Superfunkomatic - Observations of the Socially Inept

here’s what i’m listening to right now - some current faves

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPublishedPlaylist?id=236397

** You need the iTunes Software to view this playlist.

i read an interesting article on how some guy found that the music store encouraged him to explore new musical avenues simply because he could preview them. he was a seventies rocker (springsteen, and such) but was listening to 90s alternative and even some of the latest top 40.

well, i’m not as old as this guy, but i’ve found i’ve had a new interest in the top 40 again - gwen stefani, k-os, jimmy eat world, boy, etc. which leads me to believe, you’re only as old as you feel - and frankly, i can still relate, so i’m going to hang in there a bit more. fear of becoming one of those people you drum up a conversation with who knows nothing of popular media is reason enough to stay in tune.

here’s the article from the [url=http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/10831640.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp]ContraCosta Times[/url] (since they require a login/password) -

CHUCK BARNEY: AS SEEN ON TV

Music: The Apple iPod of his ears

BY NOW I’m sure that many of you have heard about the many benefits offered by the technological marvel known as the iPod. Apple’s portable digital audio player allows users to download massive quantities of music from their computers, create personalized playlists and transport them wherever they want with minimum hassle.

For me, the iPod has paid dividends in one other way: It has done what once may have seemed impossible by delivering me from my geezer-rock rut.

Allow me to explain: As a college student back in the early 1980s, I was a huge music fan — mainly rock ‘n’ roll — who routinely threw away large chunks of my measly paycheck on concert tickets and the latest CDs. I thought it was a lifestyle that would last forever, and I swore to anybody who would listen that, as I got older, I would never be one of those live-in-the-past fogies who loses touch with modern music.

What a crock! I got married and had kids and my priorities naturally changed. The surplus money that once went to music now was directed toward furniture for the house and food and clothes for our two growing boys. Even my radio-listening time gradually became dominated by news stations or NPR or sports events.

Consequently, when I did make time for music, it was usually the same old stuff from way back when: Bruce Springsteen, U2, the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Motown, etc. Occasionally, a new artist or a highly popular tune slipped through the net — I was a fan of Coldplay early on — but mostly it was “Born to Run” and “Thunder Road” for the 10,000th time.

The sad thing was that I was pretty much cool with this. Aside from those depressing moments when I’d hear my favorite tunes being piped into the doctor’s office or the local grocery store, I didn’t give my geezer-rock captivity much thought. Besides, wasn’t this stuff creatively and intellectually superior to anything the young guys were spitting out?

And so when my wife bestowed upon me a new iPod mini for Christmas, my MO was exactly as you’d expect: I immediately downloaded every Springsteen album known to man. I devoted an entire playlist to U2, and one to the Rolling Stones. I also welcomed to my iPod many other friends from the past, including Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Boston, the Who, ELO, Warren Zevon, Marvin Gaye … on and on it went.

Depending on how you looked at it, my iPod either was a heartfelt tribute to pop-music hall-of-famers or a dismal roll call of the dead and dying.

But then a weird thing happened. After loading up this wonderful little device with every personal favorite I could possibly think of, I still had room left over on the iPod. Lots of room. So now what?

Enter iTunes, the online music shop that offers downloadable songs by the thousands. In the recent past, I often hesitated to purchase a CD by a new artist because it represented a foray into the unknown as well as a sizable hunk of change. But on iTunes, you can pluck individual songs off an album for as little as 99 cents a pop and — better yet — you can often sample songs for free.

The site opened up a whole new world for me. Suddenly, I was being introduced to intriguing new artists along the lines of Modest Mouse (and no, that’s not a cartoon character). And into the iPod flowed songs from Green Day, OutKast, Bright Eyes, the Killers, the Pixies — all musical acts that I knew next to nothing about only a couple of months ago.

Now, I’d be lying if I said all these new people are grabbing as much play time on my iPod as the old-timers (though at least I’m listening to U2’s new CD). And that’s OK with me. I remember taking a pop music class in college and hearing the instructor talk about how we will always have an inextricable bond to the music of our youth because that’s the music that resonated most strongly for us when we were at the most impressionable — and emotional — stages of our lives.

For me, Springsteen was/is all that and more. Not only did he speak so powerfully to me during my college years, but his music matured and continued to reflect many of my own beliefs and feelings deep into adulthood. No matter how much I dig Green Day’s “American Idiot” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” it’s just not the same and never will be.

Nevertheless, this new world has been an exciting place to explore. And though I’m certainly not ready to go 12 rounds with Times critic Tony Hicks in a discussion of modern pop/alternative music, I am proud to be able to proclaim that this is one open-minded baby boomer who knows the term “Interpol” can refer to more than just that famous police organization.

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