“If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.”–Shakespeare

 

I love  music. Most of my memories have soundtracks accompanying them and some of my favorite moments involve sitting back and hearing a song for the first time. For me, music has always been an intellectual, emotional and visceral experience. I feel music with my heart, body and soul. It infuses my understanding of the world. Recently, as I have spent more time learning about the people I’ve met in my life, I’ve begun to explore a wide mix of music. I’ve realized that I’ve written off whole genres and subcultures for almost completely arbitrary reasons not only disrespect fans and members of those genres and cultures but also denying myself good music and chance to broaden my world view.

As I result, I’ve decided to start interviewing some the awesome music heads and audiophiles I’ve run across and putting  the interviews online for free and public mind expansion. I hoping to talk to people who have deep rooted intellectual, political, emotional or spiritual connection to music. I’m fascinated by how people became fans of the music they like, how the relate to it and how they interact within the spaces where that music calls home like concert venues, house parties or clubs.  What purpose does music serve in your life? Should it be easy to listen to? Should it take work to understand and breakdown? Must it be seen live or listened to with tea on lazy Sunday afternoons? Do you revel in the anti-identity created by mosh-pitts and the release of the anger that alienation and repression as built up? Or does you music say to the world “I have arrived!”? Do your concerts create a safe space for your inner ID to shine unadulterated or is it a stage for alter ego?

 

These are the questions that fascinate me and these are the differences that remind me of just how small my slice of human experience really is.