I’ve been thinking a lot about rock and roll heaven lately. Gotta love these lyrics from the Righteous Brother’s song:

If you believe in forever

Then life is just a one-night stand

If there's a rock n' roll heaven

Well you know they've got a hell of a band, band, band….

At the time this song was written, it was mostly about rock stars who died too young at like Janis, Jimi, and Jim. Now, it seems that every other day you hear about the passing of some iconic rock star who died too old at 82 or whatever.

What it brings to mind is the wonderful gift that artists have to leave behind a little piece of themselves. I wonder if Beethoven or Mozart ever dreamed that hundreds of years later, people all over the world would still be listening to their symphonies. Or if John Lennon could have ever imagined his songs being more popular after his death than when he was alive.

Of course, the visual arts can have a similar effect, but in a very personal way. The difference is that unlike performance artists, fine artists don’t have to have sold a million records or have their work displayed in the Louvre to be remembered. It can be a small painting by a friend that hung in your childhood bedroom. Or that Roseville vase your grandmother had in her dining room that now sits in your dining room. How about that seascape you brought back from your honeymoon in Martha’s Vineyard?

No matter if it’s your favorite song or sonata, a masterpiece or a child’s drawing, it’s important to value the way that art touches our everyday lives.  It can take us to a time and place that preserves the memories of those special moments that make life worthwhile, even after we’re gone.