Memories (Part III)
Memories (Part III)
I remember some of the many things that my brother and sister did that had influence on who I am today, and other things that were just nice things. Something that comes to mind right now is the times that my sister had my back, which was quite a many, many time, and a few I probably don’t even know about. One of these was a day she was babysitting my when I was 8-10 ish. I had been told not to have more than one toy out and leave them laying around by my parents. Well while they were gone and I was left with my sister I was doing what most boys did at that age, play with my toys and annoy my big sister. I had been getting on her nerves as she was watching TV and she was getting pretty upset with me. Well when my folks got home they saw that I had about 8 toys out and they were a bit scattered. They got angry and were ready to implement punishment when my sister stepped in and told them that she was playing with me that’s why there were so many toys out. After she said that my parents weren’t mad any more. She could have easily said I was misbehaving or said nothing at all, but even though I had been such a pest she still stood up for me. That meant a lot to me and I gained so much respect for Vikki that day.
You can be sure more of those type of memories of my sister are to come.
So what has my brother done to influence me? A TON! Same as my sister, there are many stories to tell but I will have to just pick one for now. Most people that know me know how much music is a part of my life and how I love it, they also know that I have a very large range of genres I like. Well I wasn’t always that way. What I remember starting on, besides of course nursery rhymes, is 80's pop. The stuff my sister was into, everything from original hip-hop like LL Cool J and MC Hammer to pop like Michael Jackson and the one hit wonders. I even remember my sister getting me to do the MC Hammer dance for “Can’t Touch This”. Next was country. Everything from the new country that was just coming out, to a little bit of the old stuff. We were even doing square and line dancing in school and I was all about it. Then came one of my biggest influences. I was driving with my brother in his Camero to go somewhere and he had MetallicA playing. I remember when their song “Nothing Else Matters” came on it caught my full attention. I really liked it, so much that I asked him to repeat it a couple times. He did I think only since a week or so before he had heard me listening to country and pop and asked “what in the hell are you listening to?” So after I had heard it a few more times I had the words memorized and was singing along. My brother said “now that’s music!” I told him I wanted to listen to more of it and he started experiencing me to a wide range of rock, hard-rock, heavy metal, hair metal and the sort. I even remember getting all excited about going with him to Target to get Damn Yankees single “High Enough” the day it came out. That experience taught me to keep and open mind about music and experience as much of it as you can. Since that time I’ve come to love so many types of music and even started performing and writing it out of my love for it. To date I still laugh when I’m asked who my favorite band is and I’m asked how it came to be when they find out it’s an eighties rock band “Queensryche”. The only answer I can think of is during my brother’s rock influence I was so hard and set into it that I focused on nothing but rock for a while and came to hear many, many bands. Overall I have to give credit to Shawn for my love for music and my diversity in it, both of which have become a large part of my life.
I remember some of the many things that my brother and sister did that had influence on who I am today, and other things that were just nice things. Something that comes to mind right now is the times that my sister had my back, which was quite a many, many time, and a few I probably don’t even know about. One of these was a day she was babysitting my when I was 8-10 ish. I had been told not to have more than one toy out and leave them laying around by my parents. Well while they were gone and I was left with my sister I was doing what most boys did at that age, play with my toys and annoy my big sister. I had been getting on her nerves as she was watching TV and she was getting pretty upset with me. Well when my folks got home they saw that I had about 8 toys out and they were a bit scattered. They got angry and were ready to implement punishment when my sister stepped in and told them that she was playing with me that’s why there were so many toys out. After she said that my parents weren’t mad any more. She could have easily said I was misbehaving or said nothing at all, but even though I had been such a pest she still stood up for me. That meant a lot to me and I gained so much respect for Vikki that day.
You can be sure more of those type of memories of my sister are to come.
So what has my brother done to influence me? A TON! Same as my sister, there are many stories to tell but I will have to just pick one for now. Most people that know me know how much music is a part of my life and how I love it, they also know that I have a very large range of genres I like. Well I wasn’t always that way. What I remember starting on, besides of course nursery rhymes, is 80's pop. The stuff my sister was into, everything from original hip-hop like LL Cool J and MC Hammer to pop like Michael Jackson and the one hit wonders. I even remember my sister getting me to do the MC Hammer dance for “Can’t Touch This”. Next was country. Everything from the new country that was just coming out, to a little bit of the old stuff. We were even doing square and line dancing in school and I was all about it. Then came one of my biggest influences. I was driving with my brother in his Camero to go somewhere and he had MetallicA playing. I remember when their song “Nothing Else Matters” came on it caught my full attention. I really liked it, so much that I asked him to repeat it a couple times. He did I think only since a week or so before he had heard me listening to country and pop and asked “what in the hell are you listening to?” So after I had heard it a few more times I had the words memorized and was singing along. My brother said “now that’s music!” I told him I wanted to listen to more of it and he started experiencing me to a wide range of rock, hard-rock, heavy metal, hair metal and the sort. I even remember getting all excited about going with him to Target to get Damn Yankees single “High Enough” the day it came out. That experience taught me to keep and open mind about music and experience as much of it as you can. Since that time I’ve come to love so many types of music and even started performing and writing it out of my love for it. To date I still laugh when I’m asked who my favorite band is and I’m asked how it came to be when they find out it’s an eighties rock band “Queensryche”. The only answer I can think of is during my brother’s rock influence I was so hard and set into it that I focused on nothing but rock for a while and came to hear many, many bands. Overall I have to give credit to Shawn for my love for music and my diversity in it, both of which have become a large part of my life.