The memory of music

At the risk of sounding indulgent, I want to follow up on my (seemingly popular) post on the ‘Lost Art of Nostalgia’. This notion - on the importance of remembering moments passed - seems to have struck a chord with some of you. This makes me happy. See - I'm doing a happy face.

It also makes me think that, by proxy, you will be interested in an extension of this concept. What's that? You are interested? You're really, really, really interested? Well that's just aces! And in that case, I'll carry on...

I want to talk about how we remember things. How we remember times, people and places.

Memories are all around us. Anything can spark a memory - a photo, a book, a sunset, a drink...anything...but you know what'll do the trick more often than most anything? Music. And the memory of music is what has drawn my attention of late, and it's what I want to talk about now. So I'll begin.

A serendipitous meeting while on my travels in Australia some years ago now – wow, that’s sad to say – paired me up at random (if you believe in such a thing) – with a now very good friend of mine, and I'm happy to say that despite only meeting for 3 or 4 days, and despite now living on separate continents, we're still keeping in touch today. She's Canadian, and her name is Mish. She's awesome. You'd like her.

After a day or two of laid back how-do-you-do's and carefree memory-trips through our present future and of times yet to pass, she shared with me a personal project that was in progress...a way to keep track of what memories music ignites within you. She called this, 'Time stamping'. An all-encompassing catalogue of songs married up with a memory. Pretty cool, huh? Yes, it is. But pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaase don’t think of trying to turn this into a selfish, soulless money-spinner – this is something that has to stay owned by nostalgia and nostalgia alone. Or else karma will smite you.

Now just think about it - think about every song you've heard while you've been out with friends or family... every summer-time road trip you've taken with the window down and the radio on...every party playlist...or the holiday with that one album that just so happened to keep popping up...we've all got those songs that capture the mood and the feeling of a specific time...and ain’t they but powerful? Ain’t they mightily, miraculously, magically, marvellously, memorifically and musically powerful??

But where is this going? Well for one, I wanted to help people find ways to re-ignite those lost memories; to encourage people to afford themselves the indulgence of nostalgia. But also I wanted to use this as a chance to create my own Time Stamp collection...to share my own memories, and to revel in my own nostalgia...so here it is...

• ‘Girl’ by The Beatles; for Sarah, Eireann and Alex when we danced in the new 'front room' in Sudlow at 2am singing every word
• ‘All or Nothing’ by O-Town; for Taylor and the most emotional sing-along ever throughout 201, and Si for an entire summer of 'KEY CHANGE's
• ‘Some Like You’ by Adele; for Ching and every time we had to heard that damned 'oooooooo' sailing across the office
• ‘Return of the Mack’ by Mark Morrison; for Butters, Sophie and everyone else in on the DB/GKJ-mac joke
• ‘Always Where I need to be’ by Kooks; for everyone in 2008 3^rd year uni
• ‘I Wish I was James Bond’ by Scouting For Girls; for Andy, Sam, Mattie, Matt, Ben, Steve and all the other heroes for the great Bond bonanza of 2008
• ‘Fidelity’ by Regina Spektor; for Sam and summer 2010
• ‘A Real Hero’ by College feat. Electric Youth; for Mark, who is exactly that
• ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’ by Hall and Oates; for the light of everyone’s life, Siobhan
• ‘All You Need is Love’ by The Beatles; for Stu and ‘Brad’ and for a chance meeting in New York, 2007
• ‘I’ll Follow The Sun’ by The Beatles; for everyone in New York City

  

If you're featured, then cheers to the memories…if you're not, then let's get together and make a memory. And in the meantime, why not let me know some of your music memories…

Just a thought...

  

Inspiration from an unusual source

I want to expand on my previous ‘Life lessons from the man on the street’ post. And I want you to really listen to what this post says.

While I was at the ‘Word Off The Street’ event on Sunday, I was lucky enough to hear from a guy who’s been heavily involved with The Challenge and St. Mungo’s, and I was blown away by what he had to say. This guy is called ‘Lenny’.

‘Lenny’ is a guy about my age, and he’s also been homeless before, but now he’s working with St. Mungo’s charity and one of his hobbies/skills/pursuits involves writing (outrageously) good poetry…so for me, as a fellow wordsmith, this was obviously an immediate attention hook. But this isn’t specifically about Lenny’s skills...well it is and it isn’t – it’s not just about his writing ability (which far outweighs my own), it’s about his skill, his ability, his magical capacity to bring life to life through words.

While he was up on stage, he read a poem of his to a theatre of 80 teenagers – no easy feat, let me tell you – and in his poem, he raised a very interesting point, and one that I want to share with you now. He said:

“I’ve heard pride is a sin, and patience quoted as a virtue…

but which of those is more likely to hurt, as you sit there still

while the world passes by you…?”

This landed like a hammer blow. I concede that pride, when dealt in over-sized portions can ruin a man (and women too), but surely patience can sink the best of us as well. Think about any of the greats – think of anyone you look up to; did they sit there, getting stoned, twiddling their thumbs and letting greatness unfold around them? No. They ante’d up, threw down and went and got it!

