“Karma Police” written by Radiohead

I’m not sure if I can aptly put into words what music means to me. And by “music” I don’t even mean “songs” or “bands” but rather the notes themselves, the structures they fill out, the colors of intervals and spaces in between. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t picture every sound in terms of what it is musically. That’s like saying “Remember when you never brushed your teeth?” I’d be like “GROSS, NO.” I don’t understand a non-musical life.

It wasn’t until college that I really started playing seriously, and by that I mean I’d spend hours in practice rooms making stuff up and trying to play Billy Joel and Tori Amos songs from memory. My ritual during exam weeks would be to head straight for the practice rooms immediately after a test, usually buying Chex Mix and Mountain Dew first (because those seemed like the healthiest junk food!). I would always feel better after I banged on a piano for a few hours and, especially after exams, it felt good to drain my stress. It was both a mental workout and physical workout (and given all the Chex Mix and Mountain Dew I consumed in college I should have done more of the latter, seriously, they are not healthy foods).

After college I was an Official Singer/Songwriter™ for years and even though I now focus on photography and comedy writing, I would still count music as the number one thing that defines me and how my brain works. I still use playing and singing as a form of stress relief. I played and sang a lot this summer.

I like lots of artists and lots of songs. I genuinely don’t hate any music. I fell in love with Radiohead on August 16, 2001 when I saw them perform on Liberty Island (back when you could GET A RADIOHEAD TICKET), and this is one of my favorite songs to play. I’m not the best player and I’m definitely not the best singer. But it makes me feel good to do both.

Music makes me feel good. And sharing music makes me feel good. And that’s kind of why I’m posting this. It’s also my little way of saying hello to everyone. Because I am shy.

More of my cover song audio recordings are here.

(For the record, I was initially going to post this to my private Facebook page but I decided to bare myself here—no make-up and all—because it seemed scarier. And I’m trying to do more scariery things.)