If you want the truth, i was nervous. I felt a distance. There is a vast difference between loving something and being in love with something. Like, I love tacos but they don’t make my hair stand on end, give me butterflies in my belly, make my heart race, cheeks blush, breath shorten, make me long for its embrace 24/7, fill me with both a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging. But music, i’ve been in love with music my whole life. It’s been the Earth beneath my feet for as long as i desired to stand. Sometimes the object of your desire can become so big it starts to crush you. Suffocates you. Between the deals and the dealers and the plays and the players and the blood, sweat, and years you sometimes lose sight that this baby was born out of… passion. And a few months back, i got nervous. So i decided to do something drastic. I decided to shut up and listen. Let all the minutiae melt away and listen. Honest. Innocent. No agenda. I began revisiting all the albums that first inspired me. I wasn’t taking notes this time, i was taking deep breaths. I was taking long walks with headphones feeding and clothing me. I began consuming every melody and every word. In the evenings i would lay with the masters and in the mornings i would wake with their disciples. It was working. Instead of drowning i was floating. The hair, the butterflies, the every word is life or death. Purpose. I don’t know if i was ever really close to being lost but i know i definitely found my way back. That spark. I’ve fallen in love all over again for the infinite time. And now as i start to speak again it has meaning. The notes filled with electricity. So here’s to Walker, Cohen, Sinatra, Westerberg, Strummer, Satie, Bazan, Cave, Franklin, Mitchell, Cole, Drake, Davis, Simone, Thompson, Molina, Johnston, Jagger, Waits, and every other artist old and new that authors the prescription that saves my life daily.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. I’m still so in love with you.
– by Jeff Klein
Austin, Texas