Villagers

Musical Milestones

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.

– Plato

It is commonly known that your sense of smell is one of the most powerful when it comes to evoking memory. While I am not challenging this notion (any whiff of aspen or pine trees sends me right back to my summer camp in Colorado), I believe that music can be just as powerful of a memory bank.

I’ve realized that over the years, I have collected a few “musical milestones” — a song that instantly transports you back to a point in your life, carries you away into nostalgia and recollection. A song can sometimes define certain turning points better than any other media — it captures emotion through chords and lyric and preserves it.

Here are some of the songs that make up my most notable “musical milestones” and the memories to which they are tied:

Moving to San Antonio, Texas (Fall 2008)

Montreal (Summer 2009)

Moving to Las Vegas (Summer 2010)

Freshman year fall (2010)

Sophomore year spring (2012)

Junior year fall (2012)

New York City (Summer 2013)

In just two days, I will be celebrating the one year anniversary of See. Like. Blog. In some ways, I cannot believe it has already been a year — time has flown thanks to a generous series of adventures, of which I could have never imagined when I started writing last August. I am different from where I began and this post is particularly significant because it gives me a chance to reflect on the big changes that have occurred thus far. These definitive shifts have been happy, sad, scary, exciting, joyful, awe-inspiring and, combined, have shaped me into the person writing all of these thoughts tonight. I hope you, my readers (and listeners), have enjoyed my musical milestones, as I hold these songs closest to my heart.

More adventures and celebration to come.

Dreamer

Last night, I went out to a venue that is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in New York City so far. I live about a 10 minute walk from Bowery Ballroom which happens to be one of the places to see some pretty incredible live shows.

I was invited out by Kat, one of my close friends from American who graduated when I was a freshman. When she asked me to join her yesterday afternoon, I was hesitant at first — maybe I’ll be too tired from work, I still have that massive pile of laundry to take to the laundromat (an adventure in itself) and all of those errands I have to run…

Then, I gave myself a swift kick in the pants (figuratively, I was wearing a dress yesterday); I have limited time here in the city, and I have no way of knowing if I will ever get the opportunity to live here again. So, if there is something happening, whether it be a concert or a festival or a play or a drum circle (hey, you never know), I better have a damn good excuse for not going. Laundry doesn’t cut it. Errands? Not even close.

Realizing all of this, I went to the show. And I am so glad that I did. I thought that I could only have a real connection with music that I was already familiar with. This was not the case with Villagers. The lyrics were so heartfelt and honest, and the show was a welcome break from all of the running around I have been doing the past couple of week. It was a time to reflect, to stop and think and just be in the moment, soaking it all in.

Now everyone listen to Villagers NPR Tiny Desk Concert:

One of my favorite songs, Becoming A Jackal, is the second one sung in the video (04:10). I recommend YouTubing them and listening to all of their music; so much talent, I can’t wait to see where they go.

Speaking of talent and new music, Kristin, a new friend I have made working at Daryl Roth, turned me onto a couple of friends of hers from school that started a band, Blue Lenex, a few years back. They are phenomenal and about to come out with a new album, too! After spending some time listening to them on YouTube, I decided that I am obsessed with an original song they wrote entitled “Bluebird”:

Enjoy the music, more sweet jams and adventures to come.