The Formative Power of Music

Songs can tear us apart and then apologize; build us up. Music has the power to heal. Within its crescendos we cry and inside its lyrics we soar. These are the songs’ stories that show the power of music, specifically when it comes to figuring out who we are and where we fit in with respect to our personalities.

  • alice doesnt understand

    I decided this morning to listen to Ugly Kid Joe’s “America’s Least Wanted.” The idea grew out of the music that is videos playlist, which is a collection of songs first introduced to me through video. Some of the songs I had been familiar with before seeing the artist’s music expressed visually. That has shifted my perception about a song’s “intended” meaning, but meaning is not just up to the writer. The more artists show with their art, the more they give away of themselves through emotion. Walls break and weaken, allowing access to trauma and the personal pain of healing. When fans access that energy, the artists must hang…

  • party at the end of the world

    I think I was 13 when I hosted an “end of the world” party with Jack Daniels drinks to celebrate summer vacation. I swear I don’t remember how we got the Tennessee Whiskey. Of course, I soaked my anxiety and brought a mixed drink of depression and teenage hormones to the party. I stirred alcohol straight into my ability to regulate my emotions. Then I shook it. What felt like one sip amounted to one slip, right off the side of a flimsy ping pong table that I thought would hold. Now isn’t that a metaphor for our entire relationship…. But it wasn’t a bottle that busted on the way…

  • a mirror can reach to your back

    There’s no going back, literally. Time machines are a worse idea than self-driving cars. But we can return to old ideas and revive ancient project ideas. “Let’s start a business!” I’ve said to more than a few people over more than a few years several times in my life. you don’t need someone to be something randomwhere And I did. I think Target Audience Magazine pulled me out of a deepening hole. An oubliette with dark walls covered in slippery sludge. No footing at all. I needed connection; helping hands. Maybe I was the bottom; maybe I was the way out, but we gravitated together as artists. We grew our…

  • the sirens of middle school

    Bon Jovi brings a flood of memories to my mind. I mean, the band had about a billion hit songs between my elementary and middle school years. I’m pretty sure four of the 10 songs on “Slippery When Wet” were incessantly played on the radio. Surely, you’ve heard “Livin’ on a Prayer” more than once. It’s playing in my head right now. Well, one of my elementary school classmates introduced me to Bon Jovi. She loved him because the each had an Italian last name. She proudly told anyone who would listen what she knew about Jon Bon Jovi’s history and why he changed the spelling of his last name.…

  • too many ghosts?

    My return to writing in journals was like a return to active drug addiction after a handful of relapses with my drug of choice: the pen. I grip the barrel of the pen tightly between my fingers, and press the ballpoint tip and empty the ink chamber. Music didn’t have everything to do with it; neither did the delta 8/9/10 gummy experimentation. I’m pretty sure I could recognize the right path, but I’m not sure where it lies. randomwhere I have used music as a measure of similarity when getting to know someone. Genre doesn’t matter as much as the opportunity for conversation. Diversity is a controversial word believe it…

  • the water’s edge

    I’m not from New York and I don’t live in Atlanta, but they’re my landmarks. An island city and a landlocked one. There are 27 landlocked states. Of course. But Georgia isn’t one of them. I just live closer to the city where Sherman began his March to the “Sea” of Savannah, which sits at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. What if instead of a seashell, we use a cellphone to hear the ocean? It will never be the same experience as when you hear the wind moving through your hair, as you gag on sand. And that, my friends, is the purpose of being alive. I spent roughly…

  • how i reeled in a thrasher with a plastic guitar hero hook

    i think the only video game systems ive ever played were Atari, Nintendo, and xbox. That’s how i remember hearing them discussed. Just Nintendo as opposed to Sega. i really dont know. and i never cared until 2007. so it’s completely ironic and a little downright hilarious that the first of the “guitar hero” style games debuted in 2007. The year Russell and i met. The tip-of-the-27 hat wasnt missed. I fell in love with guitar hero the same year that i almost convinced myself i should settle for the boyfriend who showed me how to play the game that let anyone feel like a musician in a touring rock…

  • a record with text that says "if you showed me good music I will never forget you."

    on music and whatever

    I decided to blog about it. Publicly, because i’m writing a memoir that i am not arrogant enough to think anyone but those closest to me might care to read. and, partially, because i want to include digital elements like this playlist of music that is videos that i wrote about in the cheesecake and an apple post.

  • Cheesecake and an apple

    yes. artistic vision uncompromising. remember when music video was the main introduction to new music? #filteryourfeed Burgers slathered in grilled onions, provolone cheese, and bacon. A sweaty, salty treat packed with protein. And fat. “Make healthy choices” when the road forks in front of you. A devil on one side. Hm that side looks tasty, tempting, trouble. The man with the funny hat and the wads of cash promises me comfort, while my body craves something else. Likewise, with music. With our brains, and our limited time, let’s make choices that allow us to grow rather than shrink.

  • Trapped in a tin can

    Songs can tear us apart and then apologize; build us up. Music has the power to heal. Within its crescendos we cry and inside its lyrics we soar. These are the songs’ stories that show the power of music, specifically when it comes to figuring out who we are and where we fit in with respect to our personalities