Music memories

My friend Donna's thoughts here reminded me of how much music has complemented & defined me. Some examples of that...

• Growing up, I listened to the small radio station from the local college. It was on FM and was a whole 10 watts. I remember waking up every Wednesday morning one year, hearing the Beatles sing "Good Morning" and jumping into Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded by the light"
• I still have a dislike for Opera because every Saturday growing up I heard the Firestone Opera on the local AM radio station.
• I still have a love of what Steeleye Span did for (to?) English folk music because my cousin gave my brother and I one of their albums for Christmas.
• I still have an attraction to Herbie Hancock music because a friend and I arranged "Chameleon" for jazz ensemble in our senior year of high school.
• I still love Procol Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" because I did an arrangement for full jazz band that same year.
• I still remember where I first heard the Eagles "Life in the Fast Lane" as I was crammed in the back of a car on the way to a college age church event next to an unwed soon-to-be mother thinking that it was so accurate (judgmental huh?).
• My appreciation for Classical music (and probably covers) was enhanced by the versions of songs I heard from such unlikely sources as Spike Jones and P.D.Q Bach.
  

There are many lasting impressions like that and they continue to occur.