Growing up my mom always played Mariah Carey around the house. Mariah’s career is literally as long as my lifespan. Her first album came out was when I was just a baby, and even though I was so young, I knew I was a fan from the start. Her music, lyrics, and persona are something I’ve always admired. She is a big reason why I love music and why I am perusing a music career. I remember when she hit a rough patch in her life, and I remember her comeback when she performed the finale at the ABC Christmas Parade followed by the Emancipation of Mimi. Her performance at the 2006 Grammy awards was so moving with “We Belong Together” and “Fly Like a Bird”; I still watch it over and over again to this day. Because of Mariah’s love and passion for music, which you can feel every time she performs, I’ve become so attached to the art of music. Artists like Mariah, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, and more are such inspirations. Music is an inspiration for whatever you want to pursue in life. It can help you turn a bad situation good, and it can help you express your emotions. To me, music is an amazing memory that continues to evolve from your favorite musician/artist to all the new music that is to come. Music has shaped me to be what I am today, and that is a memory I will NEVER forget.

Five years ago, I won second row seats to Lenny Kravitz by playing one of his songs on the radio with my clarinet! My little clarinet spot was played on the radio all day, and my first concert ever was in the second row! Lenny was awesome, and it was such a fun night!

In September I took a trip to West Palm Beach, Florida for John Mayer’s last concert on the Battle Studies tour. None of my friends wanted to go with me, but I love John’s music, and I knew I was going to have an awesome time no matter what happened. Through a crazy string of events I ended up meeting another John Mayer fan who knew one of the guys in his band. When we went to the concert, he not only gave us awesome seats for the show, but also passes to go backstage. It was so great to be able to meet everyone and hang out with the guys on the last night of the tour. The trip definitely turned out to be amazing.

My memory is in London, Hide Park,  on a beautiful sunny day with Sir Paul, The Beatles, and my old best friend who is now the love of my life.

A couple of years ago I finally got to see my favorite country singer Reba. I’ve enjoyed listening to her through the years, and when I found out she was going to be at the Hardrock Cafe in Hollywood, Florida, which is about 3 hours from me, I got a chance to go with my neighbors. She really puts on a good concert, and it was a dream come true for me!

Music is the present, the past, and the future.  My memories of music include choir, musicals at school, harmonizing with my sisters with my dad insisting we were the next Lennon Sisters from the Lawrene Welk Show, and of course seeing Elvis and the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.  Music makes us tap our feet, hum or sing along, smile, cry, scream out loud, and sometimes it puts our babies to sleep at night. Medical teams use music to help patients survive surgeries, and marketers have used jingles to attach attention to their products. Music brings people from all over the world together, and music can drive parents crazy! Music is the present, the past and the future.

One of the best music memories I ever had was actually  in high school when a really cute guy that I liked serenaded me and played the guitar to ask me out. I had never been so flattered and embarrassed, and his sweet love song was so cute I had to say yes to a date.

I was probably around four years old at the time. My family and I went to visit my great aunt out of town. It was my first time seeing her. I remember her dancing with me to old country music records and giving me an old acoustic guitar. I didn’t know what a guitar was back then, I was only four, but I was curious about learning what it was. That memory has stayed with me, and has been special to me for as long as I can remember. That was the only time I saw her too because she past away a year later.  I  admire her for being a country music and old rock n roll lover too; that’s probably where I got my interest in that type of music from. Well, I may not have that old acoustic guitar anymore, but I will always remember that day.

It is so hard to pick just one, but the one that sticks out most in my mind is: It was 1987 and Faith by George Michael had been released. I was just 13 years old at the time and had been collecting music since I was 8 or 9 years old. All of a sudden, there were these Parental Advisory stickers on everything. I had to have my Mom come into the record store at the mall to buy the tape for me. It’s amazing to think back to that album having the sticker on it. Just look at the lyrics out today. Faith was tame in comparison.

I was born in 1978. I can’t say I remember when the microwave came out. I barely remember the first VCR we bought. But I wholeheartedly recall the times my sister, my cousins, and I piled into the family room to watch MTV to watch Dire Straits, Talking Heads, Genesis, MJ, Madonna, Billy Idol, Pat Benetar, etc. Friday nights were our video nights, although we watched daily after our homework was finished. The early years of the MTV broadcast truly shaped who I am today. I listen to numerous genres of music, and I appreciate music of the past and present. I’m so privileged to have been born just in time to be apart of an era that is arguably the most musically diverse. 80′s forever!!

I love music. It is one of the most important and inspiring things in my life. My first memory of music is the song “Follow Me” by Uncle Cracker. It isn’t really the type of music I listen to, but it is special to me. When I was a child, a lot of confusing things were happening. I remember a lot of stress, but I also remember the first song that I am fairly positive was my first memory of music, “Follow Me”. I forgot about that song for a very long time. A few months ago by chance it happened to play on the radio when I was in the car with my mom. I remember hearing the words, “Follow me everything is alright…,” and then it clicked. I said, “Hey I know this song!” Then my mom and I started singing the song, smiling, and laughing. My mom told me how that was one of her favorite songs around the time I was about 5 or 6, and about how she was always playing it. I knew that song must of helped me when I was younger when everyday was filled with the stress of trying to make ends meet and trying to make everything better. I was just a little kid,  but I knew that everything was going to work out when I heard the words “Follow Me, Everything is alright.” It made me believe that everything truly was alright.

