Lay Down the Boogie & Play That Funky Music till You Die...till You Die...

have you ever seen that commercial for one of the cellphone companies that lets you use your phone as an MP3 player? you see all these young, thin, gorgeous people of various ethnicities walking around town; their shadows appear behind them dancing while walking, then they get a call and both the waif and the waif's shadow are standing still. the call ends and the waif starts walking while their shadow busts a move. this morning, on the way into the building, i was that waif.

to be perfectly fair, i'm deffinitely neither young, thin, nor gorgeous, but standing in the elevator i was dancing like one of the Solid Gold Dancers or perhaps a Fly Girl...on the inside. Kristine, Junior and i were having a wonderful old time telling our respective audiences that we were glad to be "alive and in the land of the living"; there was glamour, there was drama, there was fabulousness. if the people with whom i shared the elevator could see what was going on inside of me, they would've hooted and hollered and (perhaps) started to stuff dollar bills in my hands, in my pockets, down the front of my shirt.

that's why i love my MP3 player: i am completely and totally addicted to music. before i had my MP3 player, i had a mini disc player, before that a DiscMan, before that a WalkMan, before that...i was in the womb. i was raised on music like other kids were raised on football or cartoons. i distinctly remember dancing around the house to South Pacific and West Side Story, with my mom (she had a stack of vinyl taller than i was at 5 years old). the radio was always on in our house, morning to night, tuned to the oldies station. i used to sit in our playroom for hours listening to Sesame Street's Singing in the Bathtub, over and over and over again. by the time i was ten i had songs commited to memory (but still didn't know my multiplication tables). i was hooked on Sheena Easton and Irene Cara. i remember playing the Sheena's Private Heaven cassette, lip-synching to Strut and Sugar Walls but obviously not knowing what the lyrics meant. i knew New Editions entire repetoire by heart, as well as the sound track to Flashdance. As i got older, music remained a staple of my development; i was well acquainted with Samantha Fox, Stacey Q, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and any other cassettes my parents would buy me. Evenutally i was old enough to buy my own music and the 1st CD i bought was the B-52's Cosmic Thing. it was all downhill from there. my tastes began to broaden and i began to listen to everything: standards, alternative rock, pop and disco. music shaped my day and matched my mood. i felt attached to the Smiths and the Pet Shop Boys (they knew how i felt).Gloria Gaynor told me that no matter what, i would survive. Ella completley understood that i had "It Bad...and That Ain't Good". Cole Porter's lyrics were so debonaire and ripe with irony and class.

Here i am, 30 years later, and i am still completely hooked on music. it's like a drug i can't shake. in addition to my old favorites, i've recently (within the last 6 years) gained an affinity for club music. DJ's have completely revolutionized the face of music as we know it, bringing artists and songs to audiences that otherwise never would've encountered them. living proof: 10 years ago, there's no way i would've thought it possible that i would listen to anything even remotely resembling gospel music, now i can't go a day without Vernessa Mitchell or Kim English belting out how happy that there's a higher power in their life. if it wasn't for Junior Vasquez, Razor and Guido, i would never had heard them. Over the last couple of years i've found that club music actually keeps me going throughout the day; setting my pace and keeping me moving.

In light of the wedding and my brain tumor, i realize how terribly important music really is to me. i'm never without it, from the time i wake up till just before i go to bed. i'm aware that should i ever lose my hearing completely, i will be absolutely devastated because i will be unable to function without a soundtrack to my day. i recognize that, to me, the most important part of our wedding won't be the food or the flowers, it will be the mood set by the DJ or musician that we hire.

sitting here at my desk, Celine and i are telling our respective lovers (with the help of Thunderpuss) that we want to be needed like the air they breathe. my inner waif is dancing on his stage wearing skin tight (size 30) jeans and no shirt. all is right with the world.

"...It is the universe's way of saying stop, slow down, you move too fast. Listen to the music. Whoa whoa, listen to the music. Because music makes the people come together, it makes the bourgeois and the rebel. So come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody try to love one another. Because what the world needs now is love, sweet love. And I know that love is a battlefield, but boogie on reggae woman because you're gonna make it after all. So celebrate good times, come on. I've gotta stop I've gotta come to my senses i've been out riding fences for so long... oops i did it again... "~Ellen DeGenneres