I've written in the past about my favorite bands (GNFNR, U2, etc), favorite musical era (late 80s), and favorite songs, etc. And with all of the current television advertising using old standards (Rock n Roll, Iron Man), every now and then I hear an obscure tune that I have buried deep and dusty in the cd collection.
For instance, the other day I heard the song I'm Free by the Soup Dragons--in a cellphone commercial, I think it was. I really liked the Soup Dragons back in the day, and I even own a few of their cds. But I hadn't listened to them in years. So after that Madison Avenue reminder, I dug them out and transferred the discs from the cardboard box in my bedroom closet to a cd wallet in my truck. And while I was out driving around running errands, I re-discovered their sound. It was quite enjoyable, except that since I hadn't listened to them in so long, it reminded me of life as it was back in the early 90's.
Most of the time, when we hear songs from the past, they remind us of 'the good times'. But for me, the early 90's were anything but. I had just moved to Phoenix, didn't know a soul, I was a dirt-poor college student, and earned my living with my back and my hands (construction--in the desert, ugh.) instead of with my brain. My apartment was deep in the ghetto, Reverend Dave had just started hanging out with a complete loser of a chick that would eventually become his first wife, so that came it's attendant problems, (we tried to warn him...), and until I started at ASU in the fall of 1992, I didn't have much of a social life to speak of.
But the Soup Dragons were big back then, and that's when I heard them for the first time. Life, for me, was a struggle for those first few years in Phoenix, and I didn't seem to make any major progress until I got my first 'real' job as a broker at Schwab in 1997. Since life was tough at the time, all of the popular music of the day just reminds me of those days--perhaps that's why those cds have been sitting in the closet gathering dust for all these years. I just didn't want to be reminded of driving a shitty car, living paycheck to paycheck, and not having any real direction in life.
Funny how that works. Back in the early 90's, struggling to make a new life in Arizona, most of the time I found myself wishing that I was back at school in Idaho having a great time notching my belt with various coeds and enjoying the against-the-honor-code weekend beers with my like-minded buddies. So I listened to a lot of Erasure, Duran Duran, and other stuff that was popular during my first two years of college and reminded me of being there. But once I'd been in Arizona for awhile, made some friends, and started earning decent money, those thoughts went away. I had moved on.
The cycle repeated itself the whole time I was in Nashville, as I pretty much wished every day that I were back in Phoenix working at my old job with all my old friends. My job was dull, my only social life to speak of was a weekly poker game at the City Club, and I felt like I just didn't 'fit in' there in Tennessee. I didn't listen to the radio very much, just a lot of Jimmy Buffet cds that reminded me of all the good times I had in my later years in Arizona--living at the 'frat house' with Derek and the boys, going to happy hour every Friday night, and spending my bonus money on things like trips to Vegas with the fellas.
Now that I'm here in Vegas, I don't find myself wishing to be anywhere else in my past. Life is pretty good, and although there are some minor struggles, there's no place I'd rather be than right here, right now.
I've seen the big picture, and someday down the road when I'm sitting on the deck of my sailboat, sipping a rum drink, watching the Caribbean sunset and listening to random tunes on the mp3 player, I'll hear a song that reminds me of all the fun I had while living in Vegas all those years ago.
I'll smile, maybe even have a wistful, faraway look in my eyes, and maybe for a moment travel back in time. But then I'd look around and see the beautiful surroundings, feel the warm breeze and salt air on my skin, smell the familiar scent of coconut and vanilla, relax to the gentle rocking of the boat, and remind myself that there's no place I'd rather be.
If for some reason the song I'm Free happens to make it onto the randomized play list that day, I'll take a long sip of my umbrella drink, close my eyes, and think of what an amazing journey it's been.
And I'll remind myself once again that all those not-so-good times have been worth it.
Mikey
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