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First Angel Media

Making the moment last a lifetime – The Playlist of Our Lives

Music That Makes Me

I received an advent calendar this year that is all about doing things for other people. Well a couple days back, the thing to do that day was to make a playlist for someone. I hadn’t given it a lot of thought until my oldest mentioned that she’d like to be the recipient of the playlist. Now my brain went into overdrive on the perfect playlist.

Obviously I could go many different directions with a playlist. A show I watched, ‘High Fidelity’, had an episode on just that dilemma, the crafting of a perfect playlist. I could just pick a handful of my favorite songs that I currently listen to. I’ve covered a bunch of local bands so I could compile songs from all of them. I have a pretty good idea of the music my daughters like, so perhaps a collection of their favorites.

Then while taking a walk and listening to music an idea came to me. Anyone that knows me will tell you I am obsessed with music. I am constantly listening to or playing music. I obviously work with First Angel Media who promotes the music scene. Most of my memories I can relate to a song or artist. Music makes up so much of my life. Why not do a playlist of the songs that are a story of Craig, or dad in her case?

The only rule I made for myself was to not do more than one song per artist. After all I had enough music so that should not be a problem. I did cheat for one artist and also didn’t count if artists changed bands or bands changed names. So I started thinking of different things in my life and selected a song from that memory. The first thing I thought of was the first album that was given to me by my uncle Jack. My favorite song on it was Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit.’ This choice coincidentally related to another memory. It was when my first musical Christmas present from my parents was Jefferson Starship’s first album with the song ‘Miracle’.

John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’ made the cut because it was the first song I learned on the guitar. And my first concert, which I drove to Pittsburgh for the first time myself, also made the list with Nazereth’s ‘Hair of the Dog’ and Kansas’ ‘Dust in the Wind’.

Compiling this collection became not only a labor of love, but also an emotional rollercoaster. B.J. Thomas’s ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head’ made me shed a couple tears as it was one of my grandmother’s favorite songs. And ‘Return to Pooh Corner’ by Kenny Loggins always makes me think back to my daughters’ younger days and how fast time had gone by. There are dark songs from those dark periods in my life as well as upbeat songs from the happier moments. I could continue this article with every song on the playlist, but that is more a story for another time.

More importantly I would recommend any of you music lovers to do the same. Create your own playlist using whatever criteria fits you. I think you may be surprised at the memories and more importantly the emotions it evokes. But don’t stop with just making the playlist, but share your playlist with people, especially those you love. I see a lot of people posting their 2020 end of year Spotify tallies. Don’t just share tally, but also your Spotify playlist so people can hear the musical version of you.

I’d enjoy hearing your musical story sometime and if you’re interested, you can check out the Story of Craig on my Spotify playlist. If you want to swap musical memories over a cup of coffee, beer or a walk in the park, just let me know. I’d love to hear more about the “music that makes you”.

open.spotify.com/playlist/3CpYbInzNjdFC4JglPpmUn?si=mRFsdTScSvGJEGTirFVsfg