I'm With the Band

Back in high school, I was in the marching band, the symphonic band and the concert band...but I wasn't a total band geek...I was also on our illustrious tennis team - state champs for Lord knows how many years in a row and I was part of our school's business program that put me in a lot of AP classes. So I dipped a toe across every type of school group there was - the geeks, the jocks and the academics.

I haven't picked up my clarinet since putting it down my senior year of high school. I haven't really played the piano in years...but I do get excited whenever I see 'Drumline' on TV because it makes me wonder if I picked up the wrong instrument back in 5th grade. The only reason I ended up with the clarinet was because it was discarded several years earlier by my sister when she was thinking of joining the band...she obviously couldn't cut it with the band geeks, so I picked it up, learned it, became rather good (always first seat) and dropped it like a bad habit. There was no way I was joining band in college and in hindsight, I'm glad!

But now - now I actually get to do what I think I was meant to do - bang on those drums via my newest obsession, ROCK BAND! It was one of the only reasons I actually allowed my husband to get the PS3 when I really wanted the Wii. Rock Band is like a step above Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution. It's where you can have a group of people rock out on guitar, drums, and sing. I've basically bogarted the drums with my alter ego, Jersey. We tour and unlock more songs along the way. We've already played NYC, Chicago, and Seattle. I'm waiting to get to the place where I'll unlock 'Don't Fear the Reaper.'

I salivate when I think about it - maybe I drool a little while actually playing. But I'm not completely obsessed with it where I'm playing it at all hours of the morning (like someone I know) - but it's definitely fun and since being away from it for the past week, I finally managed to get on it last night and jam for about an hour before hitting the gym. I even have my husband playing along on guitar - but he's very particular about the songs we play - we always need to start with 'Orange Crush' and then we move down through the songs he likes. I guess it's a small price to play if I don't want to play alone.

But I don't mind playing alone. The game is not only super-fun but it's opened my eyes to a lot of music that I was previously unaware of - both classic and modern....for instance, I didn't know what 'Mississippi Queen' was before Rock Band - and guess what? We heard it on a classic rock station while on vacation. And now I love playing it - and not just because it has cow bell. I also learned of another new song that I like and will be downloading to my iPod - 'Maps' by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. So not only is Rock Band fun for adult friends and family, but it's a learning experience too.

The best part of Rock Band is ending a song with a free-for-all where you get to bang on anything and everything and totally rock out. After the song ends, I usually hit my sticks together in the air and start yelling like Garth from 'Wayne's World.' And sometimes, I'll even do that rolling 'r' noise they do when they get excited....so fun!