A Moment In Music

I was sitting on my back porch the other night trying to get the double beat down on my bongos (if your laughing then you obviously play the bongos and you know it was more of a practice then anything). I was sitting there banging away doing no justice to the beat I was trying to get. My girlfriend was there encouraging me along saying little things like “that sounded good” and “you almost had it”, when my neighbor showed up with his guitar to help guide me along when playing music.

It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot that night when it came to music. First he got me to find a beat that I was comfortable with, I found my rhythm pretty quickly with the help of Mark playing the guitar to the same simple beat that I was working on. When I was feeling the rhythm flow through my body escaping from my hands onto that coarse leather, Mark brought in another beat, a second beat that for now he was only playing, but it was not long soon after that I was throwing in those extra beats myself.

As the day slowly began turning into night with the sun setting its last rays of warmth on us… the air was full of music, music that said that this day will not end till its story was told. Never did I think that the story was ending, because before my eyes there the people came. Some of them came with their own instruments and some came simply just to listen. The power of music I sat there thinking!

As I sat there listening to the music of artists playing together for the first time I was in the moment, feeling the moment. Here and now the music plays, never again will we hear this music, it might be imitated, but it will never be duplicated. There we were, in the movement of music.

Often times I will sit there listening to music, thinking about what it means, what it means to me and what the artist’s message is. So many times I concern myself on what it means to me then to ever wonder what it might mean to someone else. Let me give you an example.

I am a sports fanatic that attends many sporting events a year. I go because I love the feel of the energy in the arena, and the hype of the local team as they try to become the best of the league. But between plays you hear the music over the load speaker. The longer the music plays, the more excited the fans become. Then the arena erupts in a “We Will, We Will, Rock You” chant as the music flows through their blood and the energy grows for their team. At the end of the game when the home team wins, you hear two songs, the first song is more of a chant these days but goes “nan nan nan nan, nan nan nan nan, hey hey hey, gooooodbbbbbye”, and the second one is from Queen “We are the Champions”.

Now to me and I’m sure to most of you, these songs mean victory. But to the opposing team, those songs that night meant defeat. It is truly amazing how much influence music can have with just one song or should I say the winning song.

The Movement of Music

Music is a movement that is heard throughout the world. A freedom of speech that can't be silenced. With every generation in every type of culture you will find music. Today the power of music is so strong that company's are branding their name with a catchy tune or jingle.

Music is so powerful that it is often used to time travel. We use music to remember a loved one or even a prior friendship or relationship. As a time machine, music enables us to never forget. Countless times when a familiar song is heard, we are taken back to a different time, a time so vivid, you can even recall the smell in the air. When you reflect with old friends, use music and without fail you will sit there for hours talking about those times from way back when.

Next time you are walking down the street, start singing or humming a tune from when we were kids. You will find that people everywhere will start to sing along with you, don't believe me? Then start humming the sesame street song, see, everyone knows that one, even our kids.

You see, the movement of music is everywhere. I know that I have just barely touch on the subject, but I just wanted to share this little bit so that maybe next time when you hear that song, and you come back from that Blast from the Past, you'll take that moment to embrace the energy that music shares.

A night well worth bragging about, April 10th 2009, a beginning of a Movement!!!

Ok all of you, the party was just over a week ago and there is still a buzz going around about it. I still can't believe that Mario Ayala from the Aching Heart Foundation threw his guitar off a 5 foot stage, I wish that I could have seen my face, lol. You never know, maybe when the video comes out on vanmusic.ca I just might be able to see it, heck maybe it will be your face that I see. Whatever it is it will be great to watch again and again.

The Rain and the Sidewalk is a band that you just have to go and see live. They work so well together and there stage presence is one of a kind. I can't wait to see them again.

Tomgirl, Jess Hill, and Michelle Carter Leis are all outstanding vocalists and it was just amazing to see all three of them at the same event. As you could see at the show, they all have a great following and I look forward to seeing them all grow as artists.

Hunter´s Web was a great band and I found myself tapping along to the beat behind the bar as I watched everyone get up and start to dance. Once that started everyone was ready to party and awaited for Los Malos to help show the way, and did they every. Los Malos was so fun and we all had a great time.

You would think that that would be it for the evening, 7 great bands playing with Leo Rosales being the DJ's between sets. Oh no, VanMusic was far from being done and still had 3 awesome bands to come.

It was now time for The Get Down and that was what they did, got everyone to Get Down with them! What a fun time that was. By that time the dance floor was flowing and so was the beer. This was starting to become the best event of the year for myself!

It was around this time of the event that I had to ask myself, is there anyone that can follow The Get Down? Well Los Furios was up to the task and a task well done. There was not one person in that whole place that was not dancing, my girlfriend even left me behind the bar by myself to go dance. I found myself humming their tunes threw out this week.

Well it was coming to closing time and we needed a great way to finnish off the event with a scream, and how did we do that? By getting Sinister Black to play. Oh yeah it was great and they did a great job closing the show.

Yes it was fun and it was a great time and everyone had a blast. I just can't wait for the next VanMusic event. Make sure that you keep checking vanmusic.ca for all the latest concerts and live video's.

Remember, Be Part Of The Movement