I promise to return to less music slash Hanson related blog posts next week, but I Just wanted to let you know that I wrote a Guest Groupie post over on the Good Groupie. It’s my attempt to put to feelings to words, or as The Good Groupie says in the post, I describe “ that single moment when you stand in front of the stage and feel the musical high and you understand yourself perfectly through verse ” You can read the post here: Every Word I Say
<3
Over the weekend I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was for a festival of sorts, what we named a convention that was really a weekend of stuff put on by the band Hanson in honor of their 20 years as a band. At the beginning of the show they played (actually the second of two shows — they had to do two shows on Sunday night because so many people RSVP’d for the event) a video from their audition to play at Mayfest twenty years ago. Isaac was 11, Taylor was 9 and Zac was 6. It was precious.
If you’ve never been to Tulsa, it’s a small city in Oklahoma. The first time I landed there, I was shocked to see there were only five (!!) tall buildings in downtown. This is very unlike cities I’ve been to before, mostly on the northern east coast, even the small ones.
There are cute little stores and restaurants, really pretty houses and art on buildings. I ate fried pickles, breakfast for dinner and drank ice chai tea lattes. I even found a coffee place with tangerine kombucha. We rented bikes and reenacted music videos and blared music in the middle of the street at 11:30pm while we waited for a train to pass.
It was one of those weekends that was exactly what I needed. Even if I couldn’t put it all into words that makes sense just know that I returned home feeling inspired and full of music and love.
ps You can read the Good Groupie’s reaction to our weekend at her post here, where you can also see a video of part of the street dancing three of our friends did in attempts to reenact the Thinking About Something video they were in.
That’s something I was reminded of this weekend as we drove around Tulsa, listening to music we all have in common and the stuff we don’t – it’s so much fun to share a musical moment with someone, knowing you both have a connection to a song. – The Good Groupie.
July 2010
Oh, Hanson. You probably remember them. If you’ve been a reader of this blog for any amount of time, or friends with me in real life for more than a month you’d have to know they are my favorite band. Even after fifteen years.
On May 6th, 1997 the Governor of Tulsa, OK declared that day Hanson Day in Tulsa and ever since Hanson fans have acknowledged this day as a “holiday” we have in common. One of those little things that separate us from everyone else. Everyone else being, mostly, the people who have forgotten about the band or taken the time to comment on (and make fun of) my love of the music.
Still fifteen years later I feel like I am defending myself when it comes to my music. It was just the other day that a co-worker was singing “Mmmbop lollipop” at me while we told a customer that my upcoming trip is, ultimately, to see Hanson perform in their hometown (something I also did seven years ago).
The favorite part goes way beyond “oh, hey I like this album”. It resonates deep within me and has made me who I am today.
The lyrics spoke to me when nothing else would, they describe my thoughts and feelings when I can’t put words to them. The first fiction I finished was, gulp, Hanson fan fiction. And I met many many amazing people and best friends through the love of Hanson.
In fact a friend of mine, Miranda the Good Groupie (who, might I add, will be venturing to Tulsa to see the boys with me this upcoming weekend) wrote a post that basically mimics everything I could write about in here called Why I Still Love Hanson 15 Years Later.
& If you’re interested in reading about that time I caught a ride with a near stranger to sleep on Sunset Boulevard, their cover of Troublemaker, how I am still listening or why the music moves me so much, read on my friends.
Happy Hanson Day <3
(credit)
I love this album. It’s simple and pure and the lyrics are full of positivity and love. The songs are bursting with love. It’s exactly what I need at this very moment. And so I think you should give it a listen, and let me know if it’s what you need, too.
I’m letting myself off the hook for things I’ve done I let my past go past And now I’m having more fun I’m letting go of the thoughts That do not make me strong
When I look into your eyes
It’s like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well there’s so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you’ve come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?
You don’t need a vacation when there’s nothing to escape from
Whether it’s your birthday or your dying day it’s a celebration to rejoice
To use your voice
And give wings
To any old choice
(I think this one is my favorite on the album)
Son in life you’re gonna go far
If you do it right you’ll love where you are
Son in life it may seem dark
But the absence of the light is a necessary part
Just know that where ever you go
No you’re never alone
You can always get back home.
I’ll share music any time I feel like a song is about to burst out of me. I’ve loved Fun. since before they were Fun. Since the lead singer was in the Format (they remind me of the entire year of 2005). It’s great to hear a familiar, nostalgic voice.
