Choose Wisely

One of my all time favorite bands, Aztec Two-Step, is celebrating their 43rd anniversary together this week.  They are a folk-rock duo who met at a Boston coffee house and have been making music ever since.

Their anniversary got me thinking about the music in my iTunes library and I realized that the foundation of my musical interests was laid in the eight years between the end of middle school and my college graduation.

I still listen to The Beatles, The J. Geils Band, Springsteen, The Who, Boston, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Neil Young and countless others. It’s not like that’s all I listen to, but that era defined great music for me.

I’ve added to that foundation with jazz greats like Dave Brubeck and innumerable blues artists like B.B. King, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Coco Montoya. I've added pop artists like Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz and Adel, but those artists I loved in high school and college I still love and probably always will.

So, a word to my eighth graders - the next eight years will probably also be the foundation of your musical tastes as well. Get ready and choose wisely because you’ll probably still be listening to those artists when you’re my age, in 2056.