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A Tribute to My Mom
The introduction continues...

As I mentioned before, both of my parents have had a strong impact on the kind of music I'm into. But while my dad is more into music than my mom, I think she ended up influencing my tastes just as much as he did. I seem to be one of the rare few that has as much in common with one parent as the other, even though in temperament, people say I reflect more of my mom's quiet, passive and melancholy nature.

My parents are opposite in so many ways, but where they meet in the middle in terms of music is their mutual love of Jazz and R&B. When we were still only a family of four and we all had more free time to spend, they would sometimes dance together (my dad is a very good dancer); accompanied by slow, romantic vocal Jazz; Ella Fitzgerald, Natalie Cole, Harry Connick Jr., Frank Sinatra... It was like watching a scene from a movie, but with a chemistry that no TV screen experience could ever match. My sister and I would sit and read quietly together on the couch before bedtime, humming along to whatever melodies we knew, and commenting on the songs we liked the best. We were never really the kinds of kids that cringed when a couple shared long stare and a kiss. Romance, it appears, is in our blood. My parents never sing or dance in public, and they haven't had the time or energy to for years now, so those memories are very special to me. This was their favorite song to dance to...



My mother's vocal jazz has carved itself a home in my musical taste,
and has become one of my deeper roots. Some examples...

Spoiler for ...more vocal jazz...:

If there is one reference I could use to describe my parents' relationship, it could surely be likened to Beauty and the Beast. In fact, Beauty and the Beast is one of my mom's favorite movies. She loves musicals and old Hollywood films with a sophisticated feel. Dramatic art that really stirs the emotions. To me, my mom was most certainly Belle; she has that same kind of delicacy, the same thirst for adventure, and an enthusiasm for books and etiquette. Her favorite movie (and soundtrack from a movie) is probably "You've Got Mail." I keep on wishing that she'll be able to have her own Shop Around the Corner one day.

The one other influence that stems from my mom's taste is probably the female singer-songwriters of the late 80s and early 90s, like Suzanne Vega, Sinead O'Connor and Alanis Morissette. I really got into the female vocalists that dominated 90s Top 40 radio, and it's mostly due to her influence. I was brought up with the values of compassion, honesty and emotional strength. These artists were the backdrop to these values.







It seems to me that I have this kind of perfect ying & yang, Anima & Animus balance between my more "masculine" taste and my more "feminine" taste, with my parents being the archetypal examples of each, and myself falling somewhere in between. I've always found it to be the case that I've never really had this urge to exaggerate my "manliness" that I noticed in other boys; although I've always thought of myself as being masculine anyway; just more of a dreamer and romantic than is usual. Because I was always so close to my mom, and talked about nearly anything and everything with her, I think I always had an easier time having conversations with girls and women than most of the guys I grew up with.


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