We are young. So let’s set the world on fire.
I still buy CDs sometimes. And sometimes I’ll stand in Best Buy looking for something new but not sure of what I want. So I’ll just buy something on a whim. I’ll buy something I’ve never seen before or heard of. The other day I bought The Anthony Green album Beautiful Things purely because of the title of the cd. I’m not regretting this purchase.
They don’t know what it’s like to love one band, one silly piece of music so much it hurts.
I’ve referenced that quote before, but it’s worth referencing again because it’s one of those quotes that resonated so deeply within me I find my mind quoting it without thinking about it. It was when I watched Almost Famous for the first time and heard those exact words that I fell in love with the film. I thought: someone else gets it.
I have allowed songs to burn inside me, on repeat for days while I attempted to uncover everything it was about and everything that song said to me, meant to me.
I didn’t really grow up around music. It was in the background somewhere and the radio was a consistent lullaby, but I didn’t learn about bands or music from the ones my parents loved. I learned about bands and music from what I loved and from branching off from there. So it wasn’t until I was old enough to to really comprehend the effects music could have on me that I really understood its purpose in my life.
Sometimes there are songs that express me better than I can express myself. Sometimes there are songs that I know what I’m feeling before I do. Sometimes I am unable to write blogs or stories because those thoughts have been said and written and expressed in the more pure forms of expression and in ways that I can’t even comprehend except just to experience.
And so we’ve come to the start of another writing series. I might post songs that have really moved me, or play lists composed of ones I couldn’t live without. Or experiences relating back to music. Or anything else, really.
So I’ll leave you with the song I got this title from, one that’s been on repeat for almost five years now.
Tell me, does it move you
Does it soothe you
Does it fill your heart and soul
With the roots of rock & rollBeen There Before – Hanson
When you can’t get through it, listen to it,
They dont know what it's like to love one band, one silly piece of music so much that it hurts - Almost Famous
I’m always trying to put into words the way I feel about my favorite band. I saw them twice this past week end and it was amazing, as always, maybe even more amazing than usual. I met up with lots of friends and used up $70 worth of gas in two days (it was worth it!) and took a million pictures.
If my life and my love for a certain band were a charm bracelet of occurrences it would look something like this:
When you’re twelve you discover the meaning of life, or at least how it applies to your twelve year old self. It’s from an album, a fandom and lots of songs that are fun to dance to/ kind of silly/ or everything you needed to hear in lyric form.
You begin to actually finish novels. What used to be strings of scenes and characters falling in love over and over starts to become something more real.
You’re fifteen you’re an extra in a college movie. The cute guy recognises the pendant around your neck and tells you he was in their music video.
The album that was released in 2004 smells like a dark room, it looks like the faint red light inside a dark room from all the times you developed film in there while playing the album on repeat.
Your friend’s mom accidentally becomes e-mail buddies with the keyboardist’s father in law. A meet and greet is set up and you’re set, after six years, to shake hands and share a picture.
They are playing at Mayfest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they live. You go to Houston with a friend and drive up to Tulsa for an amazing weekend, live music and a really bad sunburn (newsflash: Oklahoma in May is a lot warmer and sunnier than Massachusetts in May). There is also the very first Members Only Event: the screening of their documentary.
You get a ride with a fan club member from Sonoma County to LA. Sleep on the street. See two of their shows in one night (acoustic and then electric).
Somehow you acquire all of their phone numbers. You never use them, but they stay in your phone contacts for a while.
Shirley Temples become the signature drink of the Boston shows. You sit in the balcony every time and enjoy the show from above where you can both see and hear.
Outside the venue you’re by the beach hanging around waiting for appearances. All of a sudden the drummer is right there playing with an air soft gun. He’s running around cars, dodging people and shooting at one of the tech guys. Instead he hits your friend in the chest.
You start buying tickets for friends so you won’t go alone to shows. It’s fun but not the same. You count the connections you’ve made in the past on your hands. Maybe this is growing up, you think.
There are lots of members only events you aren’t invited to because you aren’t a member anymore.
And then there’s this year. Twenty-six hardly looks any different than the years before. You may be older, you may be more mature, but a string of songs live can bring you back far enough to remember everything you were about and everything you’ve lost and miss about yourself.
