Filtered Perception

Seeing Colors Inside the Music

My earliest memory of music is a purple acrylic music box my mom had that played Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer.  I remember obsessively watching the little metal bars strike each note and falling to sleep to the song which seemed to inject me into a vivid world of colors and imagination.  It was in front of my mother’s giant phonograph (that played 45s, 33s AND 78s) that I learned to appreciate the likes of Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and big band music of the 40’s.  Saturday Night Fever, Xanadu and Grease became my soundtracks through loneliness as a latchkey kid.  Carly Simon, Jim Croce and Simon and Garfunkel soon began to seep in with my sister’s influence.  My teenage years were defined by the 80’s British Invasion of New Wave and Punk such as Duran Duran, Adam Ant, the Cure, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and the Sex Pistols along with cassette tapes of Prince, Genesis and the Police found in my other sister’s bathroom.  And YES, I did spend hours in front of the VHS learning the latest dance moves from Madonna.  In the 90’s, I experienced first-hand the rock/funk fushion of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana’s angst, the melancholy of Smashing Pumpkins, whatever that was that Eddie Vedder was trying to tell us, and Tipper Gore’s distaste of it all. I am proud to have experienced live acts such as David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Chic, Sting, No Doubt and Beastie Boys.  Billie Holiday, Doors, Grandmaster Flash, Mumford and Sons, Lou Reed, White Stripes, Queen and Chopin grace my Spotify playlists. My appreciation of music spans nearly 100 years and almost any genre (ok not country).  This page is a work in progress to pay tribute for my love of music.

Fitting–Kurt Cobain in Rolling Stone

Nile Rodgers