We're all familiar with how music can affect situations. The right Buddha Bar beat can lounge-ify any setting, Freestyler is sure to pump up any party and Barry White is practically guaranteed to get you laid... Music has the unique ability to color our lives and imprint certain memories with the pulses and lyrics of the song. So that when you hear that song again, regardless of whether its the next day or ten years later, just hearing the song will somehow take you back to that setting.

Not all songs are connected to happy memories though, some of them can carry the residue of broken relationships, family strife and general cloudiness. Some songs that are a bit tainted for me, yet no less enjoyable include:

1. Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
2. Common Pleasure - Jason Mraz
3. Strange Transmissions - The Peter Malick Group ft. Norah Jones (Which is nonetheless a hauntingly beautiful melody.)


All in all though, songs tend to have very pleasurable moments attached to them, at least in my case. They have marked the chapters of my life, heightened experiences, and enlightened my suroundings, bringing environments and situations into focus and allowing me to see the world as it truly is.

So, in extreme summary, I present to you... The Score of my Life...


1. The City of Blinding Lights is forever tucked into the caverns of my heart.

The song that highlights my two month stay in New York over Christmas of '05 is "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy. The song reminds me of skating at Rockefeller Center, skipping down 5th avenue with my two best friends singing the lyrics at the top of our lungs and not giving a damn about what anyone thought. It makes me think of MTV2 and underground music clubs, thick with smoke and the whine of guitar riffs.

2. Living the Renaissance

Italy - Summer '05, I spent two weeks touring every church I could find in Rome. I went on an Angels & Demons (Dan Brown Novel) tour that highlighted everything in the book and also served to illustrate the fiction that abounds in the novel.

But, the song that says "Rome" to me is "Feel Good Inc." by The Gorillaz. I first heard the song while changing clothes in my apartment overlooking the Spanish Steps. Since that day, every time I hear the song, it takes me back to Rome, to freshwater fountains, to gelato, to Giordano Bruno and to sunsets over bell-towers...

3. Gay it Forward

It was the summer of 2003. My best friend and I spent the summer sojourned in San Francisco, The Jewel of the Bay. We were actually taking up residence in one of the dormitories of UC Berkeley, but we might as well have stayed in SF since we spent every waking minute there.

It was the summer of Train and cable cars. As in riding the cable cars from Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf and back and spending a day walking around Berkeley campus with Train's "My Private Nation" album on permanent repeat.
I even got Fireberry, who has strictly 'make me dance' taste in music, got hooked on one of their songs. That's why whenever I hear "Calling All Angels" it makes me think of me and her trying on clothes in Wet Seal and panting our way up and down the hills of San Francisco.

4. Preppy in London pre-Mellenium Wheel

Summer of 98. Me, my mom and big bro spent the summer in London. One of the few trips to London that I actually enjoyed... I usually prefer to remain state-side..

This was the summer my obsession with Robbie Williams officially began. I spent the summer with "I've Been Expecting You" on repeat and "Phoenix from the Flames" Going round and round in my head.

Its eight years later and Robbie Williams still does something to me that I can't quite explain.

5. The Beginning of an Era

Fall of '95 - I was in Junior High, had just moved to a new school in a new neighborhood and didn't know anyone. In public schools, we used to have a day of the semester called an "Open Day" which basically meant that we could discard our checkered uniforms in favor of anything we wanted to wear, classes were suspended and we spent the school day any way we wanted... talking, laughing, playing, eating.. etc. etc.

Well, I had brought a small portable CD player with me to school that day along with my brand new Mariah Carey cd. "Fantasy" was just starting for the third time when this little bundle of black curls came my way, asking if she could hang out and listen to the cd. I said sure and eleven years later she is still my best friend, the one who can tell everything I am feeling from a look, the one I can never hope to lie to 'cos she will pick up on it in a second.

We still get a kick out of the fact that Mariah Carey brought us together...

6. Bad hair and worse clothes...

The 80's were somewhat of a blur for me 'cos I was born in 83.. but I do have a soundtrack running through my head when I think of 80's moments. Sadly, that soundtrack is mostly country due to my mom's influence over my music when I was a child. Randy Travis, George Strait, Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson all make appearances in this soundtrack.

Another person that had a big imprint on my psyche in the 80's and early 90's was Tiffany. Do you all remember Tiffany? The one-hit-wonder that sang the, now that I think of it, slightly provocative "I think we're alone now.. doesn't seem to be anyone around.." That song always reminds me of Full House 'cos I used to be addicted to that show and they did an episode featuring Tiffany.


...... That's as far back as my memory stretches... I know there are some songs that I forgot and will probably hear at some point and remember, but ... I told you it was gonna be a summary.

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Now Playing: This Year's Love By: David Gray

-Layla

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