I am not a player of musical instruments as much as I would like to be sometimes. Reading music is such a frustrating thing that even the recorder baffled me in 6th grade, but I adore listening to music. I grew up in a home that, even though no one played any instruments, there was always music on, from classical to classic rock. My parents were avid concert-goers as well. My first concert, at the age of 6, was Eric Clapton at Royal Albert Hall in England. I had no idea that this memory would stay with me my entire life and fuel my desire to see as many concerts as possible. At 10, I saw Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. I was scared to death of the stage theatrics they had going on but I will never forget sitting on top of my dad’s shoulders singing Free Fallin’ at the top of my lungs. These are some of my favorite musical memories. My taste these days are very eclectic and if you asked me my favorites, High Fidelity top 5 kind of thing, I would put Tool right there at the top. I don’t remember exactly where I was when I heard my first Tool song. I do know that it was Sober, on the radio, and I was probably somewhere getting into trouble with my friends. I have been fortunate enough to see them in concert 3 times. The 1st time was under the evening stars at University of Hawaii Amphitheatre in 2001. It was the end of their Lateralus tour, Maynard was bald, in all leather, with the flaming eye circle projected on the screen behind him. Half-naked bodies danced around me in glow in the dark body paint as I stood transfixed. The band, of course, as a whole is unbelievable, but there is something about the way Maynard sounds and moves that just have me completely seduced (I feel the same way about Chino Moreno/ Deftones too! Seeing them live had me on the brink of orgasm the entire show, it was glorious!). In 2006, there was the 10,000 Days tour. Unfortunately, some events arose that kept my friend and I from going so as you can imagine, I was pretty bummed. Little did I know that my future husband was there that night, seated near where my friend and I were supposed to be. Months later, him and I meet, online of all places, and fall head over heels for one another. His first gift to me would be the Alex Grey ‘Net of Being’ poster he picked up at that concert; definitely another favorite memory..the universe was certainly working it's magic there. The 2nd concert was at Epicenter in Pomona, 2009. We lived in California for a few years and tried to travel to as many concerts as possible. It was a great show, lots of great bands, a good time had by all but nothing that made it really stand out. The 3rd concert was in 2011. It wasn’t for any specific tour, just a night of rocking out. I was 8 months pregnant with our 2nd, my husband on his 5th deployment. I thought going to a Tool concert at 8 months pregnant was a little ridiculous but it would certainly be a fun and interesting night. As my girlfriend and I are standing in line, a security guard comes over and says, in the nicest way possible, that I shouldn’t be standing in line in my condition. He then proceeds to escort us from the very back of the line all the way to the front! This awesome little turn of events enabled me to snag a poster that had just been freshly signed by the whole band; the ink was still wet! This, by far, is one the most fun memories I have when it comes to concerts and if not for any of what happened before the concert started, then definitely for feeling the little human inside me rocking out to Tool (at 4 years old he still loves rocking out to them!). Music certainly makes my world go round and sharing that love with my kids has been one of the most fun things. Thanks for letting me share with you. :)
@rambo @missy @lyxzen
