Licorice Pizza

"Radio is a sound salvation, Radio is cleaning up the nation. They say you better listen to the voice of reason, But they don't give you any choice' cause they think that it's treason. So you had better do as you are told. You better listen to the radio." Elvis Costello from "Radio, Radio"

The nurse must have had a bit of the old in-out last night because her mood was brighter than sunshine in summer time. She brought a portable radio, a stack of discs, and an over flowing Dixie cup of melody enhancers. She held each disc up for my approval, most of which I waved off like a pitcher wanting to throw the heater when the catcher wanted the big breaking ball. After a while I had whittled it down to three wonderful albums that is one way of another changed my life.

Music is the soundtrack of my life and the only thing worse than having bad background music is perhaps being Oprah Winfrey's lingerie washer. What we listen to is important. I have tried to be diligent about teaching my 9 year old nephew the importance of song. He doesn't understand exactly what I'm talking about but eventually, when he's a man, he will hear Immigrants Song and he will remember the time we spent listening to music together. The fast paced, move or die, society that we life in makes just kicking back and listening to an album an arduous task. But sometimes, something must be done to prevent this Speed Racer like dash towards death from claiming us. We must take pause to darken the room, put on an over sized pair of headphones, load a pipe to the brim with Gen-13, Dangergirl, or Lebanese Blonde hash and enjoy an album in its entirety.

My favorite album to listen to with a good incense burn going is The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds". Maybe because I was born and raised in Southern California, maybe because SuperMom loved them more than she loved the sperm donor, or maybe because I just have extraordinarily good taste in music and women, but the Beach Boys have always been my own personal lithium. The music to calm the savage beast. Whenever a bad day threatens to push me to Travis Bickle like kind of places, I slide a copy of Pet Sounds into the disc changer and I'm calm as Yanni on an elevator. The stand out tracks have to be "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Sloop John B.", and the greatest song ever recorded (in my humble opinion) "God Only Knows." Which is one of the two songs that I will have played at my wedding, should I find a willing bride.

Another album that had a profound effect on my life is Oingo Boingo's "Only A Lad". There are plenty of you out there that only know Boingo as the "Weird Science" band, and that makes me sad. During the course of my life, I have attended 28 different Boingo shows, and every one of the them was amazing. Never saw a band show. Never left thinking I was gyped or wanted my money back. I always left entertained and happy. With Only a Lad, the songs that stick out are "Little Girls", "On the Outside", "Capitalism" and "Only a Lad". I don't recommend that you run out and check this out, it's an acquired taste, you either have the Boingo gene or you don't. I was lucky enough to born with it, thank God.

But the 8 tracks on an album known to some as "Zoso" and others simply as "Zeppelin IV" can't be beat for ear pounding, tinnitus causing, rock-n-roll noise pollution. Yes, it's the album with "Stairway" on it, but its so much more than that. It's like biting into an egg roll and lasting lobster. The album is home to "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", "Misty Mountain Hop", and "Going to California" filled out with "The Battle of Evermore", "Four Sticks" and brought all the way home with "When The Levee Breaks". This record is the sonic equivalent of Valhalla. It's orgasmic, life changing, soul inspiring, the definition of the true power of music. My life without Zoso would seem somehow incomplete. I know that's insane since if it didn't exist I couldn't miss it, but somehow I know I would be looking for it, searching high and low, like the soul mate that eludes me. It's a part of me, as real as the blood in my veins, the air in my lungs, or the cholesterol that chokes my arteries.

I ask that you think about the soundtrack to your own life. Make sure that the memories that get associated with songs, get tied to good ones. No one wants to remember something like their first real meaningful kiss and have Leo Sayer be playing in the back ground. You don't want to think of the one that got away, and the song that brings it all back is "Baby Got Back". Control the soundtrack, make it stand out, make it exceptional. But mostly, make it your own.

Which albums mean the most to you?

Dixie Cup of Love: Brian Wilson, Danny Elfman, and Robert Plant.