My Addiction is Real

People ask me all the time " Why do you go to so many music events? Do you know how much money you're spending going to all of this? You're driving how far for a music festival?! Is there anything else you do besides go to concerts?" and the I answer I always tell them is, it's my passion. The happiness I get whenever I am at a live show is something that is indescribable. When you're at a live show and you're favorite song comes on, you look at the person next to you and you create a moment and share the same feeling, making a memory to last a lifetime. I realize that over the passed 5 years, I could've bought a new car, lived in an apartment, have many different options to spend my money, but my passion is greater than all of that and I might as well do it now while I still live at home, before I go and have to put my big girl pants on and live in the real world. My live music addiction doesn't just come from the music itself, but also the people that I meet. From time to time, you'll share a laugh, a tear, or a swig of some smuggled in booze from a complete stranger and come home with a great story about a person you will never see again. But then you create special connections with people who will be your life long friends.

My first year at Bonnaroo, I made some friends from Chicago and had such a good time with them, one of them opened their home to my friends and me for Lollapalooza that same summer. But my real group of friends I met my third year at Roo. They happened to be camped by us and helped us in a time of need when it was raining and our tent was not holding up too well. From then we noticed our schedule was almost identical and we spent the entire weekend together. This group of people got to witness my best friend getting proposed to under the Bonnaroo arch, they celebrated with us, they danced until sunrise with us, and cried with us as we said our goodbyes. Little did we know that we would meet up with them in Austin at Austin City Limits, go to visit them over spring break, and have them come and attend the wedding that they saw the proposal for. Because of these personal connections, I have friends in Seattle, Chicago, Columbus, Atlanta, Tuscaloosa, Denver, Clemson, and several places in Indiana and Michigan. My festival group started with 4 girls and now almost every event I go to, the group is never smaller than 20. And almost all of these friends keep up on a daily basis.

So you see, it's not just the fact that I've seen diverse legends like Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, The Cure, and Wu Tang Clan, or that I've seen some current big names like Kendrick Lamar, Florence and The Machine, and Deadmau5, It's the overall experience and the memories I make with the people I love the most. I'm passionate about music, live music, and friendships.

So if you ever want to tag along, I guarantee you a great time you'll never forget and a memory that you will forever hold close to you.

-Blaze 

My Favorite Go To

As a music blogger, there are blogs that I religiously follow and get a lot of my news and information from. I follow most of these on every source of social media there is plus the added non music related blog. So for all you music lovers out there, I hope you enjoy these as much as me!

http://consequenceofsound.net/
http://oklahomarock.com/
http://www.youredm.com/
http://pitchfork.com/
http://www.indieshuffle.com/
http://www.edmsauce.com/
http://rapradar.com/
http://www.stereogum.com/
http://drownedinsound.com/
http://www.thelostogle.com/


-Blaze

Who am I?

My name is Blaze Van Osdol (yes that's my real name) and I am a Strategic Communications senior at UCO. A little bit about myself, I am an Edmondite born and raised. I'm 22 and still live at home with my parents and have lived in the same house my entire life. Because my parents are nice enough to let me live rent free, I take this time in my life to take advantage of the extra money and freedom and pursue my love for live music. I've been around music my entire life. As a child, my parents took me to concerts like KC and the Sunshine Band, little Christian bands, and some Classic rock bands who make their yearly rounds to Oklahoma. Because of my parents, I have learned to love the classics like Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who, and countless more and because of my brother, I was introduced to some great current Alternative bands like Radiohead and Modest Mouse,  who are a couple of bands I listen to religiously. Growing up with going to concerts and listening to music almost 24/7 got me interested in trying out what a festival was like. The summer of 2011, My best friend and I drove all the way to Chicago to attend the 20th anniversary of Lollapalooza and had our lives changed. The atmosphere of the people around you and the energy the crowd brings at shows is what had me infatuated with it. Not only that but I got to see some of my favorite bands and some classic artists people dream of seeing. Because of Lollapalooza, I have attended 11 different music festival around the nation and some of them I have attended multiple times with Bonnaroo being the top at attending 4 years in a row. I've made an insane amount of memories and I've made the best group of friends because of this expensive but incredible obsession. So with this said, my blog will be about music and my experiences with some live events throughout this semester. I'll be blogging about my opinion about any upcoming albums or EP's, music news about artists or upcoming festivals, and my own experience. This semester I plan on attending Backwoods Bash in Stroud, Oklahoma, Austin City Limits Weekend 2 in Austin, Texas, and maybe the new Talao Music Festival in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and not to mention the countless other live shows I'll be seeing. So I hope you enjoy reading my music blog and enjoy living my live music obsession vicariously through my experiences!


- Blaze