Mormon's and Stoners and how they inspired the meaning of life

The other day in my band class, the Mormon girl who is in my orchestra and the chamber choir sauntered in and plopped down to read her book. I looked over to her and asked why she was here (she TA's for an English class during this time) and she said the teacher was showing a rated R movie. So I was about to continue rehearsing when the rude stoner interrupted asking her what movie they were watching and she replied Waking Life. Immediately I exchanged glances with the stoner as both our jaws dropped and in unison asked "that's rated R?" I guess the movie is rated R because they say the F word more than 3 times and imply sex for like 10 seconds? By no means should this movie be rated R, its almost cartoon-like. But because of her silly rules, she missed out on a movie that could have changed her life and inspired her greatness. Watching this movie did that for me.

Last night I had dinner with my jazz combo after we performed a gig in which we were very unappreciated. (I'll save the letter I will send them for another blog). The stoner and I were talking about a few incidents that happened earlier this year and how he won one of them. Thinking about this kid, he is the complete opposite of me and yet we are the same. Where I spent hours practicing my trumpet in high school mastering being a "craftsmen" of the trumpet, he spends hours songwriting and jamming on his cheap acoustic guitar. Where I spent hours listening to Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Vienna Phil, he spends hours listening to the Beatles. On my free time I did my physics and math homework, he smokes pot, drinks, and parties. Where I respected authority and was devastated when I disappointed my parents, he laughs in the face of authority and challenges his parents. The common thread we share is that we are both on the same path of greatness in music. He contemplates majoring in philosophy, but when I was his age I contemplated majoring in material engineering.

This morning I woke up after a dream in which I was in Tahoe with my family and it came to me how life and music are the same. So I emailed the stoner the following:

The meaning of life and the purpose of music are the same. People give it all sorts of meaning, but in the end it's all meaningless. As musicians, we are like doctors because we keep music alive like doctors keep people alive. Just like we can't explain how and why we were created is there a real reason how and why music was created?

We don't need music and the universe does not need us, yet we exist.