Music

Music, Bob Dylan’s music especially, is an absolute necessity in my life. More about Bob Dylan later in this post. Since childhood music has been important to me. Every Sunday when I was in elementary school I would put on Casey Kasem’s Top Forty radio show, grab a book and read while I listened. As I got older I would listen to the radio while doing homework. I can’t remember a time in my life that I was wasn’t listening to music. I grew up in the 70’s, a time when rock and roll ruled the radio. By the time I got to high school in 1979 I had really leaned into rock music but as much as I loved The Rolling Stones, Kansas, Journey, Foreigner and so many others, Bob Dylan was my favorite. Most of my friends didn’t even know who he was but he was my hero.

My parents were “hippies” and we listened to a lot of music as we didn’t always have a tv. They introduced me to all kinds of rock and folk and it was through them that I discovered Bob Dylan. They split when I was 12. I was the oldest of 3 kids and when my youngest brother was born I became his babysitter. My mother worked two jobs to put herself through nursing school and when she worked her weekend job I kept my baby brother. I remember a time when I was around 13 or 14 that I was depressed and would just lay on the floor and put my speakers on either side of me and pillows closing me in and would just lay there listening the Bob Dylan’s music. I really think that his music is what kept me alive. Later I was able to get some headphones and would listen to all my music that way.

When I got to high school I was still a depressed kid. Fifteen was the worst year for me. I had great friends but I wasn’t able to socialize outside of school as much as they were due to baby sitting my brother and working. I was lonely and music filled a void. I had insomnia all through high school, music helped sooth me to sleep. I had a stereo (the big tuner with a turntable and big speakers) that my grandmother gave me, I loved that thing! I’m afraid of the dark and I would use the light on the stereo as a night light. It had a light on the front that would be on when it was powered on or playing. You could run the record player with the turner powered off but the light would be on until the albums stopped so it was perfect! I would put a stack of albums on (I think 5) and usually by the time they were done I would fall asleep, later it took more so I kept a cassette player/radio on the floor between my bed and the wall and played Bob Dylan’s great hits, if that didn’t work then I would listen to the radio. I can’t remember all the albums that I played, but one was Marshal Tucker’s Long Hard Ride, Stevie Nicks and probably a rolling stones album or two and of course Bob Dylan. It got to the point that if I would hear any of the songs that I played every night any other time I would get sleepy.

I interned at the local rock station in high school. I always had the radio on, ALWAYS! It was fun but it didn’t last very long as I still had to work and take care of my brother. I went to live with my dad for a brief time and didn’t have my stereo but I would sit at the kitchen table and play the radio until very late at night, it got to feel like the DJ’s were my friends. I even called in a few times to talk to them.

As an adult I continued to love music and even went through a country phase when I was married to my son’s dad. Once we divorced I discovered hard rock and hair bands and fell in love! I got into the music scene in Columbus Georgia and followed several bands and enjoyed live music. I made friends with DJ’s ( real friends not childhood imaginary ones) and through them I was able to go to several concerts for free. I always loved live music and got to go to a few concerts in high school but it wasn’t until adulthood that I really discovered how much I loved it. The mid to late 80’s and early 90’s were a great time for live music in clubs. There were a lot of touring bands that played everything from 70’s rock to hard rock. My favorite club was Dee Fords which soon after I started going there turned to Shakers. Here is where I would be found most Saturday nights. I was accused of being a groupie and maybe I was (maybe I still am) but not in the sense that I was sleeping with all the bands! I just love to go see them play and sometimes talk to them.

The Chick a Saw Club was another club that I would go see live rock, on Thursdays they would bring in a rock band, the rest of the time they were a “meat market” dance club and I stayed away. It was there that I discovered McQueen Street and where I eventually met my husband, Rob. McQueen Street was playing and I planned on going, I didn’t have anyone to go with me so I went alone. I saw someone that I worked with there and he encouraged me to come sit with him and his group, I declined. He asked me a few more times and mentioned that he wanted me to meet someone. I was not interested in meeting anyone as I was truly only there to listen to the band. I saw Rob sitting with him, when he asked me again to sit with them I said yes hoping it was Rob that he wanted me to meet….it wasn’t. But that didn’t stop Rob and me from meeting. During the bands break they were playing dance music and a slow song came on, Everything I Do I Do for You by Bryan Adams, Rob asked me to dance, I said yes. Later when everyone was getting ready to leave, Rob wrote his number on a piece of a napkin handed it to me and told me to call him. I called him the next day (Friday) and we went out on a date on Saturday and pretty much have been together since. I still have that piece of napkin and Rob. At our wedding in the woods on top of Balsam Mountain in Western North Carolina (just up the Blue Ridge Parkway) we played the music from the Robin Hood soundtrack (the one with Kevin Costner) which included the song by Bryan Adams that we danced to when we first met.

The music scene started to dry up after grunge hit. The fun glam rock was pushed out by MTV and the radio, the bands stopped. Marriage took over and my son was getting older and we had other interest. We lost music for a while ( a long while). We still went to big named concerts but the club scene was no more. We moved to the Atlanta suburbs and lived the family life for the next 20 years. In 2012 we moved to Panama City, FL. Slowly we started to rediscover going out to see live music and in the last several years we have really immersed ourselves in it. We have gotten to know many of the local artist and even call some friends. It is what I live for, almost every weekend we go somewhere to see live music.

In October 2018 Hurricane Michael hit Panama City hard, it was a devastating storm for our area. My job was managing vacation rental properties in a resort on the beach, the resort was hit pretty hard and several of our properties were damaged. Life was stressful for months but those first few weeks were horrible. I was on go non stop. One day as I was having a particularly hard time, I put on an old friend, Bob Dylan and just like when I was a kid his music eased my mind. The next few days I listened to him and it brought me peace and helped bring me back to life. I also took some time to escape and went to my Mom’s to get away from all the destruction. I had not been able to sleep in days and when I got to her house I went to lay down and try to nap, she played the piano and in particular, November Rain, I cried a few tears and then fell fast asleep.

Music has saved me more than once in my life, it gave me peace when things were bad as a kid, as a teen and as an adult. It has brought me great joy and it brought me Rob.