Late Christmas morning I found myself captivated by the Walt Disney World Parade on the small TV screen in the kitchen.  Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Jasmine, and friends all trotted and twirled around to the fancy, whimsical tune tinkering in the background.  A rush of childhood memories returned to me, followed by a marvelously warm, fuzzy feeling.  This trance, however, was rudely interrupted by the shrieking, gleeful screams of the young girls in the crowd.  The newest rendition of Menudo was making its way past ABC’s cameras, and from the desperate tears of one or two fans I could tell this group of boys was a big deal. 

As a major, and I’m talking major, Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, 98 Degrees, LFO, any singing group with semi-attractive males in it fan from back in the day, I was surprised to find a group this popular that I was unaware still existed.  One day Monti, Jose, Carlos, Emmanuel and Chris had made their way into the hearts of girls across the world, and yet somehow, I had missed it.  This got me pandering on the ever-changing world of music and what’s to come in 2008.

Sure there are the static artists, Madonna, Prince, Celine Dion, Rolling Stones, but what about the names in music you fall in love with for a couple years only to find them gone from the planet before their junior album is completed?  Too often something as minor as a poor managerial decision has caused many of the could-be greats to leave us wanting more.  You never know when a new artist could be the next phenomenon, but you also never know how quickly they can become just another scratched CD in your music collection.

A concert is an experience that brings you closer to the music and those who perform the lyrics that won your approval.  A favorite song can live in your iPod forever, or until it gets busted, but the chance to hear it played live could only come around once.  With dozens of concert tours already lined up for 2008, starring both the familiar and the new, why not jump on the opportunity to buy tickets?  Why not go see Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson at the same show if you love them both?  (That for sure will not come around again!)

So this new year, while the diets will be the same as always, the gym will still look as it did a year ago when you were last there, the money will spend as it always has, resolve to be a part of something that won’t be around forever… the opportunity presented through Circle City Tickets to experience your favorite music serenaded to you live.  You just might regret it as much as any Menudo fan who was sans tickets to touch Monti’s spirit fingers at the Walt Disney World Parade.