Wednesday, February 04, 2009

A Few Reasons Why I Love Rock And Roll


I am sitting here in front of my computer in my cold music room. Outside my window it is 17 degrees and overnight it will once again dip into the single digits. Spring is looking better all the time. In the background I am jamming to the Quicksilver Messenger Service. They are a great but relatively unknown band from the late 60's. Any moment my wife will come over here and ask me to turn it down. Yesterday I wrote about being misunderstood. My wife does not understand my obsession with rock and roll and music in general. Yesterday at work a co-worker told me how much she liked Bruce Springsteen's performance during the Super Bowl. The conversation was a opportunity for me to give a complete discourse on why I love rock and roll. I am an introverted, passive, non aggressive person with a low energy level. Rock and roll is extroverted, assertive, aggressive, and high energy. In other words, it is the total opposite of me. To those who only know my more spiritual side, my quiet personality might seem incompatible with rock and roll. Rock and roll's brashness and sheer volume might seem unattractive to a man who regularly visits a monastery famous for its silence. Rock and roll is really a secular religion for me and I am in love with it. There is no doubt that I am a child of the 60's and a card carrying member of the Woodstock generation. My generation cannot exist without our music. Strange as it might sound to some, even rock and roll can be a spiritual experience. There have been many times with friends and strangers where I believe a musical experience was also a transcendent experience. This even happened after I stopped doing drugs! Anyway, it doesn't matter if rock and roll makes sense. It doesn't have to be explained or justified. As Mick Jagger sang, "I know it's only rock and roll but I like it"!

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