Sunday, April 11, 2010

A - Z Music I love, Q is for Queen

Is there really another musical act that comes to my mind? Nope. Here is something I wrote about Queen in 2006:

I saw Queen with Paul Rogers last night in concert.

My mother's favorite band in the late 70's through the 80's was queen. My sister and I grew up on the beautiful, flawless voice of Freddie Mercury, The guitar god Brian May, Roger Taylor and his perfect percussion. (I don't have much to say about John Deacon, he always seemed to just be there).

I, growing up in the household filled with this wonderful music, had an appreciation of my own of Queen. Experiencing a sheer heart attack while spending a night at the Opera or having a day at the races. Remembering news of the world and the game, jazz will still be my favorite. I could write pages upon pages of how this band has an intricate (sp) part of my life. Spending hours listening to Prophet Song with my ear phones turned up loud, watching my sister dance around the living room to Radio Gaga. Singing every word to Mustapha even though I had no idea what the words meant. Listening to Love of Life over and over again when David Brannon broke my heart. secretly laughing to myself when I'd listen to Fairy Feller's Master Stroke.

I was always trying to find my place in my musical world, what genre would I be classified in (when I thought it mattered). Rap, heavy metal, pop. Through all the experimental times with music, queen was a constant.

In 1991, I thought my 13 year old life was over when I heard that Freddie had passed. Knowing I would never get to experience his presence on stage and how sad would my mom be when I told her when she got home. I have only been sad when two musical persons had passed, the first was Freddie and the second was Kurt.

Though I have finally found the music I can listen to over and over and over....Queen is still a big part of my appreciation of musical art.

When I heard that Brian May and Roger Taylor would be touring as Queen and have Paul Rogers as the singer, I was curious. I mean Paul Rogers was great with Bad Company...but Freddie's boots are hard to fill. I was scared he would try too much to be him.

To my surprise and extreme delight, This concert was amazing to say the least. I was in such awe of the performance...stunned...Paul made these Queen songs so dear to so many his own, but showed so much respect.

Towards the end, a tribute to Freddie in the form of Bohemian Rhapsody. His angelic voice coming out of speakers so loud it was like he was there and his beautiful face gracing the huge screens...I was brought to tears. I called my mom and held my phone in the air so she could hear it.

The best part of the whole night was being able to share this experience with Derek, April, Shari, and my sister. Although we don't agree on a lot where music is concerned, we all were able to share a moment so extraordinary....Freddie was there too.

Picking my favorite Queen song would be like asking me to pick my favorite child (If I had them). This song is one of my favorites off of Jazz. And it makes me think of my pal Brian.

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