PENNY PROMPT

Musical Memories of Heart and Young Love

I hadn’t yet found the magic

Music is transformative. It has always been a big part of my life. I am a fan of all kinds of music from classical to country, pop to punk, hard rock to R&B, and on and on. Music is evocative and can flip my mood in just a few notes. It’s like a smell. Something so familiar it can transport me to another time and place.

While I usually prefer to listen to new music and discover new favorites, lately, I’ve been tuned in to oldies radio from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. I guess that happens to us when we get older. We want to hang onto the memories that music inspires. The songs from that era are reminiscent of different times of my life, some happy and some sad.

When Heart’s single “Magic Man” came on, in an instant I was transported back to a live concert in Edmonton in 1976. I was a fan of the relatively new group with Ann Wilson’s powerful voice and the driving guitar from her sister Nancy. But they were just the warm-up for the headliners, April Wine, an iconic band in Canadian music history.

I knew I had to go. I was fifteen years old and excited to be attending the show with my friends. It wasn’t even a proper venue. April Wine and Heart were playing in a relatively small arena, the Kinsmen Field House. But it was the first rock concert I’d attended.

It was magical, from what I remember through the haze of weed and patchouli. The band had just released their first album a year earlier, so they ran through their limited catalog of hits: “Magic Man,” “Crazy On You,” and “Dreamboat Annie.”

Just days before the concert, I learned that a certain girl, who wasn’t in any of my classes, had a thing for me. A crush? I don’t know, but it piqued my interest. Bev was going to be at the concert with some of her friends, so I kept my eye out for her. When the lights came on at the end of the concert, I took one more look through the crowd, trying to spot her so I could say hello. Our paths didn’t cross that night but the fact that I was at the concert somehow made me even more interesting to her. Soon after that, I asked her out.

We were not the best match. About a week or two later we were at a party at the home of a friend of hers. She and I had been on the couch making out for what seemed like hours when she suddenly pushed my chest and said, “We have to stop. All of this kissing is making me want to throw up.” For a fifteen-year-old boy, that was a crushing blow to my confidence. Clearly, I was not a “Magic Man.” It’s also a moment I will never forget.

We didn’t last much longer than a few weeks together but we did stay friends and I even attended her wedding. Her friend became mine and fifty years later remains my closest friend.

All of those memories came flooding back when I heard just the opening notes of Heart’s “Magic Man.” The smell of weed and patchouli, the band playing through a smoky haze, and the thrill of seeing Heart live. I smiled remembering Bev, as I turned up the radio and sang along like no one was listening.

Thanks for reading. And thanks to Kim Kelly Stamp for this musical prompt.