I’ve got a few music related rituals. I’ve had ’em for decades. For one example, every January 1st, with rare exception, I make a point of listening to “New Year’s Day” by U2. It’s just something I started doing, and it became a routine habit. A conscious intentional practice. There’s a number of others, and today I got to practice one of them.
In 1977, ELO released “Out Of The Blue“, the follow up to their ground-breaking release, “A New World Record“. I’d been exposed to ELO through Sally Jaramillo, my first adolescent introduction to infatuation, and I became a big fan of their music. I purchased this on the first day it was released, took it to my friend Matt’s house, and we listened to and critiqued each track. This was a double album. The third side was entitled “Concerto For A Rainy Day” and comprised four ‘rain’ related titles. The set of four songs starts out with the onslaught of rain, escalates to a thunderous storm, and concludes with the sun breaking through and the day’s forecast calling for blue skies.
For whatever reason, whenever possible, for at least the past 20 years, on the first rainy day of a season or just the occurrence of a really good storm, I listen to this “concerto”. Loud. It’s just something I do. It’s best in the car but works quite well indoors too.