Coldplay... what I didn't know

Post dedicated to C.M.

I got this e-mail the other day from a friend I've known since my days at Saint Mary's University. She checked out my blog and wrote to me to say, "Coldplay is one of your favorite groups?" (Clearly, she read my profile. ) "Man, you make me feel old!"

We had a bit of an exchange during which she said that she didn't think that Coldplay was music that grown ups listened to. She herself prefers Jazz, the equivalent of CBC radio where she lives, and Michael Buble.

I like Michael Buble too, just not as much as Coldplay.

It's funny, really. I kind of stumbled upon them one day while I was at a big bookstore having coffee with a friend. I heard them playing over the store sound system and asked the barrista who they were, after deciding that I quite liked them. He told me... Coldplay.

"They sound a bit like Keane," I said to him.

I had been introduced to Keane a few weeks prior by my young English cousin who was over visiting. As we travelled from one end of Alberta to the other in my little car, he and his iPod were in charge of music and I was in charge of driving. (Safer, I thought, than having him drive on the wrong side of the road!)

During those two weeks I came to some decisions. I definitely didn't like the Killers, and was really never sure about Snow Patrol (or was it Ski Patrol? I forget...) and I was enchanted by the voice of a woman who sounded a bit gospel-y and I imagined her to be a big, African-American woman with tons of soul. I was told that I was a bit off the mark... She was a very young, fair English girl by the name of Joss Stone.

No matter. I still liked her.

But of all the music on that little white iPod, Keane was definitely my favorite. I knew they only had one album out, so when I heard this other group in the coffee shop, I was curious as to who they were.

I immediately bought two albums and thanks to the aforementioned young English music aficionado, I also now have the third. They usually accompany me in the car wherever I go, punctuated by moments of Latin music, and yes.... even a bit of Joss Stone and others.

But I must say, this recent e-mail from my college friend threw me for a bit of a loop...

Coldplay isn't music that grown ups listen to? Hhhmmm.... What, are they, like, the Backstreet Boys or something?

I just liked the music.

I didn't realize I was too "old" or "grown up" for them! No one told me that!

This got me thinking about what it means to be "too grown up" for things...

As I sit here writing this, I’m wearing the new low rise jeans (with slightly flared legs) I bought for this year’s Calgary Stampede. Sadly, I lack the boyish figure of those who wear them best, but I thought, “What the hell… You need an updated look, girl!” Besides, at some point, I stopped obsessing about my body and started enjoying my hour glass figure. (A sign of maturity, perhaps?)

My friend who thought I was too old for Coldplay will probably be gasping with dismay as she read that last part. “Women our age shouldn't -- mustn't -- wear things like that! You’ll be mutton dressed up like lamb!”

But I’m not so sure…. I mean… I wouldn’t have bought them unless I liked them. And I do… And, all modesty aside… they look pretty damned fine, too, I must say.

Another friend just celebrated her 44th birthday by succumbing to a 2-year dance with a younger man. Consequently, she now has a lover who’s eleven years her junior. Is she too grown up to be with a man in his early 30s? Apparently neither of them (both otherwise unattached, consenting adults who know exactly where they stand with each other) seems to think so.

"Half your age, plus seven." Isn’t that the rule?

But what’s the rule about music… or clothes?

If anyone has an answer, let me know. Until then, I’m just going to keep listening to music I like and occasionally buy clothes that might fit the category of “trendy”, rather than “classic”.

As for my dear college friend who shall remain namelessly dismayed... don't worry.... "I will try to fix you."