Everything comes back to music
Life without music is like a bath without bubbles
I’ve shared my love of music here many times, as recently as a few weeks ago to one of my earlier posts that explores my life around music. Music for me is therapeutic. It soothes my soul and clears my head. Music brings people together from all walks of life. It has the ability to bring back memories of a time or place or situation or person, depending on the association. Hearing Dani the girl by Red Hot Chili Peppers brings back memories of an ex-boyfriend as he played that particular song from the album, By the Way, on repeat in the last couple of years we were together; and anything by an Australian band from my hometown, Magic Dirt, reminds me of a uni friend we called Smiley because she could not shut up about Adalita from Magic Dirt. Girl crush!
While neither of my parents were musicians, they simply loved music, and I was lucky enough to grow up with music all around me. Then I befriended a few musicians in high school and the rest is history. I never ever learnt to sing or play an instrument (I wanted to learn but was told we couldn’t afford it), it did not stop me from engaging in the music scene with the same ferocity I now experience solo travel and life itself. At university I would spend most nights out at pubs and clubs watching live music and discovering loads of great new up and coming bands. I was even lucky enough to hang out at some studio recording sessions back in the 90’s with those high school friends. To be honest, I’m surprised I even graduated from university!
Even though alternative/indie music is the music I’ve listened to since my teenage years, I enjoy all types of music having listened to my dad’s love of Daddy Cool and Skyhooks (Australian bands of the 70’s) through to mum’s obsession with Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and John Farnham. I’ve also grown to love musicals and theatre in general. I have early memories of my mother and nana taking me and my older sister to shows when we were young. I do remember seeing Annie the Orphan at Her Majesty’s Theatre I believe, but it could have been another theatre in Melbourne.
As far as I can remember, this was my first ever musical (it was the late 1970’s) and while I have vague recollections of it, I remember it distinctly from the 1982 movie. We kept the program from the show for ages, it’s home among my parents’ collection of vinyl records and my sister and I would look through that and other programs for hours while listening to vinyl records. What seemed like a few years later but in reality was at least 10 years on, my mother would take me to see Cats as a birthday gift. I must have been 15 or 16 at that time. Since then, I have seen a ton of musicals and regularly go to the theatre. It’s just something I like to do
The last musical I saw just before the New Year was Tina, The Musical, obviously based on the life of the late great Tina Turner. I did one of my favourite things — took a ferry trip across the bay to Melbourne and went to a matinee show. While I’ve never been a massive Tina Turner fan, I knew a lot about her life story prior to seeing this show and was interested in how they were going to portray her time with Ike. The show itself was fairly graphic in both language and depiction of violence, against Tina by Ike, and vice versa when she finally triumphed and walked away from him. However, it did have an amazing finale with the entire theatre getting up to dance guaranteeing a standing ovation after every performance, no doubt.
Going to musicals, many with my mother as gifts to each other, has made me appreciate music that I wouldn’t normally listen to or seek out. This includes musicals such as The Etta James Story: At Last and Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical. I’ve also seen musicals based on the music I’ve grown up listening to, such as Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Morissette) and American Idiot (Green Day), not to mention We Will Rock You - The Queen Musical which I have seen twice, first in Brisbane circa 2004 and again in Melbourne in 2016, when I took my niece. My next theatre outing is to see Natalie Bassingthwaite in the one-woman show Shirley Valentine and then Hadestown later in the year.
They might be considered cheesy, but non-animated musical movies are also on my agenda. I mean who doesn’t love Grease or Fame? Or more recent musical movies like La La Land, High School Musical, Pitch Perfect and The Sapphires (for the Australians among us). I remember Saturday afternoons with my nana tuning in to Bill Collins matinee movies (Bill Collins was an iconic Australian film critic and TV presenter also known as Mr Movies) to watch a LOT of Shirley Temple movies, the 1962 movie Gypsy about the life of Gypsy Lee Rose on multiple occasions, as well as Elvis and Fred Astaire movies.
A couple of more recent movies that I have thoroughly enjoyed and recommend include In the Heights, Tick tick…Boom! (about the life of composer and playwright Jonathan Larson who wrote the musical Rent!) and Summer of Soul, a documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place across six Sundays, with one of those being the same weekend as Woodstock, and includes some amazing restored archival footage.
I do not believe in music as background noise, like the TV should not be background noise. Music should be intentionally listened to. Music is a life force. It’s fun, it’s soothing, hypnotic and revitalising. Music makes the world go round and without it life would be intolerable. Supporting musical artists by going to shows and festivals, buying merchandise, CDs and records, or a movie ticket is my little contribution to give back to the artists that brighten up my days with their talent and creativity. For me, life without music would be like a bath without bubbles—boring, flat and unimaginative! Keep the music alive and support your favourite artists.
What I’m listening to: Coterie. This is the most recent CD I bought after seeing them live at the Queenscliff Musical Festival in November 2024. A band of brothers from New Zealand based in Perth, Australia.
What I’m watching: The Other Black Girl on Disney+ in Australia. I did not know this was originally a book! But I read online the endings were different.
