Every Step I Take

Oh. My. Goodness. I almost completely spaced on the ENTIRE REASON I CAME TO THIS COUNTRY!!! I'm being a bit dramatic of course but I have good reason to. There is a very vital reason on why I feel so drawn to this place. A deep fascination, that roots back into my childhood. Something that I am so obsessed with it's sent me on this crazy search to figure out what it is that has me so addicted to it. Something that's got the world turning circles running 'round my brain. Two words:

The Police.

I feel like the biggest geek in admitting that I have some obsession with a band that dismembered before I was even born, a band that is older than my parents, a band that is pure 80s music. A band that has pulled me around 4000 miles from my home, just so I can get an experience of the country where they not only started off their lives, but became the musicians who would create a success that would rock the world and change their lives forever.

I can't say that The Police was the greatest band ever. Well, to me they are, but in reality there was bigger. Take a look at The Beatles. Talk to a Beatles fan about going to Liverpool and watch their reaction. Or what about the Rolling Stones? As my dad said to me, the Rolling Stones could be in their 80s and still sell out stadiums. Now that's called dedication.

Or look at the one-year anniversary of the death of an artist that just happened yesterday. The one and only: Michael Jackson. People from around the world flocked to LA and Gary to mourn the loss of a music that was a part of their lives. A year later, and the fans are still not over it. Nor will they ever be.

That's the thing about music. It's not just a part of our lives, something that we mindlessly accept. It's a part of us. Somehow these vibrations that only last for seconds sink deep within us, clinging to us, long after they're gone. They give us goosebumps, they make us cry. They lift us up, they lull us to sleep. They get stuck in our heads and sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can't shake them from our minds.

I believe that everyone has that one, deep, personal connection to a particular song, or band, or genre of music. Some deeper than others. I cried the day MJ passed away but I wasn't trying to get a ticket to his funeral. Some people don't cry. Some people don't even go see them when they come to town to perform. Some people just merely enjoy listening, and that's good enough for them.

It is not good enough for me.

I'm not sure what I'm expecting to find here in the UK. I'm not sure if any questions will be answered or any issues solved. I'm not sure whether I'll leave feeling like I successfully hunted down the footsteps of my favorite trio or if that will even still matter to me. All I know is that I came here in hopes of growing closer to the music I am so in love with. I don't know why, but I had this image back home in the states. Particularly when I was at Lake Erie. I would stare out over the lake, imagining it was the atlantic, and imagine what that island across the pond was like. I imagined the three getting together with their instruments and tea, and recording away. I imagined Sting wandering the red light district of Paris, an experience that would later inspire him to write The Police's first hit. I imagined that this island is the island in Message in a Bottle, his lonely heart sending out an S.O.S., only to realize all the lonely people there are in not only this country, but the world. I imagined them shooting the music video for Don't Stand So Close to Me in a local schoolhouse, a song I would later find hit a little too close to home. I imagined them catching trains, performing in small pubs, struggling to pay the rent for their poorly furnished flats.

After imagining all of this, and I'm sure more, here I am. Unable to fight this pull I've felt towards this place. For some reason, I had to come here. I had to just walk the same land of the people who gave me the music that has been so prominent in my life. Maybe to experience what they experienced. Maybe to find inspiration. Or maybe I just came to pay my respects.

I'm not sure right now. All I know is that I love the Police. I'm finding that I love England. And that with every step I take, I'll be blogging all about it.