On Music... which quickly turns into another paean to RP

I can usually count on my blogging friends for inspiration, and such is the case with this post. Lou has been reflecting on some of her favorite music over the course of the last day or two and unsurprisingly (or surprisingly, take your pick) I find we have several artists in common: Gary P. Nunn and Joe Ely, just to name two. Lou has a definite advantage over me in this area, as she has lived in places where it wasn’t out of the ordinary to see folks like Gary and/or Joe on a regular basis. Most college towns are like that, come to think on it. And Lou has another musical claim to fame that simply cannot be topped: Neil Young played at her wedding reception! Yowza!!

Music is (and has always been) very, very important to me. Less so these days than in the way-back when I subscribed to The Hippie Trinity of “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll,” the latter two being prime facilitators of the first, of course. But that tells you more than a little bit about the type of women I hung around with back in the day. Guys, too. The one thing we had one thing in common was a deep devotion to “our” music, and all the trappings…the de rigueur subscription to Rolling Stone (or Creem), the monthly trips here and there to concerts, the patched jeans, the whole nine yards. It was a culcha thang. And part of that culcha was looking down our collective noses at any musical genre that wasn’t “hip”…especially country.

But, ah…the greatest “good thing” about aging is your horizons broaden along with your waist line. Conventional wisdom, such as it is, goes by the boards and you are essentially free of peer pressure to enjoy what you will. I began to develop an appreciation for classical music around age 35 and country music around 40. The aforementioned Joe Ely piqued my interest in country when I saw him in London for the first time in ’81 or ’82 (The Grateful Dead and The Eagles aside. How we made allowances for these two group’s obvious country influences is beyond me, but we did.), Lyle Lovett sharpened it in the mid-80s, and SN1 exposed me to some really great country stuff a few years back. So, I’m a confirmed country fan, now. (SN1, by the way, has the most eclectic taste in music I’ve ever seen, including hip-hop, which I just cannot get into no matter how hard I try.)

Another of the greatest things about pop music is its constant evolution and the constant parade of new artists. “Keeping up” has been a bit of a problem these past few years, or ever since I landed in P-Town. I cancelled my subscription to RS years and years ago, and local radio…uh…sucks, to put it mildly. Long-time readers know I’ve found an answer to this problem: Radio Paradise. I’ve gone on (and on, and on) quite a bit about the wonderfulness of RP. The best thing is the wide variety of music on RP; here’s an example from this hour:

11:22 am - Stephen Stills - Treetop Flyer
11:17 am - Billy Bragg & Wilco - Airline to Heaven
11:12 am - Diana Krall - Fly Me to the Moon
11:06 am - Miles Davis - Blue In Green
11:01 am - Herbie Hancock - Stitched Up (w/ John Mayer)
10:56 am - Cracker - Something You Ain't Got

Two pure-jazz tunes, one jazz-pop fusion tune, one acoustic “Old Hippie” song, and two others. Great stuff. RP also plays a fair bit of country, too…including Johnny and Roseanne Cash, Lyle, Lucinda Williams, Hank Williams (senior), Joe Ely, and Steve Earle, just to name a few that come immediately to mind. And not much, if any, hip-hop. This is a good thing. Another “good thing” is the sense of community RP has. Bill, RP’s proprietor, has facilitated this community by allowing members (membership is free) to comment on each and every song played, and to rate each song on a scale from one to ten. The comments forums (fora?) are a hoot and can be educational to boot, what with song and artist trivia posted routinely. RP members’ song ratings are aggregated in one spot, so you can get a sense of what people like (and don’t like) simply by viewing their profile. As an example, here’s my complete list of “tens:”

10 - The Who - Quadrophenia
10 - Rolling Stones - Wild Horses
10 - Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview
10 - Glenn Miller - A String of Pearls
10 - The Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)
10 - Joni Mitchell - A Case of You
10 - Beatles - You Never Give Me/The End
10 - Kinks - Living On A Thin Line
10 - Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home
10 - Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
10 - Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly
10 - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pipeline
10 - Rolling Stones - Moonlight Mile

Entirely predictable for a guy my age, eh? That Beatles entry is the complete second side of Abbey Road, by the way. If you’re interested, my complete set of ratings is here. A quick perusal of my ratings list gives one a good feel for the eclectic nature of RP’s play list. And insight into my "taste," such as it is.

Radio Paradise: I’d be lost without it. Well, maybe not “lost,” but certainly a lot poorer. The soundtrack to my life these days. Assuming the ‘net connection is in serviceable order, of course.