Indy Executive Arts Editor Charles Donelan attributes his lifelong interest in music to lots of active listening, rather than any claim to musical talent: “I put down the fiendishly difficult B-flat cornet almost as soon as I picked it up.” He recalls life-changing concerts while a New England teenager by everyone from the Grateful Dead and Little Feat to Talking Heads and Pere Ubu. As a grad student in New York City, he was an elevator operator in the legendary Danceteria, where Madonna made her first public appearances and Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys were regulars. Here in town, Charles salutes the symphony and opera, the Lobero and Bowl, and CAMA and UCSB Arts & Lectures for consistently bringing the best in music old, new, and in between.