My greatest music memory goes back to mid 80s when Shakti had come to perform in Calcutta at the ITF Pavilion off Park Street, India with Ustad Zakir Hussein on tabla, Pandit Vikku Vinayakram on Ghatam, John McLaughlin on guitar, and Pandit L. Sankar on violin. This was a time when I, as a young boy, had just about picked up the guitar. I was driven by the sheer energy of blues rock and 80s pop rock more than the love for blues and actually trying to understand the instrument. But whatever, there was a huge passion for it. I would not leave any gig in town unattended much to the agony of my folks at home. I went for the Shakti gig and had the cheapest ticket that was farthest away from the stage. Being a young boy, and with ‘put on’ innocent looks on my face, I managed to sneak up to the front row. And as if that was not enough, I slipped into the back stage area after the gig. There was a make shift green room behind the stage that had two entries. One that was being hounded by media and music lovers. The left side of the entry was almost unattended and I didn’t miss the opportunity to slip into the green room. It had all the members of the band and a few people taking photographs, etc. I walked up to John McLaughlin who was in a white kurta and ‘innocently’ asked, ‘Sir, How can I be a good guitarist?’. And following our custom of paying respect, I touched his feet. To his he calmly said, ‘Son, go and do push ups !’. After almost 30 years of guitar playing, and more than a decade as a professional musician and music educator, it is now that I realize the meaning of the advice. I, too, now advise my students to have strong hands to play guitar. After all, it takes a strong pair of hands with the head at the right place and a fire within to be a guitar player as opposed to a guitarist !!

It was early 1978 when my father was killed by a gunshot to the head. I was depressed and angry.  My mother wanted to help ease my pain, so she surprised me by giving me the one thing I loved the most, music. Because of my dad I love music, and before his death he exposed me to all genres: from country to rock, to  R&B. Anyway, The single “Soft and Wet” by Prince had been released that same year, and my mom knew that it was a favorite of my mine, so she went out and bought the record for me. I was so happy, and I loved the song so much that I choreographed a dance for my school’s spring tea. Ever since, Prince’s music has been a source of healing, comfort and joy, and the soundtrack of my life. Thus, it was tragic to loose my father but I found a friend in the music of Prince.

My favorite music memory had to have been almost year ago when I met Lady Gaga at the Monster Ball in Chicago, IL. She has been an inspiration to me for quite some time, and that will never change. Her music helped me through a tough time in my life and kept me from going down a bad path. When I met her I thanked her. I thanked her for just being her and for her music. Some people don’t understand why she and her music means so much to me, and I guess they will never understand. Later on in the year, I chose to mark my special music moments and memories in life with 2 tattoos. One of them says, “Find your freedom in the music” with her signature and a heart. I will continue to always thank her. Because of her I have found my freedom in her music!

My music memory would have to be the very first time I watched the Grammy Awards, which was the 2006 show. After watching that year, I was exposed to all types of music and artists. Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Kanye West were all nominated for eight Grammys. I had bought their albums the previous year and just fell in love with them! I also saw Madonna perform for the first time live when she and The Gorillaz’s performed together. Kelly Clarkson’s wins were emotional and her performance was too. Gwen Stefani looked great, but she didn’t perform because she was pregnant. It was also the last time I saw Destiny’s Child together. I do think Mariah should have won Album of the Year for The Emancipation of Mimi and won one of her awards live, but it was still a great show, one that I will never forget.

My Music Memory and the first time I ever went to the Grammy Awards was on February 8th 2009. I can’t believe I had access to buy the ticket in that day. February 8th 2009 was a big day for me. I started calling all my friends to say “I am at the Grammy Awards, yay, OMG!!”. I  saw Kanye/Estelle, Myley Cyrus, Katy Perry, U2, Taylor Swift, and Lil Wayne perform. A couple years before the 2009 Grammy Awards, I went to some music awards that were also in LA. I saw Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Rihanna, Eminem, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Justin Bieber, Pink, Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Green Day, Ke$ha, Ne-yo, Kid Rock, Mariah Carey, John Mayer, Linkin Park, Enrique Iglesias, NKOTB, and many more performances. I am very thankful for this chance in my life. I am an Indonesian. LA is my dream, and I finally live here.

This summer, I had the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of going on tour. My dear friend (and extremely talented musician), Keaton Simons, invited me to go on the road with him as his Merchandise Manager on REO Speedwagon & Pat Benatar’s “Love on the Run” tour. Watching Keaton win over the crowds night after night,  REO’s crew teaching us that REO stands for “Rains Every day Off,” and our crew bonding over post-show bagel sandwiches on our bus every night are memories I will forever cherish.

My music memory is from the first time I watched the Grammys in ’99, which is also the year I learned how to play drums. I was so inspired by seeing all the artists honored for their work that I knew I wanted to make music my life, and I also made a promise to myself to keep on putting in work until I hear, “And the Grammy goes to…” with my name called.

I am a big music fan and have been for as long as I can remember. The idea of sharing just one memory is hard for me since there are so many to choose from. I guess one of the best memories I have is as a kid singing Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen.” I remember I was maybe four or five at the time, and for whatever reason, I loved that song. I knew all the words and made my parents listen to it to the point of insanity. I would just ride in the car and sing. To this day that song still holds a special place in my heart. That is just one of many fond music memories that I have.

I have a violin that is almost 100 years old; it was my grandfather’s first violin that he got when he was about nine. I remember him always playing mandolin, mandola, and violin. As he got older, he used the mandola more because the tune was deeper and easier to hear. My grandmother played piano. My mother plays guitar, mandolin, mandola, and droma. I play guitar, and have played banjo and fiddle (yes, using my grandfather’s violin), and my son favors the drums and singing. He is always singing. His singing reminds me of myself as a youngster. My mother always knew I was on my way home from school when she could hear me singing the song of my day. Music is a memory, a present, a future.