Musical Genes

I don't seem to have gotten the musical gene. At least not in the traditional sense. I cannot harmonize and I cannot play any instrument very well. According to Jerry I do have a good tonal memory. I can remember the melody and lyrics to almost every song ever written. Jerry will ask me to sing the bridge to Summertime or Smells Like Teen Spirit and I usually know it. Sometimes I have to sing through the song until I get to that part. I can't always pull it out of thin air.

I grew up with semi-famous uncles and I probably developed an interest in music because of them. I attended my first concert when I was about five and I went to several each year from then on. I bopped back and forth between my assigned seat and backstage. I thought that was the life and I used to get melancholy thinking, "I am a little kid and when I grow up this band will be no more and just when I could truly appreciate having backstage access it will be gone." Well, they are still a touring band. Through Jerry's connections I now get backstage at most every show I attend anyway. I actually wasted a lot of time worrying about what I was going to lose and then I never lost it.

Other members of my family did get the musical gene. My mom and her four sisters sing together regularly for funerals and church services. My twin aunts sing with the Choral Arts Society of Utah. My cousins Jaime and Jonathan were talented enough to get a record deal in April 2005. They put out an album that I think is really great. I happened across these videos on youtube of my three favorite songs.

My mom was the baby of the family for eleven years until her twin sisters, Kae and Rae, were born. Kae is Jonathan's (black hair) mom and Rae is Jaime's mom. Jaime and Jonathans PR package touted their sibling-like harmonies since their mom's are identical twins, which I was kind of like...whatever. I have to say though that my voice has never blended better with any other male singers playing on my car radio. Maybe there is something to that family harmony thing!

Since I cannot figure out how to create links the best I can offer is copy and paste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AEpAy8Sr0w&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSHSY0L1R7c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWxosfHuPaQ&mode=related&search=

Here are their moms pictured in a spread in Look magazine 1969. Kae (in front) married the guy playing the banjo aka Jonathan's dad. Rae married the guy kneeling aka Jaime's dad.