not to be confused with The Spike Band).
My middle brother Victor played the piano. He could play by ear or with sheet music. He played everything. His favorite was Elton John, and he could play like him. Victor could have been a concert pianist or joined any band if he wanted too. Every night after dinner he would leave the table and go directly to the piano and play for hours. When it was a particularly stormy night and he was responsible for watching me while my parents were out, he would shut off all the lights, put Elton John’s Funeral for a Friend on in the background and play along on the piano. Scared the shit out of me when I was younger. But I loved to listen and wouldn’t turn away. Victor’s favorite song was Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”. True to form for him.
Carmel was the singer. Vito would play guitar, Victor on the piano and Carmel would sing, “Their Band”. Nothing personal to my sister, she knows I love her dearly, but I just don’t remember her singing that often.
I also have a cousin who is a musician. Played acoustic guitar and piano. Pasquale (Skip as we call him) has taught music in NJ public schools for years. He has since retired. I guess the music gene comes from the Fulginiti (My Mother’s) side of our family.
Me unfortunately, I wasn’t blessed with the talent to play an instrument. I loved music. I was in my grade school choir and my high school choir, but I couldn’t play an instrument to save my life. I faked playing the drums when my siblings faked their band. I promise you we were not thinking of giving the Partridge Family a run for it. I wanted to play the drums. I loved the drums. My parents couldn’t afford them and besides that we already had a piano that everyone else learned, so why not me. Well, that didn’t work. I sucked at it. As good as I was with eye, hand, and foot coordination in sports, I could not play an instrument. So, I danced, and danced, and danced. A gift from my mother & father. If I told you they were our family’s version of Ginger Rodgers & Fred Astaire, you would need to watch to believe. Graceful. Bound together like God intended them specifically for each other. One leading, one following, and then the places switched. Luther Vandross said it so well in his song “Dance with My Father”. What I would give to see my mother dance with my father again.
The talent of playing a musical instrument skipped a generation with me and was picked up by my sons, Ryan & Nathan. Ryan played the drums and played them well. He picked up my dream. He played in grade school, high school, and college. Nathan took drums to another level. Nathan played throughout grade school & high school as well. Nathan went to Berklee College of Music to perfect his musical talent, where he played both the drums and bass guitar. Nathan has recently gone on to write, play and produce his own music. I lived vicariously through my sons when it came to playing the drums. I’m sure Ryan can pick up the sticks again with ease. Nathan, you can listen to his music on most streaming sites as NKV. I digressed a little. I had to tell you the basis of my love for music.
Back to cleaning the bathroom. As I always do when cleaning my part of the house on a nice day, I open the windows and play it loud. I went to Spotify clicked on my liked songs and focused on cleaning. Of course, it was too loud, and Jen had to tell me to close the bedroom door, so she didn’t hear it in the living room on the first floor. I was on the second floor. Didn’t matter that the neighbors heard it as well. My music varies. My liked songs are not from any one genre or another. They vary considerably. I listen to the Mills Brothers (Paper Doll), Salt & Pepa (What a Man, Shoop, Let’s Talk about Sex), NKV (Fearful Symmetry & Slyde), Andrew Sisters (Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy), Cordets (Mr. Sandman), Foo Fighters (Walk, plus many others), Weezer (Beverly Hills), Will Smith (Summertime), Rosemary Clooney (Mombo Italiano), Louis Prima (Oh Marie & Buona Sera), Nat king Cole (When I Fall in Love) my wedding song, Kenny Chesney (When the Sun Goes Down), Alabama (Song of the South) and many others. The music just flows, and each one provides me a different feeling or causes me to sing a little louder. Don’t laugh, you do it too. Music makes us feel good. Remember what I said about food. Same thing. It provides us a feeling. A feeling of fearlessness, love, compassion, joy, sorrow, or fulfills a memory of something we dreamt of or dream of. Music allows the artist to express how they feel, what they are thinking or what life means to them.
I listen to music on the mornings I play hockey. I have 2 playlist that allow me to get into the zone as they say. Music that takes me away from the days pending events and pushes me to that dimension that finds me, the puck & the net. Today (while cleaning) I listened to the music that makes me feel good. It reminds me of different times in my life, pushes my limits of thought and pumps good feelings through my veins. There were 2 songs that I heard today that are 2 of my all-time favorites. One is a melancholy song from childhood that has always given me a good feeling of faith, believing and dreaming; Judy Garland’s “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. I love it when she sings it. I love it when it’s sung by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo ‘ole. That song should make you feel good. Fill you with hope and make you dream like a child again. It should make you feel that there is good out there.
The other song that always touches my soul is Luther Vandross “Power of Love”. It doesn’t matter where I am, what I am doing, who I am with (except if it was Jen), my heart starts beating, my feet start moving, and my soul believes there are truly better times. It is a song I cannot listen too quietly. There is a power in love. A power that you can’t deny. A power that binds people, regardless of beliefs, backgrounds, nationalities or religious beliefs. Call me a romantic. It is the greatest power of them all. So true that when I finished cleaning the bathroom, I happen to check my email. My wife had just sent me the days Upper Room daily devotional. She shares it with me every day. We are not overly religious, but we are spiritual based. Jen, more than me. What a coincidence that on this day, when music had given me the subject to write about the daily devotional was titled “Music to my Heart”. Coincidence? Maybe. The universe in alignment? Probably. The passage was about someone who was in church, listening to the choir sing. As she listened intently, she started singing along. She was feeling the presence of God in a powerful way through music. Whether you believe in a God or not, you feel something when you listen to music. Whether it is spiritual, emotional, sensual or soulful. Two of my favorite church hymns that often bring me to tears are “Here I am Lord” (Dan Schutte) and “In the Garden” (C. Austin Miles). They cause me to think, they cause me to act.
The music this day made me think about how we are treating each other based on political persuasion or personal beliefs. Why can’t we all say what we want too, disagree and keep looking for a common solution. I mean just because I don’t agree with my friends who blame the president for high gas prices, because they really don’t understand what influences gas prices, and at what rate. Just because I think it is dumb for people to put “I did that” stickers with Joe Bidens picture on gas pumps when they don’t understand that no one world leader has that much influence over gas prices. Just because they don’t want to read about the largest influence over gas prices is based on production by oil generating countries and the release of additional oil from the US national reserve, though good, won’t completely solve the gas price issue or have an immediate effect. I still love them. I still want to eat dinner with them, I still want to play cards with them, and I certainly still want to play hockey with them. Because that is the Power of Love!
Fuck I went there didn’t I …………