I bought this t-shirt vacationing during the year I spent living abroad in South Korea. It was my dad who encouraged me to make the pilgrimage to the "land of the morning calm" to explore my background and visit his hometown where his love for music all started. What I didn't expect to find was that It wasn't all that calm. In fact, it was filled with vibrant music echoing from the streets of young Hongdae all the way to Apgujeong district known as the land of Gangnam style. This t-shirt pays homage to my love for music, and even more so, why I love music.

Since I was a young girl, my dad always emphasized how great music was. He used to be a disc jockey in Seoul, South Korea during the 70s. Everyone says he was great at what he did, but even today he says nothing is greater than the feeling that the music gave him. He even had the shaggy, hippie hair. He could've been the Korean John Lennon for all I know.

He first introduced me to classical music as a young girl, we took piano lessons together and he encouraged me to play the oboe in my middle school band. He even drove an hour twice a week to take me to private oboe lessons in another town. I guess it wasn't until I got older that I realized that we didn't always communicate in the best way (as all naive teenagers feel): but music has always been our common language. I still love rocking out to classic hits and listening to a number of his favorite Beethoven symphonies with him.

Click through the pictures to see my dad back in the day.