Nothing in Common

A Short Story

A simple story #9 — Making music

I enjoy almost every type of music. I could do without the constant drone of holiday pop tunes at this time of year, so I try to avoid shopping.

But I grew up with classic and progressive rock and folk. They were my staples.

Since he grew up in Brooklyn and Harlem, his staples were rap and hip hop.

When he first arrived here, we spoke about music and compared notes with who we enjoyed.

Practically #NothingInCommon.

I told him I might not mind rap or hip hop if it just wasn’t so dang loud. Turns out, I fried my eardrums, like they warned me would happen, at all those Alice Cooper, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and BTO concerts, sitting in the front rows.

And also, with rap, I mostly could never even make out the words. And the topics — guns, drugs, being gangsta — what kind of a role model were the artists setting up for their followers? Not like Alice Cooper was the optimal role model.

He explained that though there were legitimately some rappers who were talking about and releasing the pain of what was their reality — a form of therapy — there were even more just pretending to be all that — because they believe that it is popular music, and it will earn them money.

Sometimes, if you are desperate, you’ll do anything to earn some money to get your situation improved. And you look around at whatever is accessible. And create your hustle from there.

Calaif loves his music, and he loves writing song lyrics.

We talked about some of the greatest love balladeers of the mid-1900s.

Since he now lives in my home, and spends every day thinking about, and writing music, he is in this environment where nature informs his thinking. Totally out of the city.

So his music has very much morphed into something original. And with his original voice, he is working on creating a crossover style of music that is uniquely his own.

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