FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC

I have loved music my whole life. When I was 12, I would mow my neighbor’s yard for five dollars a week. This was a two-hour job. I worked my butt off (or at least that is how I remember it). What did I do with my hard-earned $5? I would ride my bike up to Sam Goody—do you remember "Goody’s got it"?—and buy myself a new cassette tape!

This was long before the internet, Google, or streaming services. Back then, most of our music knowledge came from MTV and the radio.

I, however, would often take a leap and buy a tape from a band I had never heard of. I loved the thrill of finding a new artist—one that no one else was listening to (as far as my friend circle went).

I would listen to that tape over and over for the next week—longer if I really loved it—and then do it all over again after another two hours of back-breaking work. Those days shaped my passion for music for sure.

The music we listen to is the soundtrack of our lives. We merge memories, feelings, and events with the music we were listening to at the time.

This is especially true for the music of our youth. Because I spent an entire week immersed in just one album—listening while sweating behind that lawnmower, while doing homework, while dreaming about the future in my bedroom—that music didn't just pass through my ears; it wound itself into my DNA.

Music acts as a sonic form of time travel. It’s far more potent than looking at an old photograph. A photo shows you what you looked like; a song makes you feel exactly how you felt.

Today, if I hear the opening riff of a track from one of those hard-earned Sam Goody cassettes, the decades instantly melt away. I am transported back to being 12 years old. I can almost smell the cut grass and two-cycle engine oil. I can feel the specific anxiety of middle school, the boundless energy of summer vacation, and the thrill of discovery. The music locked those feelings in amber, perfectly preserving who I was at that exact moment.

Because I love music so deeply, I love being a DJ. I get to help create those "3D memories" for you and your loved ones. What an amazing privilege.