Music is a Life Line: We could all use a little more ⋆ City Living Boston

If the pandemic highlighted anything it is that we rely on the arts for survival. We collectively weren’t in a great space before the pandemic and I don’t thing we’ll ever completely recover from the $#*/show that the last several years have been. What I do know is that we have ways of feeling better, getting out of our heads and into our hearts, and healing from whatever has us stuck in the mud. Music, movies, television, dance, visual art, and theater helps us process, escape and shake off the numbness that we allow in to protect ourselves. If you follow me, then you know I try to keep folks up to date with theatre, shows, art, and dance, but music is something I don’t write about enough. Music is almost as necessary to me as the air I breathe. It’s something I got from my dad and grandfather. Music has to be constant and it has to be played loud!

I Don’t Know How but They Found Me at Big Night Live

I lost that oxygen mask as my life got more complicated and I had less time alone to blast my music, but I’m claiming it back now. Reconnecting the music life line has come about thanks to going to concerts with my child and sharing songs with one another (lets be real – I listen to theirs and they rarely listen to my suggestions unless I catch them off guard in the car and they don’t switch playlists). Social media (of all places) is another space where I’m reconnecting with old music and finding new thanks to folks who share Spotify playlists, music on posts, and such.

Erin McKeown playing at Lincoln’s deCordova Museum as part of The Trustees programs.

Going to concerts doesn’t have to be expensive. Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Medford (and surrounding towns) have a variety of options for all budgets and musical taste. We have Berklee College and New England Conservatory that specialize in music and then all the other universities that have their own groups. Many of their concerts are free or affordable. Follow your favourite singers and bands on social media for updates for tickets and concerts as well.