i would not be exaggerating to claim that i cannot imagine a music-less existence. for me, music really is one of those things that make my little world go ’round.

my parents are largely to blame for this (thanks guys!). with an oldies-obsessed Dad and a mom who crushed on the Beach Boys and went to Janis Joplin concerts in the ’60s, we didn’t go anywhere without a soundtrack of oldies playing in the background. i was harmonizing to the Beatles when i was 10, and for my 13th birthday, they surprised me with tickets to a Beach Boys’ concert.

i knew every lyric to every song. you know…back when song topics were simple.

ahh, the good ole days of music. gotta love ’em.

over the years, my ecclectic tastes in music have run the gamut from screamo clashing to Dashboard tears (aren’t we all oh-so-emo at some point??), to whispery singer-songwriters who pulled at my heartstrings with their vulnerability and quirky indie hipster boys who jauntily provided the upbeat soundtracks for my running mixes. discovering a new singer/band whose lyrics just “get you” adds a sweep of magic to everyday life.

Josh Radin does that for me. with his feathery, whimsical voice of whispers & winds, i find myself lost in the world he’s creating. i’m driving that vegetable car; i’m taking the blue one every time; i’m strolling in that warm December, in love and in Winter.

i’m getting married (God willing) to his song “Today.” that’s basically the only thing about my one-day-maybe wedding that i have settled. and when he sang it last night — when i finalllly saw him perform, right smack dab in the heart of Central Park on SummerStage on an absolutely gorgeous evening, the very last night of August — he opened the song by saying, “People are getting married to this song, it’s kind of crazy.” and i knew he was going to play it, the song i one day hope gathers me under its umbrella of the “people” who call it their own.

because whoever else’s it is, it’s mine. and that’s the beauty of music.

(of course, i want him to play it at my wedding…after he exchanges rings with me and says “i do.” naturally.)

he put on an incredible (albiet far too short, as he was opening for Sara Bareilles) show. i could have sat and listened to him for hours, lost in the worlds his songs create. his voice was far more powerful live than on his recordings, and every bit as whimsical and beautiful. he can do absolutely no wrong by me.