This blog is a surprise birthday present from my husband, Tac. He is an avid blogger and wanted to share the new media love with me. My name is Jen and I am a music loving Gen X’er, hence the cool name at the top of the page. In thinking about what I was going to blog on, I started having great memories about just how I got to love music so much. My dad was a huge influence and I used to love it when my mom would leave the house and he would call me to the stereo so we could crank the music as loud as we could stand it. It was usually the Eagles. I lived my teenage years in California and spent a lot of time listening to KROQ in my bedroom. I didn’t have enough money to buy all of the albums that I wanted, so I would wait poised and ready to press the record button on my tape player. I would love to have those tapes now. The first tape that I bought was Oingo Boingo, I played it all the time, especially “We Close Our Eyes.” By the time I was in high school I loved and knew all of the lyrics to Pennywise’s album: Pennywise (Hi Rita), but my dad’s influence was still there and I was way into Thin Lizzy (”The Boys are Back in Town”) and E.L.O., not to mention all the normal 80’s stuff like The Cure, Depechmode, and INXS.

In 1993 shortly after I met my husband, I was blessedly introduced to the Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan has been my favorite musician from then on. I think I have listened to that delectable razor voice almost every day of my life for 14 years. Tac calls it my “Billy fix” and I need it like some people need their coffee. So the answer is yes, I am overjoyed about their up and coming reunion this summer.

I’m excited about this blog and the possibilities of sharing and finding music with other people.