Surreal Music Moments

Ever have that moment? That time when you are listening to a song and it pieces all of the puzzle pieces together or it seems as if Martin Scorsese couldn't have scripted a better moment in your music memory?

Well - I have. There are several These aren't the "Oh my God, this is the best concert ever moments". These are the "Is this really happening?" moments. Here are some of the ones that I would place in my top surreal music moments.

Sitting in my flat in Belfast in the still smokey morning listening to David Gray and Fun Lovin' Criminals on my disc man in an attempt to drown out the sound of helicopters patrolling the streets after the riots that followed the pre-12 July bonfires

Belfast again: watching Braveheart at 3 in the morning while listening to Rory Gallagher and eating spaghetti Bolognese

Watching INXS in their home city of Sydney

Standing on the field of Three Rivers Stadium watching U2 perform

Standing inches away from Bono's boots while he waved an Irish flag and sang "Out of Control" with Manhattan as the back-drop

Standing in a muddy field at midnight in Manchester Tennessee with 80,000 people all singing "I will see you on the dark side of the moon" in unison while the Flaming Lips played

Buying tickets for Wilco in Pittsburgh and getting a three and a half hour show in return. This included an acoustic set off the stage complete with lamps and a kids drum set

Playing "family drums" with our DSO family at Nokia Theatre - and this included basketball legend Bill Walton and GD member Donna Jean Godchaux

Listening to My Sweet Lord by George Harrison in my car while driving to class at Pitt. I hit black ice when the line "Lord, I really wanna see you" came on and proceeded to slide sideways down the highway as did the truck in front of me. I repeated over and over - "not yet, Lord, not yet."

Hearing Belfast Child at a fish shop in East Belfast. This was the song that inspired me to write my Northern Ireland screenplay

Getting my Family Style LP signed by Jimmie Vaughan

Screaming the lyrics to Master of Puppets during a Metallica show at the Garden with my husband and realizing I had been screaming those lyrics for twenty years

Standing front row at one of the smaller Bonnaroo tents watching Levon Helm sing Chest Fever, The Shape I'm In and The Weight

And this list would not be complete without this one:

Getting engaged on stage at a DSO show in front of a full audience - any music lovers dream come true!!

Engagement 5.12.06

Levon Helm 6.14.08