22. What A Rock Us

Welcome to Musing Interruptus. Thank you for clicking, thank you for listening. Today, there are people with whom we feel more at home with than others, from one moment to the next, you know there is a before and after that person. I’m going to tell you about one of those instances, the moments leading up to it, and 15 years later. It was the weekend of June 30th, 2007. My best friend knew I was blue, melancholic even. Heartbroken. He devised a plan to musically reset my brain. Little did he know, so much more would happen. There was a before and after. I remember he called me up: - You have to get out of bed to come with us to a concert. You can’t say no. So, I didn’t say no. He was pulling me out of my funk to go to El Rock Nos Une festival. I packed up my Betty Boop purse with some money, my id, my cell and Riopan, the antacid I never left home without. I don’t remember what I was wearing. I know I wasn’t wearing any makeup. I didn’t believe in it. Like Santa Claus. Also, I was upset with the world and the universe. However, that evening would have some surprises in store. I had never gone to a rock festival. I had no idea what to expect. I was nervous. Hopeful for a reenactment of Woodstock. Nonetheless, that night would open a world of possibilities for me. I also didn’t know it was a set up. I’m glad I didn’t know. I was my full self, no filters, whatsoever, and in a bad mood. I’m never more me, than when I am in a bad mood. We met up with some guy at the entrance. I felt my friend’s energy change, in a mischievous way. He had set things into motion. He was so full of himself, playing God, I’m sure. He would later tell me, he had to take a chance, it seemed right. As we entered the neon blue tunnel, I saw the weird guy lunge surfer style into the music, as we approached the main hall. I still remember thinking what a cool way to enter the music. I didn’t know any of the musicians playing that night, I felt like I was being inducted into a new, exclusive society, and I knew I was in the right place. It had been by invitation and somehow it was right. I was still in a horrible mood and trying to make sense of everything that was happening around me. I wish I remembered the song that was playing when the group of friends we were standing with started to dance to the beat, they paired up and locked arms, turning and switching partners… all of a sudden, I was pulled into the dance. That was it for me. That was the moment, my before and after things fell into place. That accompanied by the new music I was listening to, live… the feelings that accelerated my heart and dilated my pupils, explosions in my cerebral cortex cerebellum, and amygdala. Musical frisson, you know, dopamine release. This was the best. The name of this festival, Rock Brings Us Together… I had found my people. They weren’t exclusive, they seemed to be infinitely inviting and overall good people. After years of feeling out of place, the misfit, the brave authentic one, with the funny accent, I was just another heart opening up to the music and the good vibration of other people melting into the music and having fun, dancing, drinking, being. I was there. Cont. Reading