"Heart Songs"

I'm a music glommer--I don't seek out new music, I just glom onto what someone else listens to. When I was a teenager, one of my sisters liked U2 and INXS, and another liked The Smiths and The Cure, so that's what I listened to. Then I met my husband, and he got me into classic country, like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, as well as bluegrass.

Now my 6-year-old son Ethan is influencing my musical tastes. Ethan started to like rock music last summer. Terry's acoustic collection didn't cut it for Ethan. The best we could come up with for him was Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA." Ethan loved that CD, and, after a while, I did, too. That album was so overplayed when I was a teenager, it was like background music to me. But listening to it now I began to appreciate Springsteen's songwriting abilities and became a major fan.

After a few months, however, Ethan wanted to move on from The Boss, so I asked my friend to help me out. Her husband has a huge music collection, and he made Ethan a mixed CD he called "HEthan Rock." Ethan loved it. That CD had a White Stripes song on it called Icky Thump. After listening to acoustic music for so many years, it was refreshing to listen to what Ethan refers to as "loud music." I bought Ethan the latest White Stripes CD, but listen to it almost as much as him.

Then Ethan got over the music CD thing when he listened the radio station KTCL. It only plays alternative rock music. While some of the songs have atrocious lyrics that make me turn off the radio, there are some good bands, such as Weezer. Ethan's graduation from kindergarten was my excuse to buy him their latest CD, The Red Album.

Even though Weezer has been around since 1994, I haven't heard of them until now. That's been the case for me all along my musical journey--I'm way behind the curve. I've still, however, managed to find what Weezer calls my "heart songs--they never feel wrong."