The Unacceptable Listener

REO Speedwagon....Oh my! My wife and I had some friends over last night(we have people over often....hey, we like it....others like it too...at least I guess they do or they wouldn't be coming over now would they?). We were having a nice time chatting and conversating in the kitchen(why do people always congregate in the freaking kitchen all the time? I just don't get it....I had a nice fire in the fireplace going in the living room, but everyone gathered in the kitchen....the kids were in the living room! Personally, I don't think they gave a flying poop about my nice fire....but anyway....), when my wife came in she put a cd into the kitchen stereo and turned REO Speedwagon all the way to "eleven".

The conversation ended but the rockin started as she loaded Speedwagon's greatest hits of the 70's and 80's. We're talking, Golden Country, Like you do, Roll with the Changes, etc. Everyone was enjoying it (I even did a special "air piano" during Roll with the Changes that was spot on). It got me to thinking.

When I was in my teens....growing up in the Detroit suburbs....we didn't listen to REO. They were too "Top 40". You see I rocked to REO when they put out the songs I listed above. But when they came out with that sucky top 40 album, High Infedelity, all interest in them became unacceptable.

My friend Ricky and I would listen to songs like Golden Country and push the volume to the maximum level. After that top 40 sellout album, we didn't. If there were people in the car and Golden Country came on we would switch stations. We knew it was a great tune but because of the sellout album, we just couldn't be accepted if we listened to them anymore.

My sister tonite gave me a great label....."The Unacceptable Listener". I was telling her of the tale of our gathering last nite and she said that my wife is an "Unacceptable Listener". I was slightly confused. She told me that the first time she came to visit me in Chicagoland, my wife introduced her to "Disco Saturday Nite" on the radio. There was a radio station in town not long ago that used to play nothing but disco on Saturday nites. My wife used to blare that music all nite long. She said it loud and she said it proud!

My sister told me, "That's when I knew your wife was an Unacceptable Listener."

My wife is not afraid to listen to music that might be labeled "unacceptable". She listens to what makes her feel good. No matter what anyone else may think.

I know I have always been that way. I can think back to my Pablo Cruise album(I can't talk to you now because I'm at the bottom of the pool). But I wasn't always able to put it out there in the open.

We should all be "Unacceptable Listeners" when it comes to the music we love. Music fills our hearts and souls with that unexplainable yearning. Music tells the tale of our lives.

I can remember one of the first conversations I had with my wife. We talked about the music we liked. After melding our music tastes together, I knew I would marry her. It was a defining moment. It still is. Music is unexplainable, but it is a need. We need it. It is a way for us to express ourselves without expressing ourselves.

Sharing music with others is about the best feeling I ever feel.

Here is something we can all learn from my wife.....being an "Unacceptable Listener" is not something for which you should be ashamed.

By the way....Journey was my first concert.