these songs of freedom.

As a matter of principle, I try not to like music that doesn't mean anything.

For me, it really isn't about escaping the labels of being conformist or mainstream. I just love what music does to you. It can make everything seem so much better. Or worse. It puts the feelings you weren't sure you had, into words that rhyme - what can be bad about that? Also, I mean I don't have flowers in my hair or a braided belt wrapped round my head or anything but I'm still a firm believer that music could change the world, man.

Jimi Hendrix once said that:

'Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.'

In days gone by, music changed everything. It changed the way people thought about the world and their place in it. I wish it still had that capacity but somehow looking at the charts, I'm not convinced.

In those days music was the spirit of slaves, the protest to war, the way to get things done. Or undone.

That might be why I always feel guilty when I find myself unwittingly singing along to those Top Twenty pop hits on the radio. And why I have a secret playlist on my ipod filled with all the songs I'm too ashamed to admit I like - full of uninspiring lyrics haphazardly thrown together more for their rhyming potential rather than their meaning and set to a hauntingly catchy tune that I can't help but love.

Despite my secret indulgences, I do try and stay loyal to the cause (loving music that displays its purity as an art form, music that struggles against the man to define itself, music that means something).

It’s hard though. Sometimes you don’t want some lyrical genius to articulate your every thought. Or fear. Or regret. Sometimes it's not enough that a songwriter a million miles away is thinking what I'm thinking - that in these lyrics of a stranger echo the ramblings of my heart.

Sometimes you just want to forget and get lost in a string of ‘ooh ooh oohs’ and ‘baby baby babys’ so it doesn’t hurt so much.

Lesson Five: Where words fail; music speaks.

You can't hear it if you're not listening; turn it up & let it speak to you.

xx

a musical interlude.

Okay - sidenote from the life discovery, I attended the John Mayer concert here in Auckland last week and while I know he's gotten a lot of bad press lately, there is no denying that the kid has some serious music genius going on.

Personally I'm not easily impressed or fazed by the whole celebrity phenomenon. You will not for example, catch me up at five in the morning waiting at the airport to catch a glimpse of a teenage pop icon waving an "I Heart Bieber" sign over my head but after thursday's date with Mayer, I'm reconsidering my commitment to the notion of celebrity.

Though the venue was barely 3/4 full and many suggested the gig would have been better suited to a lounge-type set-up, fans that were there for the music were not disappointed. Okay so he didn't play a few of the classic favourites like Your Body is a Wonderland or Bigger Than My Body but what he did play was nothing short of amazing. Particularly inspiring were Waiting on the World to Change, Belief and a fiery version of my personal fav, Gravity, to close.

Between his sexy drawl and amazing guitar riffs I now understand why during the 1970s women gave up their lives to follow bands across the country. I'd follow John Mayer to the gates of Mordor if he asked me. I know he's a bit of a racist prick in some of his interviews but it really doesn't take much of an "ooh ooh ooh" in that drawl you love to hate and I'm won.

In addition to the musical ecstasy that is John Mayer, I am now a huge fan of New Zealand songbird Lisa Crawley who was joined by her band The Conversations as the night's opening act. Having not heard much of their stuff before, I was decently impressed - not only by her effortless musicianship (including a whole range of instruments from keyboard to snare drum) but by her unassuming stage presence which was just the right amount of cute without being sickening.



With song titles like The Loneliest Girl in the World, Birds and Brother, Crawley easily won over the crowd who ranged in no even mix from seven year olds pumped up on sheer excitement to be out on a school night to crazy alcohol-fuelled teenage hooligans who always ruin everything for everyone - and back again.

She has a genuine likeability factor that is deliciously sweet which contrasts beautifully with her edgy, soulful lyrics which make no apologies for who she is or isn't but come to your senses in a kind of 'take it or leave it' manner and then stay there.

While she's still in the process of recording her first album, she has got a few little gems up on youtube that are worth checking out in the meantime.

Despite my early resistance (in a bid to remain aloof and unaffected) I have to say I didn't put up much of a fight last week. I was musically wooed from the opening stanza and though I never expected it, I left the show a shameless fan.

xx