In 1962 in London, a Decca Records executive, a hapless soul who shall remain nameless, yawned as he listened to the audition of a fledgling band from Liverpool.  He showed them the door as he told their manager:  “Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.  Go back to Liverpool.” A few months later, George Martin at EMI Records signed The Beatles and went on to change popular music history.

Record company executives have certainly made their share of correct decisions over the years when it comes to backing the right artists and picking the right song.  But there are hundreds of examples throughout the rock ‘n roll era of some glaring missteps, when execs showed questionable judgment and made some wrong choices.  Sometimes others stepped up later to make the right choice, or disc jockeys and radio listeners made the right choice for them.

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Music can be such a powerful force.

It can make us joyous and get us up off our feet, it can soothe our aching wounds, it can take us back in time, it can bring us to our knees.  In celebration or in desolation, it’s always there to help us crystallize our thoughts and emotions about the joyous and tragic events of our lives.

“It seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind…”  Elton John 

This week, our family, particularly my daughters, lost a close friend, who perished in an auto accident.  These kinds of events are so shocking in their suddenness and their finality, and no one knows exactly what to do, or feel.  It just doesn’t seem real, like a nightmarish scene from a bad movie.  And those left behind to mourn are searching for ways to cope, to heal, to put it all in perspective and somehow make sense of something that makes no sense at all.

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