The Music Culture Train That I Missed
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I was the lead singer in The
Lost & Found Christian rock
band in H.S. |
Ok, I admit it. I am pretty ignorant about pop music culture. When people talk about different music groups in the 70s, 80s and 90s, I stay rather quiet. It's kind of funny that a person who grew up singing and playing the guitar would be so out of tune with the music scene. I think I missed out when I was in high school and got involved with Young Life, an evangelical high school group. All my attention from that point on was on Christian pop and rock songs. I was even in a Christian rock band called "
The Lost and Found". That cultural music vacuum continued in college when I got involved with The Navigators through my late 20s. I was 28 when I came out and got into a relationship. At that point my music consisted of theatrical musicals (which I love) and country western music, which was popular among gays in the 80s in the U.S.
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During my country
western days in the 1980s |
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Playing the guitar was a big part of my
life in H.S., college and through my 20s |
Kylie Minogue Concert
So last Tuesday I went to see Kylie Minogue here in Barcelona with my friend Frederic who invited me. She has a huge gay following, especially in Europe. But when Frederic told me about her, I had no idea who she was. I had to look her up in wikopedia. And it took awhile to learn how to pronounce her last name. When we were at the concert Frederic started asking me about other music bands. Each one he mentioned I had to say "I don't know their music". He was shocked. I was a little embarrassed. He finally mentioned Queen, which of course I knew some of their music.
Suffice it to say, I also missed out on going to rock concerts. I think the closest thing to that was a James Blunt concert that I went to about 8 years ago. So, being at Kylie's concert was very different for me and was a real treat. I only recognized a couple of her songs but I enjoyed the concert. After hearing her for two hours (and she put on quite a show with lots of costume changes!), I am not a big fan of her voice. But I feel that I have filled a little of the wide gap that I have in the pop music world.
Frederic is moving to Malaga at the end of the month and had two tickets to see Lady Gaga in early November. I bought the tickets from him. :-)
Barcelona Bike Ride and Securing One's Bike
When I was in Sitges in September for the Bear Gathering, I brought my bike with me to get back and forth from the center of town to our apartment that we were renting. I had one strong lock and purchased another to reduce the risk of being stolen during my time there. I was fortunate that no one made off with it - my other friend who had his bike with him did have it stolen, even though he locked it up with a chain.
I shipped my bike from the U.S. It was not built to withstand city thieves. The wheels and the seat could be easily removed. I've heard countless stories from friends who had their bikes stolen. So, after I got back from Sitges, I bought anti-theft locks for the wheels and the seat and had the bike store below my flat install them. With that, I felt more at ease with locking my bike on the streets in the city.
So, last Thursday, after my last class for the week, I took my bike out for a spin. On the internet I found a bike route on the edge of the city that follows the River Besós up to the western edge of Barcelona. It was a 32 kilometer ride back and forth from my home. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride. The trail beside the river was
ideal for bike riding and the terrain was pretty flat with a slight upward incline. I took some pics, as you can see, on the trail. I got reprimanded about that when I passed by a park worker (she was actually rather nice about it) because I rode my bike on the grass to get closer to the river and take the pictures. From my house, I had to go pass by the center of the city, so on my way back I stopped and walked around the Ramblas by the port, discovered some new streets, and took some more pictures. And yes, I did run into a herd of goats on my bike ride.
