Flaming Lips and the survival of man

So I'm seeing out '06 by seeing the Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, and Cat Power at the new USC Galen Center. The show should be remarkable. The single most transcendant show I've ever been to was a Flaming Lips concert a few years back at the Palladium (I think?) here in L.A. It was a religious experience with Wayne Coyne as the world's hippest evangelist. A truly memorable show and one of the best results of my New Year's resolution of a few years ago to see more live music. In the past few years I've been lucky enough to see live, and mainly in smaller venues - Arctic Monkeys, Art Brut, Franz Ferdinand, Cat Power, Damien Rice, Gomez, Elvis Costello at the Mayan, Elvis Costello and Burt Bachrach, Mew, Aimee Mann, The Mountain Goats, Silver Mount Zion, Silver Jews, Stuart Staples (Tindersticks), and many others. Many others. Upcoming shows include Steven Malkmus and the Jicks, and Paul Weller. I wish I'd seen the Clash and the Jam live but I did get to see Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros where I was not the oldest person in the crowd, thank you very much, and I will see Paul Weller and yes, he'll play some Jam songs and I will be happy. Music matters. And in today's New York Times there's an article about music and survival. Why are we able to recognize songs after two notes, sometimes one note? What is the reason for this ability that adds to our chances for survival? Or better yet, what about this ability to recognize Brown Sugar after one note will increase our chances to mate successfully? Isn't every adaptation about survival or sex? Did Justin Timberlake really bring the sexy back or, as Prince said, "sexy never left"? I think we are the music. The human heart sets the beat. Our voices add the melody. And all the other sounds we make - grunts, burps, yelps, help out with the rhythm. So with our own minds and bodies not just calling the tune, but being the tune, we recognize Brown Sugar after one note because it is already in us. That note has been played over and over again, starting not in the womb, but hardwired into our genes as if we were the MePod before we were hooked up to the IPod. Who knew that the phrase "music of the spheres" would refer to the two hemispheres of the brain? So tonight I'll hear Cat and Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse and the Flaming Lips and my brain and my heart and my body will react because even if I've never heard some of the songs before, I have heard them before. And I will hear them forever. Music matters.