I'm just singin' in....my dreams

I dream most nights, which I am grateful for. I hear that a lot of people don't dream at all. I've been told by loved ones that I dream so often because my brain is incessantly busy. That's ok with me, because even if I dream I wake up feeling rested. Due to my active dreams and a reoccurring event in my dreams, I am convinced I played an instrument and wrote my own music in a past life. (Yes, I whole-heartdly believe in past lives and we shall leave this for a later post.) First of all, since I can remember music has been incredibly influential for me. I remember the first two musicians that I fell in love with. The first one caught my heart when I was about 3 years old. Her name was Tina Turner. I have vivid memories of her Private Dancer album playing on my mother's record player. As I sat on the floor I just stared at the record case, entranced by her long legs, shiny heels and RED lacquered nails. It was my first celebrity crush for sure.

Then we moved to Ohio and my friend's mother, who lived across the street was a huge fan of Carly Simon. By sheer exposure, I too became a huge fan of Carly Simon. I remember I had her Coming Around Again album on cassette tape. My friend's mother had it on CD so I would often go to her house just so that I could look at the CD booklet - bigger, better pictures than what you found in the cassette case. On other occassions, you would often find me in bed listening to my Sony Walkman which of course was playing a Carly song, usually my favorite, "Do the Walls Come Down," or perhaps I was on the back patio giving the trees a free concert - me lip syncing to any of the songs off that album. The best was when it was a windy day and I could pretend I was her, performing at the 1987 concert on Martha's Vineyard - a VHS I watched religiously. Thanks to a close family friend who also happens to be a neighbor, just a few months ago I enjoyed the same concert on DVD. This time it was a more grown-up experience which included a late night with surround sound, champagne and Chambord.

So I have shared with you the first two musical artists I ever fell in love with, but I also failed to mention that my life plays out with a soundtrack. Ask any close friend of mine and if we happen to be eating in a Chipotle, having a beer in Brooklyn, shopping at Urban or anywhere else music may be playing, almost always I will say, "Oh my gosh! This song takes me back to [fill in blank here]." My experiences are defined by the music that was playing. Whether that happened out loud for everyone to hear or if it was playing in my head...which has happened more times than I admit. There is a song from the late '90s that reminds me of an old boyfriend, however he has no idea because at that memorable moment the room was silent and the song was only playing in my head.

So besides my two major musical loves and the constant backdrop of music in my life I say that I must have been a musician/writer in a past life because I have written music in my dreams. Songs I have never heard before and when I wake up I can still hear them in my head. I can't even begin to process how I would get this music out of my head and onto paper or recorded....there is an absolute block in my brain once I am awake. So instead of scrambling to get the song recorded in some medium I just enjoy the music while it plays in my head until the rattling of the day slowly brings the music to fade.

Does music have a profound effect on you too? Any talent you have that is only used while visiting dreamland?