Warped Tour: Year 1

There is a concert series that tours across North America in the summer called Warped Tour; Warped Tour is essentially a large music festival for the Alternative Music genre where well-known band along with up-and-coming bands can come together and perform and promote their music.

I went to Warped Tour few years ago, (2006, I believe), with my sister, two of my friends and one of my friends' mother. We had to travel all the way down to Fitchberg, Massachusetts which took the better part of a day.
The next day we went to the airport strip where the stages were set up. I will admit that being around so many people at once was a bit overwhelming for my small-town heart, but I adjusted quickly at the promise of seeing my then-favorite band, Aiden. But since they were playing later in the afternoon we had time to kill and so we went to the smaller stages to see the bands play. It was during that time that I was introduced to such bands as the Pink Spiders, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Mayday Parade, and many more than I can list.

I do recall that it was abnormally hot that particular day in August (I believe the local weathermen said that it was a record-breaking 118 degrees Fahrenheit). I only really remember this because my fried who had hosted the trip nearly collapsed from heat stroke which was really terrifying.

Finally we were in the second row of the crowd to see Aiden. There were more people than I had expected but I was determined to enjoy the show and be as close to the stage as possible. My sister and I were alone together in the second row as my friends were getting overly-priced water and trying to recover from the near-heat stroke.
All seemed calm until music started playing as the band entered the stage. There was a mad rush to the front as people stood far closer than I previously thought possible. However, my determination for a good time let me ignore a few atrocities of human rights for the time being.
Even though everything seemed to go by terribly fast, and after a few kicks to the head from crowd-surfing audience members made my memory a little fuzzy, I do remember it being an exceptionally good show even now.

After the last song, I was again very determined to go get signatures from the members of Aiden, so off I went with my sister to sit in the disgustingly long line at the booth. It was here that I was approached by a so-called Buddhist monk (this will probably make sense later, maybe even in another post), who offered me a book. I couldn't hear what he was saying because we were situated close to another stage where someone was playing and I assumed that the book cost about $5 like all the cds I had bought. This seemed like a fair deal in my severely dehydrated, slightly concussed mind so I gave the man a $20 bill expecting change back except he walked away merrily... Trust me when I say that I was flabbergasted and that this story is continued almost exactly a year from that day.

A Memory of my First Concert

Yeup, the first concert I'd ever been to was a Simple Plan and Good Charlotte concert at the Cumberland Civic Center in Portland, ME. I don't remember the exact date but I do recall that it was mid-Spring.
I remember being very excited and also that I only really knew Simple Plan and was still trying to get into Good Charlotte. But that didn't stop me from being excited about the whole concert.

I recall that before the show started, my cousin and I were seated in an area where we could see into a room backstage. It was there that we saw the band members playing ping-pong (quite terribly, I might add). We were entertained by them for about 20 minutes before the show started.

After the show, we managed to convince my aunt who had taken us to the concert to stay afterward and try to meet the bands. At first, we went to the back of the building where we thought the band members might make an appearance. After several minutes of frustration, we got a phonecall from my sister and her friend who were on the other side of the building that they saw a few members of the bands on that side. My cousin and I sprinted back inside the building only to find that all the doors had been locked. When all hope seemed lost, I caught site of an automatic handicap accessible door that we then used.
We continued sprinting around the building and were just in time to meet a few people from Simple Plan and Good Charlotte, though not all of them.

All in all, it was a great first experience especially since I managed to meet the members of the bands.

The Timeline of my Musical Tastes

This is a timeline of music that I used to listen to, to the music that I listen to now. As you can see, my tastes changed drastically early in my life and then became more constant as it got closer to my present day tastes. What I find interesting is that at the end of the playlist, the genres tended to intermingle which signifies to me that I enjoy variety in my music.



The first few songs (N'Sync to Avril Lavigne) was my interests when I was a young child between the ages of 5-9 years. It was during this time that I was doing my own thing and was not influenced by my peers. Looking back on it, I can feel slight embarrassment simply because I have almost no interest whatsoever in this type of music.

There is then a change to Country music (Garth Brooks to Montgomery Gentry) was when I was between the ages of approximately 10 years old to about 14 years old. I remember I started listening to Country because my cousin and several other family members listened to it. I'm thankful to this period of my life because I strongly believe that this type of music brought me closer to my family and is the reason why I get along with all of them so well.

There is yet another drastic change in my musical preferences that started with the band Simple Plan. I believe that I was about 14 or 15 years old when I started listening to this band. Again, my cousin had introduced me to this genre of music and again it allowed me to further bond with my cousin. I also believe that it was because of bands like Simple Plan that my cousin, sister, are great friends.

There is one last "transformation", though it is less drastic than the other transformations. In between all the Alternative and Rock songs are a few foreign (mainly Japanese) songs that begin to pop up around the age of 16 or 17. My interest in foreign music started slowly but then grew exponentially. It is because of this I feel that I am more "culturally aware" than some other people my age might be. This transition may also have been brought about because all the American bands I used to listen to started to disappear and break up whereas the new upcoming bands all started to sound the same to me. Once in awhile, however, I find an American band that will pique my interest but for now I'll continue to outsource my musical intrigue.


So that was the biography of my musical interests, the transitions of my interest tended to correlate with a certain life event which usually involved a family member introducing me to new musical styles. I can also say that I have numerous good memories that originated from the music I listened to, such as concerts I've been to, bands I've had the privilege of meeting, etc. 

From now on, I plan to post a smaller playlist of music that either I had recently discovered, or what I find to be the highlights of my day. I'm doing this as an exploration of how my music tastes change on a daily basis (or weekly, I haven't decided yet). After a few months of doing this I would be interested to see how my tastes change, waver, or whatever pattern it may be.

just a test post

a playlist I made on grooveshark.com as a test post ;)