I’m not sure what it is that makes music so memorable in our minds, but it can DEFINITELY have an effect on the outcome of our day. Here are two examples that led to a positive result.
In the first instance I was just getting started for the day trying to find SOMETHING on my iHeartRadio to listen to.
As I was channel surfing my local radio stations, I came across Metallica’s version of “Turn The Page” so I decided to give it a listen.
Just then a guy in a cool old pickup truck pulled up along side of me and said, “Oh no! I NEVER figured you for a metal head!”
I assured him that I was not and that I preferred Bob Seger’s version of this classic hit, but I also reminded him that they’d just had not one, but two concerts in Nashville recently, so they ARE popular with people of a certain age group.
I also told him that my step son Robert was a hard-core fan of that kind of music, and of Metallica in particular.
I was thinking of him as I listened to the music he loved so much, wishing he could’ve attended one of those shows. He didn’t say much after that, but at least he did seem to have a better understanding of why I was listening to it.
Next up, toward what had been an unusually slow time during the Memorial Day weekend, I was EXTREMELY bored. It was near the end of my day and my phone was dead. That meant NO MUSIC. UGH!
I decided instead of just sitting there doing nothing I’d get up and make sure there was no trash left between the red light at OHB+Central Pike, Rudy’s Studio Apartments and everything in between.
As I was picking up trash left behind on the sidewalk, a black pickup truck with three people inside in their late teens or maybe early 20s got held up near the back of the line of traffic. They were playing “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi. It was SO loud the windows were reverberating!
That was the most exciting thing that had happened in a while, so I immediately stopped what I was doing and began to sing/play along! It didn’t take long for the girl in the passenger seat to notice me, and pointed it out to the others in the vehicle asking repeatedly if any of them had any cash, but no luck. The driver seemed unfazed by my presence, but the girls were DEFINITELY into it.
When the traffic finally began to move, the young lady in the passenger seat rolled down her window and yelled, “We’ll be back!” True to her word, they returned before dark, and though they weren’t interested in the History Corner book, each of the girls bought a paper and a Zine!
As for the driver, he NEVER made eye contact with me, so you may wonder why I bothered to mention him.
Well, to his credit, he DID bring the young ladies back to make their purchases, and THAT was music to my ears, figuratively speaking.