Topic: Music
The genre of music I most like is described as Classic Rock, that is to say, that which was produced in the mid-late 60s through to the early 80s. When I listen to music on my computer, I use Winamp to randomly sort a list of about 200 songs. Here's what I've been listening to this afternoon. Bear in mind that the selection is random, as with lottery tickets.
The Cure - Pictures of You
Nanette Workman - The Queen
Bruce Cockburn - Wondering Where the Lions Are
INXS - New Sensation
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
Booker T & the MGs - Time is Tight
Jim Croce - I Got a Name
Bryan Adams - Diana
Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now
Glen Campbell - Witchita Lineman
Valdy - A Good Song
Neil Diamond - Holly Holy
Max Webster - Paradise Skies
Andrea True Connection - More More More
Harry Nilsson - Everybody's Talkin'
The Stampeders - Oh My Lady
Tommy Tutone - 8675309 (Jenny)
Madonna - Ray of Light
Exhibit A reveals that I am willing to listen to kitsch, and suggests that I'm capable of singing in my car. In a recent article somewhere it was posited that most people favour the music of their youth. I own many, many LPs, several of them rescued from Value Village, some (Santana, the Doors, Simon & Garfunkel, Peter & Gordon), donated from my aunt and uncle, and the rest bought. The old turntable's belt had disintegrated after 20 years, necessitating the purchase of an entirely new grammophone from A&B Sound. It was a purchase that I was grateful and a bit astonished to be able to make.
Thanks to technology I can copy analog to digital, not to tidy up the scratches, but to archive the songs. Behind the massive audio/visual shelf is a network of wires and cables that allow me to do these cool things because I haven't a real job to go to. I download a lot of songs from newsgroups and often find obscure titles like "Timothy," by the Buoys. You know what that song was reputedly about, right?
When I was a typesetter at the The Peak I could listen to a walkman and typeset at the same time. The trick was that I didn't actually read the copy, I only looked at the letters and my fingers did the rest, and if I made a mistake I could feel it because what I saw and what I sensed in my fingers didn't match. With this web log, I can compose with music playing and be uninfluenced lyrically by the words but still experience sensory images and write. This is to say, my imagination is unleashed but I'm not copying what I'm hearing. Wow... Although I have a preference for rock, I also enjoy big band jazz (Bix Beiderbecke, Paul Whiteman, Billie Holliday, etc), true classical (Mozart, Sibelius, etc), and some opera although they aren't helpful to my writing. It helps that I love typing; I'm fast and accurate and it turns out that the composition feature of my brain can be shut off or enhanced at will. Have I mentioned the extensive editing?
Chat rooms used to hold quite a draw for me and I'd routinely fire up Winamp before logging on. Gordon Lightfoot, a fine example of a sensitive singer suitable for even the toughest customer, was a good choice for exorcising unhappy karma yet not so much for encouraging intelligent conversation. The temptation to chastise participants for using ill-considered grammar or poor spelling, and brow-beat Americans for lacking sufficient knowledge or interest in the rest of the world just because I could had to be put to rest.
I have no idea whether being able to compose and listen is a common trait; as somebody who regularly compartmentalises aspects of their life it seemed fitting that I would do the same for thought process. Please leave comments about what helps you write.
