In preparation for November's National Blog Posting Month (or na-blah-blah as I am affectionately calling it),
Gina and I both independently prepared a list of the things that we are thankful for. We thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how our lists compared, as well as providing a framework for us to use to make sure we had topics to post every day.
So
Kelly's recent tagging of me for this
dual-themed meme comes at an interesting time in that one of the assignments is to list "
three things I wouldn't let go". Normally, this might be a challenge but I've given a lot of thought to this sort of thing while assembling my thankful list and there is certainly some overlap.
The second assignment is to list the most played songs from my music library, the assertion being that these are the songs that define me. We'll get to that later.
Now I believe that Kelly received these independently and through either brilliance or
lazyness an attempt to maximize her productivity, she combined the two. She claims it as an interesting exercise and while thinking about how to approach the writing of this post, I find that I wholeheartedly agree.
So let's get started....
I love music. I have loved music as long as I can remember. The first albums I bought at the age of 8 are still in my collection. Music and musical things bring me great happiness. So I decided to limit the three things I wouldn't let go to the musical realm:
The live concert experience - My first concert was in 1981 and I have been addicted ever since. Someday I'll compile a list of the shows and get an accurate count, but for now the exact number is hidden in a shoe box where I save the tickets (my guess is that it is well into the hundreds.)
As I've gotten older, my tastes have changed and my tolerance for crowds and such has decreased, but the overwhelming joy I feel when experiencing the creation of live music is as present as ever.
A person to share music with - I am very lucky that my lovely wife
Gina shares a love of music and the concert experience. I don't believe that she is as crazily fanatical as I am but it is wonderful to share these great experiences with the most important person in my life. Some beautiful evenings at RedRocks in Colorado (along with some rainy and cold ones as well), backstage with John Hiatt / BB King, celebrating New Years Eve with Gov't Mule and a couple thousand of our closest friends, these are just some of amazing and memorable moments that we shared.
But it's not just the live music. I also have a person who laughs along with me when we hear the Andy Kim song on the tv, or Rubberband man, or The Gambler. She comes home from the grocery store with a list of the funny songs so we can share them together.
And while we don't always agree (Jon Anderson of Yes makes her skin crawl) I still love her anyway.
My Albums / CDs - I have written about the
loss of the long play format, and while I am a big fan of the Yahoo Subscription Service as a means to listen to / discover new music, I still buy full length CDs as the means to acquire music.
I have yet to buy an individual song from iTunes or the like, I never used the old napster, and when I do fill my mp3 player, it is with full length albums or live shows and never just assorted songs.
And while I don't listen to my LPs much any longer, I wouldn't get rid of them for anything.
So that ends part one and brings us to part 2 and the posting of my playlist.
I use the last.fm audioscrobbler to keep
my stats, and while not entirely inclusive it is probably a fairly close representation of what I have listened to for the last year and a half. Obviously items in the car are excluded as well as my live show CDs which I have never bothered to tag.
Looking at the list, I can't say that these particular tracks say anything about me other than that they are songs I like or ones that are generally very listenable. I think it is interesting that these songs collectively make up a very small percentage of what I have listened to. As I approach 19,000 tracks scrobbled, my number one still has only 35 plays - a scant .2%
Thin Lizzy - Cowboy Song (35 - 0.2%)
Adam Hood - Play Something We Know (33 - 0.2%)
Traffic - Empty Pages (33 - 0.2%)
Adam Hood - Coffee Song (31 - 0.2%)
Gov't Mule - Brighter Days (30 - 0.2%)
Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again (30 - 0.2%)
Gov't Mule - So Weak, So Strong (28 - 0.2%)
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Crowing (20 - 0.2%)
Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane (27 - 0.1%)
The Band - The Weight (27 - 0.1%)
Gov't Mule - Beautifully Broken (26 - 0.1%)
The Sundays - Summertime (26 - 0.1%)
Boz Scaggs - Loan Me a Dime (26 - 0.1%)
So there you have it. An insight into my musical mind. I guess I need to tag the next folk so let's see what
Jessica,
Mike,
Ross,
Jenna and the other
Jessica have to say about same.
SB
Live music is live music - if it gives you the thrill it doesn't matter if it is a marching band or a jazz trio.
This was a fun exercise - thanks for tagging me.
SB
Personally I don't attend many concerts, I have never been a big crowds, and that has only gotten worse as I have aged. Combine that with being a cheap skate, and often broke, you'll be able to guess that I don't go to many concerts.
I generally consider myself to listen to a fairly wide variety of music, and although I am really bad with names, I only recognize 2 of those songs, and I don't recognize 3 of the bands. I only know about Gov't Mule from you and your blog.
That's really great for you though, it is really great when you can enjoy the things you love, and when you have someone you love who enjoys them too. I can already guess what at least one of your posts next month will be about.
I don't really like the big crowds either, we usually stick to the club or theater shows. My days of stadiums and festivals is well behind me.
Music is such a personal thing, and there is so much to choose from, there is no way to keep in touch with all of it. I glance through some of the last.fm charts and am just baffled by a lot of it..
SB