Crazy/Beautiful
Crazy/Beautiful
by: Bridget Lynn
"See, the thing is my Mom wanted a Doctor aka: Why I Do What I Do"
John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."
I thought it appropriate to begin this first foray into my "life" by using the words of a man from the band that essentially got me interested in the, forgive the repetition, crazy beautiful world that is music and all that goes along with it. You see, for me music is life. Plain and simple. It is as essential as air, water and food. It is my drug of choice and in this case, I do love to be high. It's really too bad my family expected a lawyer, doctor or teacher...'cause they wound up with me.
Now to understand all the things I will eventually write about you need to understand me. I am the 24 year old product of a hippie who was born and raised on Long Island (please get all your stereotypes out of the way now thank you). My family is of the opinion that I both listen to far too much music and am far too invested in it as well - plus my tastes tend to leave most people thinking I have developed some form of schizophrenia.
I grew up thinking that The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix were modern day artists and that running around in a field as a five year old, while a massive rock band played on behind you was completely normal. Then, as I grew older, I soon realized that there was music out there that didn't revolve around psycho tropic drugs and instead developed an unfortunate attachment to flannel (but that's a different story for another day).
Finally, right around the time I entered what would normally be Junior High (I went to Catholic School - and that alone fucked with my head on a whole other level) I discovered this little band you may have heard of at some point - Green Day.
I hated them.
They were loud, annoying, out of tune in most cases and to make things worse everyone in my class loved them. Also, at that point I had the very immature notion that if everyone else liked them I didn't want to (thankfully, I've since outgrown that). To be honest I'm still not exactly a fan; however, Green Day did "introduce" me to other music - through that band and the people I met that listened to them I learned of bands like Operation Ivy, The Ramones, Social Distortion, Minor Threat...and I think you get the picture. Ironically, (I'll come right out and say it now) I was never a "punk rock kid" - not really in the literal sense of the term. I sure as hell never looked the part and I always had more of a passion for hard hitting classic rock like Zeppelin or the more modern a "fun" sound of ska, but something about the sense of family in the "scene" and the feelings behind punk and hardcore is what drew me in. And when it's all said and done, isn't that the whole point of all of this?
Right before I started my sophomore year of college in 2002, a friend of mine who had been going to school in Chicago mailed me a CD with a simple note that said "I think you'll like this. That dude from that hardcore band you like is in it." It was this little known band's first EP. As corny as it sounds with those three simple songs I found something I truly, truly loved and had a real passion for. It was fun and yet wasn't disposable. Whereas I had always scoffed at the "emo" and "punk" music that put Long Island on the map since 1999 - this band didn't invoke a desperate need to roll my eyes - Fall Out Boy (yes that Fall Out Boy) made me think that there might be something to this new "pop/rock/punk/emo" mish mosh of a genre that was starting to build. Most importantly, I finally realized that I couldn't ever put all of this away and become a "grown-up" like everyone wanted me to be. I was going to make it in this industry and help these bands that had always been there for me do something amazing for the next generation coming up.
Flash forward to 2008 and I've been through hell and back more times then I can count. I've gained stories and gained friends (lost a few along the way as well). I managed to finish college with a degree in Communication Studies from SUNY Oneonta and somewhere in there got a full time job for a music festival.
So, now that you've received your formal education in all things me I promise to avoid a blow by blow biography ever again if at all possible. And yes, I prefer my punk to have a bit more pop in it then most.
And to think, I could have been a doctor.
