PenguinPolozza: A brief history of music in my life - Part 3-Getting older and raising a family

(On the right hand column is a Playlist music player which has some of the songs I will mention in this series. Feel free to play them in the background as you read, for the very popular multimedia effect)

As I entered adulthood, the music kept on coming. One most influential person was a college friend and eventual roommate, Mike. He was a Dylan follower who was into Dylan 24/7. We always had some Dylan playing and also eagerly awaited the next album release. We had our apartment broken into once, and the perps went through our stuff because we were packing to move. They took ,y camera but took Mike’s Dylan record collection. They went through the albums we had and selected the Dylan ones out of the group. Not many others were taken. We saw Dylan at MSG during the “religious” tour, “Slow Train Coming” and it was good, not great. I also saw him with some friends, Doug and Maureen, at what used to be called Great Woods in Mansfield, MA, sitting on blankets on the lawn. I believe his opening act that night was Jackson Browne. I never thought that I could meet as big a Dylan fan as Mike, until I got to know Doug. What wonderful memories both of these guys and Dylan bring back for me. One added note is that CollegeBoy is named for Dylan and these two have had more impact on my life then I could ever imagine. More on the CB influence in the next installment.

After college and graduate school, I settled in with Mrsfabp and the early years were spent listening to all sorts of music including Reggae, folk, rock and the like. We listened to all sorts of things, enjoying it together. In Massachusetts we became friends with a group of people and attended an outdoor weekend music festival/recovery weekend thing during the Labor Day Weekend. Pete (music person extraordinaire) and Annie, Mary Jane, Lenny and Mary and Mrsfabp and I attended maybe 8 or so consecutive shows. The early ones featured Brooks Williams, who played the guitar with a passion rarely seen. They also featured a little know folk singer from Lynn, MA, Don White who mixed his music with comedy to get you laughing and tosses in a song that tugs at the heart. We have seen him probably a dozen times in small shows to meager gatherings but he always puts everything into it. He too is not available on playlist so I am going to include a link to the Don White web page to give him a shout out. By the way CD’s and books available at his shows! Get your product.

Next up in the influence department is my good friend Maqz of CSA fame. In perhaps the most influential moment of music in my life, he gave Mrsfabp and I a mix tape of a strange group called They Might Be Giants. Our kids, just little creatures fell in love with it immediately and it was a constant companion whenever we were in the car. It had music from a couple of different albums of theirs on it and we just about wore the cassette out playing it over and over again. MillieJupiter still talks today of how she and CollegeBoy had lyrics memorized and would take turns singing along. It also was the source of a favorite CB story as when he sang along to the song Constantinople he would sing the line “That's nobody's business but the Turks’ added his own edit, “That’s nobody’s business but the jerks”. So, how influential were they you ask? Well we have seen them in concert, bought their CD’s (Yes BOUGHT!), passed some gifts to their business manager after a show in Northampton, have a hat from a concert, named our podcast after them the night we first went to see them, have short clips of their songs as bumpers to all three of the different Countless Screaming Argonauts Podcast shows, I hope you get the picture. They are great, a couple of intelligent wordsmiths with a flair for musical hooks in a variety of styles.

One final influence is my brother-in-law Kevin. He introduced the family to The Barenaked Ladies, favorites of him and his daughters and we spent many a trip listening to their music as were traveled as a family. He is a big Bruce Springsteen fan and although I never caught the “Bruuuuuce” fever, I trust his judgment in all things music.
Only one installment remains, the music of my most recent life – will share it with you soon…