I never had a ear for music.. or a voice.... or a face or a body.. but i guess that's getting beyond this.
Growing up, we all had to take the mandatory music/band class... so I kinda sorta played an instrument.. but never really learned anything.
I wasn't gonna be a master at anything that I had to blow into.... so the flute was out right there...and I'd seen enough videos of the tuba guy in the band getting all kinds of things stuffed into the other end.. so that was out too!
I wanted to play the piano. .that was kinda grandiose.. but figured i'd never have the hand-leg coordination to deal with the pedals etc...and besides playing with two hands.. If I don't need two hands to drive, why should I use two for music... so there went the Piano.
I did like the idea of the keyboard.. so I spent a few months practicing that in school. But of course, practicing in school on the school keyboard wasn't cool. so i had to get mine. so I could bring that to school, and high-step my mad finger skills... (no no... we're still talking about music here... and no..we're ONLY talking about accoustic music.. no metaphors for making music.. get outtta here you gutterminds!)...
So i convinced my folks to get me a yamaha keyboard. It wasn't easy, cuz they knew I switched my choice of musical instruments faster than Liz Taylor changed husbands.. (yeah, I could've with a lady gaga reference, but its key that I highlight the fact that I grew up at a time when liz taylor still mattered.. actually she didn't, i ain't that old.. but it gives me some kind of pervasive pleasure to make myself older than I am... perhaps its my way of convincing myself of my awesome maturation processs...one that grey hairs will never provide!.. not that i have any .... and yes Denial is not just a river in Africa... get it? get it.. rimshot! i'm here all week).
Anyways, I finally got myself my badass Yamaha keyboard.. took it to class to demo the canuck rendition of what I considered a classic : the Top Gun theme... and the fact that It had taken me a whole two weeks to learn a theme song that was even easier than Chopsticks on the piano didn't faze me one bit.. >Then again, it took me a LONG time to figure out chopsticks for real.
I used to love ramen noodles as a 7 year old.. and would insist on eating them with a fork, including the soup... Never did do the math on that one.. and my fork never really scooped that much soup in the first place, but since when did logic ever get equated with anything the Canuck Engineer ever did.. .haha yeah, it might surprise those who know the Canuck now, that I wasn't always this brilliant.. thank you thank you! and one fine day, my neighbors.. two sisters, one of whom I hated, and the other who I was particularly fond off, invited me over for some Ramen... and as I took on a fork and prepared to embark on an expedition of culinary delight, they said.. "fork".. how bout chopsticks? and I gave them a look that said "Do I look like a graduate from the 36th Temple of Shaolin arts"? cuz I had only ever seen those guys rock chopsticks with Ramen... but no.. they insisted that I try out some Ramen-chopsticks style...and after 2 weeks of practice.. and about 10 bowls of Ramen later, I was a ChopMaster!
Anyways.,. the day I went to demo my Keyboard skills, this other guy decided to demo his rendition of Hotel California.. yeah.. in Grade 3!! Hotel California.. while I was just getting ready to spit some top Gun toons! and that's when I decided the keyboard was lame..
and never played it again...
and the Yamaha spent many years in our house.. acting as a wonderful display item, sometimes confused for a clothes rack..
But then many a time, especially in college and beyond, I felt it would've been nice if I'd learned to play the Guitar..y'know.. a COOL instrument... and then I saw Bill Clinton rock the Sax... and i figured.. if the President of the United States can blow into a tube.. then it shouldn't be beneath... but unfortunately I never got my shot at music..
until Guitar Hero.. and Rock band!
and then's when I discovered.. i sucked at the guitar..
well, i wasn't absolutely brutal, but it held no interest to me whatsoever..
yeah, in my head, i could picture being a Rock Band lead guitarist with chicks swooning all over me...but still.. no guitar for me..
but I did discover the drums! and I loved it..
and i took to it like fish take to alcohol.... or is it water? well, it goes "drink like a fish".. so it probably means alcohol.. so yeah.. I took to the RockBand drums like a fish takes to alcohol.. lets say a Mojito..... and I really enjoyed it...
and i got really good at it.. unlocking all those new levels.. and suddenly discovered a hitherto unknown hand-foot miscoordination that would make driving look like rocket science.. but i still enjoyed it..
and wondered.. what If I'd tried to learn the drums early on....hmm.. who knows!
why this sudden interest in music again?
Well.. partially, because I always wanted to write this on my facebook status:
"my neighbor knocked on my door at 2:30 this morning. can you believe that?! 2:
Haha. but really, its basically that, after a weekend of watching a lot of Shawshank redemption... the quote that rings out the loudest to me is Andy saying
"You need (music) so you don't forget....That there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That there's... there's somethin' inside that they can't get to; that they can't touch. It's yours."
What are you talkin' about?
Hope.
and Red, displaying the cynicism that's so typical in today's world...the one where people are so afraid of failure.. and its repercussions. that they won't dare dream..
" Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea."
Nah....That's not an idea I could ever get used to...
which is probably why I think I would have enjoyed playing the drums..
not just so I could give myself the customary "rimshot" after each one of my zingers!!
(well, they can't all be winners!)
but so I could bang on the rawhide..and remind myself.... there be hope in them these sounds..and that's the beauty of music... no body can turn that off!!
Too bad I didn't get a chance to be the next Hendrix or Slash...oh well, So I couldn't be a Star.. but I could still always be the next Ringo Starr ! (Rim shot.. another advantage of playing the drums!)
Because as Andy says...
"Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.."
-The Canuck Engineer
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