If only I had time

I would be doing nine million things.

Like sitting for a whole day listening to the absolutely awesome 'best albums of 2009' list over at

http://powerpopreview.blogspot.com/

I've been so busy I didn't know that Ian Hunter had an album out.

and I love Ian Hunter.

I'm going to try and listen in between the schoolwork - I've been missing out.

Stuck in the Car.

There are so many ways that technology has changed my life over the last 16 years - The ability (curse) of being able to work from wherever I am,  improved communication, food ordering, reviews, etc, the list is truly endless.  But there are very few technological advancements that that I appreciate as much as the ability to instantly identify music.

Remember before Google and Shazam. back when you'd hear a song on the radio (usually in the car) and if the DJ didn't announce the song title before you were out of earshot, you'd probably never be able to identify the song? I hated that.  I always felt like there was so much good music that I simply lost because I never could figure out what it was. 

Some of my favorite songs, came from times that I'd just refuse to leave the car (or wherever the radio was), until I knew what I was listening to. (This made me very popular with the driver,  especially during no-commercial marathons).  Without exception, if a song compels  me to sit there, unwilling to leave  until I have identified it..  it will be a song I listen to for the next 20 years. (so far)

1. Driver 8 - REM.    Driving (passengering in my case) down Huguenot Avenue in Staten Island, sometime in late 1985/early 1986. when I heard this on the radio and couldn't believe how much emotion Stipe had in his voice, particularly since he didn't oversing it.  I had no idea who R.E.M. were, really,  and there was no way I was leaving without the name of the song.

2. The Obvious Child - Paul Simon.   This one, I recognized the artist right away, but Rhythm of the Saints had just come out and I had no idea that he'd released a new album.  The drums just completely captivated me, and his relatively gentle voice over such large music was irresistible.  While he got much more acclaim for Graceland, I will always love this album, and this song remains a pick-me-up when I need it. I saw him in concert on this tour, and it was a stage full of musicians, I think four drummers played this live, and there he was, in his t-shirt and baseball cap, looking small but sounding huge, and never once getting lost amid the 20 or so people on stqge with him

3. Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes.    My boyfriend at the time lived on Long Island and I remember sitting in his truck outside his house until the local modern rock station identified who this was.  It sounded like nothing else current, and I spent much of the time trying to figure out if it was an old song I hadn't heard before, or something new.   I've always been a sucker for countrified rock, and this song (which reminds me still of the Kink's Muswell Hillbilly) was just a perfect blend of genres. That coupled with the anguished tone in Jack White's voice  pretty much made me an instant fan.

Now that I have Shazam on my iPhone, I can tell what a song is in 10 seconds.

I'm grateful for the ability to find the songs, and I know that anyone who drives me is grateful for the ability to get out of the car in a timely manner. I do hope, however, that I can still be as engaged by a new song, even if I don't have to be trapped in the car to do so.

My first success, and the Grammys

First.. a disclaimer: I don't have the music vocabulary that a great many of my friends do. I love music, and I'm an enthusiastic consumer, but I am not good at coming up with intelligent-sounding analyses of songs, fraught with insightful comparisons to past music.  

I just know what stuff sounds like to me... which sometimes makes perfect sense to others.. ( as in the case of  Aerosmith's  Living on the Edge   having the same intro as The Kinks' Have Another Drink) And sometimes it makes sense only to me..  -   The White Stripes Hotel Yorba completely reminded me of The Kinks'  Muswell Hillbilly  (Wow.. two Kinks references and I'm not even that much of a fan)

I bring this up  because my er.. reviews? (if you can call them that).. while sometimes elaborate,  will more often than not be  something like "gee.. I liked this song".  

Which brings us to the first thing I liked..  Glasvegas - Flowers and Football Tops

This came off the CMJ top 20 album chart (its on one of those albums),  and I REALLY liked it.

Granted, the CMJ chart is an easier sell for me, than say Billboard's Hot 100, but I figured I deserved a break from the more mainstream stuff after the 11 hours of Grammy's last night (more on that below)

I had a passing familiarity with Glasvegas because their cover of  Be My Baby made it into the last Coverville podcast.  

Flowers and Football Tops  sounds like (to me) what would happen if the Jesus and Mary Chain did a U2 vocal impersonation and set it to a late 50s pop sound.   It is way too long,  I really didn't need nearly 7 minutes of it, but the good news is that if you picked out any 3 1/2 minutes of it, at any point in the song,  I would have liked it.     Between  Be My Baby and this.. I think I am well on my way to liking these guys.

Now, here are my few Grammy related points

1. Sugarland blew me away.   I had no expectation that I would like them, and their performance was riveting.  
2. I liked Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift together. I thought the two unusual voices melded very well.  I was surprised, but by no means alone in this, it was everyone's guilty pleasure of the night.
3. I don't care what M.I.A. looked like in her  non-maternity wear, I love her!
4. The only thing T.I. has done so far that I've liked is the Chevy commercial from a year or two back.
5. Estelle was awesome.
6. I liked Lil Wayne.  Particularly on the New Orlean's thing.

What the kids are listening to these days..

I've had a desire, of late to revive my blog.  However, its been, to date, a  knitting blog, and its pretty hard to revive it when I haven't been knitting at all.  (I do stare longingly at the yarn all around my house and plan to knit, but thusfar, nuthin. )So I've been keeping my eyes (and mind) open for another reason to write.. and today was finally given my answer.

Tonight is the Grammy awards.  I LOVE award shows and have been silently practicing acceptance speeches for all sorts of awards since I was a little kid.   As a music fan, the Grammys have always been a favorite.   

When I was younger, I swore I'd never become one of those adults who always liked the music of my youth better than the current stuff, and that when I grew up, I'd always be relatively on top of contemporary music.   Neither of those promises have worked out too well.     When I read over the list of Grammy nominees, I realized  that A.  I've become a geezer music snob  and b. I had no idea what half this stuff was.  I mean I'd heard of it,  but If I had to identify it, I probably couldn't, and I was predisposed to dislike it.  

And so I made a (very late? Chinese New Year perhaps)  New Years resolution.  I will spend the next 12 months being "on top" of contemporary music.  

I will do this by familiarizing myself with the top 10 of (at least) one singles chart each of the following 

Billboard chart categories

1. Hot/Pop (right now the Mainstream top 40 chart seems like a good start but so does the hot 100)

2. R & B/Hip Hop/Rap (chart still being decided, I may need to do two to really cover this category)

3. Country

4. Rock  (this may require multiple charts too)

5. and the top 20 from the CMJ radio 200 chart 

And the rules go like this:

a. I'm not going to overtax myself. I just need to listen to every one of the 60 songs or so at least once in a 2 week period, 

b. listen with an open mind

c. report here (at least) once a week on anything I particularly like or don't.

d. I will solicit, and listen to any suggestion given to me for something contemporary that i MUST listen to.

And thats it.  I'll see how I do.     If anyone ends up reading this at any point,  your input would be welcomed.