... whistle a few bars

... and i'll likely know the tune. okay kiddies, it's time to come clean. i'm a musical person. that's right. i sing. i sing loud. i sing pretty goddamned well too. i'm pretty pissed tho, because recently something came to my attention when i was asked about my singing:

jerk: so, you sing huh?
me: yeah, i've sang for years. started back in middle school, and sang all thru high school and even in college!
jerk: what kind of stuff?
me: well, mainly sang the stuff we all hear in school. college gave me the opp to sing with the seattle university choir. imagine 200 voices sounding as one. we sang hymns, and frankly a lot of classical holiday-related songs. it was an amazing experience.
jerk: so, you sang, like... religious songs and not pop or rap songs?
me: dude, don't be an idiot. there are other types of music out there other than pop. there's jazz, there's swing, country, acapella, and believe it or not, there's actually songs out there without 2 to 3 bars being sung repetitively with a downbeat added and labeled a song...
jerk: so, you're gay then, right?

can i just say that i haven't been so pissed in a long time? the old me was just crawling thru my skin and i really really wanted to crush this person's skull. this jerk couldn't fathom the possibility that a straight man can sing his heart out to anything other than pop songs... in high school, i formed a barbershop quartet, a swing quartet and sang old tunes like "Lion Sleeps Tonight," and many more to big audiences who loved us!

WTH is wrong with society today when ignorance wins out over the simple understanding that WHAT someone sings doesn't dictate anything but there own choice to sing what provides them some form of release.... whether spiritual or just to blow off steam! the power of music. entire civilizations were fostered thru music, art, culture and more!

i love singing. it's that simple. i get a feeling inside that warms my soul, and quite frankly, turns on levels of emotion i too often hide from the world. when i can sing with someone else and our voices become one, or the harmonies of our voices form a veritable playground of swoops and valleys in the air between us - it's damned magical and it makes my skin tingle.

the alarmingly ignorant and ridiculous comment by this jerk floored me. unless i'm singing pop songs of current topics, (hmmm... voilence, teenage sex, guns, cars, more voilence) this makes me gay? so many of todays musicians (and i DO use that title loosely) choose some foolish "new" identity and wear their pants below their asses, belting out loud and worthless crap that has little to no bearing or effect on anyone's life other than the padding of their wallets. omg, many of these folks SHOOT at each other with real guns over record labels like it's a turf war!

i fully realize that i'm picking on a certain brand of music right now, but the jerk seemed fixated on that angle, and just couldn't grasp a guy singing songs other than what he's been exposed to.

So, i'm pissed about this. actually hurt that someone could be that asinine and so quick to label. anyone wanna chime in on this? someone sing ME a song....