Now think about that. Figure out what you want, and don’t be patient in the hope it’ll swing on by your way eventually. Go and get it. For the love of all that’s good and pure – go and ****** get it! Remember what one of the greatest greats of all time said: “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans” – so get going and make life happen instead of planning what else you could do…and who knows – maybe you could end up being one of those ‘greats’ who went and got what they wanted!

Just a thought… 

Life lessons from the man on the street

I’m an optimist by nature. It’s just my (child-like) way, and as I mentioned in a previous post “People are awesome”. And y'know what? I do genuinely believe that for the most part, people are indeed that – awesome. So you can imagine how happy I am having just spent an afternoon in a room full of people who are doing more and more awesome things for other people. In short; I’m happy. I'm very happy. But I should explain…

I spent Sunday afternoon at a theatre in Putney at an event hosted by a charitable organisation, The Challenge, whose mission is to connect and inspire young people to help them strengthen their communities’ by involving15-16 year olds from across London to in activities that give them positive direction, and simultaneously benefiting their community; and St. Mungo’s. Both are great organisations, and if you're looking for a fun way to spend your summer, you should definitely check out The Challenge's summer programmes. But back to the event that I went to...

The event saw groups of 15-16 year olds who have given up their free time over the past few months to work with homeless people from all over the capital. Some of these people have had troubles of their own, and some have even been homeless despite being so young, but they are all putting themselves out there to help other people by raising awareness and challenging the issue of homelessness in this fair (to most, but not all) city.

Now I should point out that I’m not here to preach and tell you about how we should all give generously and help our fellow man – hopefully you know this and do so already – but seeing how some of these people are helping themselves, and others, was genuinely inspiring, and it would be a crime if I didn’t share just some of their pearls of wisdom…

‘Khalid’ is 20 years old. He was on the ‘wrong road’ from a young age and ended up getting kicked out of school at 14, out of his home at 15 and wound up in a YMCA shelter at 16. He said he thought that prison was just something that everyone from his neighbourhood went through. It was the norm. So he’s probably on the road to nowhere right? Wrong. Massively wrong. With the help of the YMCA, he’s now its youngest board member, and spends his days helping other people who find themselves in a similar situation to what he was a few years back, and he does this in-between attending promotional events like ‘Word Off The Street’ that I went to to get more and more young people involved. Oh, and he also spends every weekend volunteering at soup kitchens and charity shops. All in all, he’s a born-again saint. And he’s still only 20.

And Khalid's not the only one; the entire cinema theatre was full of people as positive, and affirming and inspirational people as him. All of them looking to help others, and to do some good. But what really struck me, was the enduring message Khalid and the others wanted to leave us with: “Don’t let it stop here’. Don’t sign a petition, and then forget about it. Don’t see someone on the street and turn a blind eye. If you see someone out there asking for change, don’t just toss them some money and walk on by – stop, ask them their name, see how they’re doing, buy them a coffee and a bagel…they’re people – treat them that way!

And don’t sit there thinking “but me speaking to one person isn’t going to make a difference” – wrong. So wrong. Other people see you doing it, and it spurs them to do the same. Then the same thing happens again 10 minutes later. And again. And again. And so on and so on and so on. But more importantly, it makes a difference to that person. Because for a change, someone is treating them like a person, and not a burden. 

I'm waffling and doubtless am not making much sense, so I think I'll defer to a much wiser man, and end on the immortal words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Just a thought…

Hitting the road again...

I have a question for you; have you ever got the feeling that there’s more out there? That maybe, just maybe, there’s a world of adventure unfolding, and that you might be missing it?

For some people this suspicion will never strike, but for others, the idea that the world is having a great big open-air party somewhere where we aren't is excruciating, and the need to be involved in it is, and always will be, a niggling nagging known-ity. These people are adventurers.

My (over-size) ego aside, I consider myself to be part of this group of life-lusters. I’ve been to a few places in my time and I’ve been lucky enough to see life in different shapes, sizes, twists and twirls…and it’s mesmeric.

But as a wise man once said, “All good things must come to an end…” and my days of being a vest-sporting, surf-haired beach bum are over for the moment (I mean c’mon - someone needs to keep the PR industry ticking over, right??) but that doesn’t mean that those days are over for ever…no no no – the way I see it is that I’m a traveller by trade, I’m just on vacation right now. And I’m fine with this hiatus.

I’m in one of the greatest cities on earth (second only to San Francisco); I’ve got good people around me; I’m writing again (both on this here blog and the (soon to be) world renowned 'Where's my seat...?'), and I’ve just started a new job that’s pretty exciting and genuinely inspiring – life’s just rosey, right? Indeed. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t get those travelling pangs when I see a faraway photo posted, or when I see what my travelling friends are getting up to…and I know I’m not the only one…any number of you reading this know what I’m on about…and I hate to disappoint, but I don’t have the cure to it. I have no remedy to share. I can only say “you’re not alone”.

So “what’s the point to this post, Gareth?” I hear you ask…well, I was at a gig t’other night where Frank Turner played one of my favourite songs of his, and I just thought that it encapsulates the enduring nature of the desire to hit the road again, and to go exploring…and I thought you might enjoy it as well. 

So here it is – to anyone who’s been away and still ponders about getting going again, here’s ‘The Road’…