Lost in the supermarket

or at least in the comfort of my own home. Lemme 'splain. Like a refugee, I'm writing this from my old PC because my Mac won't turn on. I'm taking it in to the Apple store on Sat, but in the meantime I have no idea what to do with myself. The whole ordeal is scary in a few ways. Obviously there's the potential data loss, including basically all of the data for the new show I've been working on, but it's also scary how at a loss I am. I mean right now I'm doing exactly what I would be doing if the Mac was working; smoking, listening to music, & blogging/interwebbing. Yet I feel lost doing it. Part of that must be the anxiety over what the end result of this may be. Oddly, the PC which has been f*'ed for years, is behaving fine. So, I'm listening to Zeena Parkins ~ The Opium War. It's a radio play about well, opium, in NYC during the teens. Delicious Avante-Garde Over-the-Topness.

A journey of a couple of discs

Two very good friends of mine currently live in an apartment that I once inhabited. A lotta shit went down in that apartment, and it's more than a little surreal visiting them. ("See that nail in the chimney? That was there when I lived here. I had a picture of Zappa hanging on it.") The other day they stopped by my house and ended up borrowing a few discs, including some Bowie and Sebadoh. I realized after they left that those discs were all in my collection at the time I lived there, and are now making a journey into an apartment where they too once lived many years ago. I find it interesting that those same discs will fill the air within the same walls some thirteen years later.

*a note about the title: When I first started the Project I made an attempt to keep a journal about every single discs I listened to. Needless to say, that task failed. However, the first entry started like this: It began with Rabih Abou-Khalil. Theoretically, it will end with Zuco 103. A journey of a thousand plus CD's. The Great Listening Project.

Lessons from the Project pt. 1

Over the last two years, three months, and seven days since I started the Great Listening Project I've learned a few things. Some of them are completely inconsequential, others have had profound philosophical impact. This new, semi-regular series will highlight those insights.

Tastes change. And of course I mean the obvious "I used to like Anthrax, now I like Radiohead," but I also mean that how we react to and interact with music changes. The criteria by which we deem something "bad" or "good" evolves as well. One inevitable result of listening to music all the time is an increased knowledge of at least the basics of theory and how music works in general, which leads to an appreciation of more technically sophisticated musics. But mood plays a part as well. Think of the way a specific song, album, etc.. can attach itself to a specific life event, be it "good" or "bad." And that opinion can change as one's feelings towards said life event change. Sometimes too it's just a general feeling. As I mentioned here, I've been feelin' the rock on vinyl vibe which means I'm more receptive to the Clash and Olivia Newton-John than I am to the William Parker disc I'm listening to right now. Another factor is surroundings, what you're being exposed to, voluntary or otherwise. Also, the process of discovery adds to a personal database of information, including who got what ideas from whom. "I used to think So & So was great till I heard Such & Such." And sometimes you just wonder "What the fuck was I thinking?"

Tastes remain the same. Some opinions really are forever. There are songs, albums, artists, etc.. that I will just plain dis/like for the rest of my life. Some of them because of their association with less than pleasant life events. For example. And all of the above factors (knowledge, surroundings, life events, etc..) can also influence the permanence of an opinion. Knowledge can reenforce an initial feeling. "See, I was right. This is good/bad." Same goes for being surrounded by people who share similar tastes. "We both, all, etc.. dis/like this. See, we're right."

Personally, my opinion seems to change from "bad" to "good" more than the other way around, and once something is considered "good" it tends to remain that way. Which could mean that I have no taste and think everything is ok, or that I seek the good in what I'm listening to.

A list, a bird, a days listen

Today I started Charlie Parker. I have 3 CDs, 5 discs worth of digital, and an LP, and started with the digital on my walk to work. Once there my boss told me that it was "oldies day" and I got to pick. What this meant was having about 150, mostly classic rock greatest hits discs to choose from. He was really just throwing me a bone because he knew I was going to end up staying open to close. Be that as it may it was still like blessed relief from the norm. The list starts with his selection, and eventually is taken over by the assistant manager. I bet the astute among you can figure out where DJ-ship starts to change.

Van Morrison
Grateful Dead
Dire Straights
Buena Vista Social Club
the Police
David Bowie
Led Zeppelin
No Doubt
Bob Marley
the Who
Now 7
Sheryl Crow

Then some more Bird on the way home, followed by Sun Ra & Eno records.

Clerical Error in Row 13

Sunday night I listened to most of William Orbit's Pieces in a Modern Style. By the time I turned it off I had three songs left so I put them on my iPod for the walk to work Monday. Last night I planned to (and did) paint the stairs while listening to the two Oranj Symphonette albums. Ooops.

The Orbit disc defines boring. Light classical pieces programmed (not performed) into MIDI and played back with lots of washy pads. No need to listen to that one ever again. Oranj, however, was a real treat to hear. I haven't heard the first one, Plays Mancini, "since the divorce" as the saying goes, but it was as fresh as if I had just heard it last week. Both albums did carry a certain flashback factor though. They were in such heavy rotation for me (and certain others) during a very specific time that listening to them brought up all sorts of memories. And as saccharine as Francis Lai's theme for A Woman and a Man can be, the Oranj version was like a tiny dagger in my heart reminding me of a long forgotten moment of pain.

It's funny 'cuz it's true pt.2

I find it interesting that my recent vinyl obsession and my return to smoking (no, not cigarettes) have led me to a renewed interest in not only rock in general, but rock that is psychedelic and/or textural and/or expansive. As I've joked, less than 24 hours after I bought a bag for the first time in over a year and a half I also bought a Grateful Dead record. And while that certainly has the greatest comedic value, largely due to this post, a quick run down of recent purchases and acquisitions reveals this trend. On vinyl: My Morning Jacket, Apollo Sunshine, Pet Sounds, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (on the turntable right now), and digitally: Silver Apples, Spacemen 3, Can (I mean really, Can fer chrissakes!) Now, if I start to listen to Phish again you'll know I've really lost it.

Dual discos, and a potential new start.

When I first heard Pretty Hate Machine (probably '91) it was a revelation. Not only did I not know that you could make music that sounded like that, but I didn't know that one person! could do that. However, by the late nineties I wasn't really interested in anything but Jazz and lost track of what Mr. Reznor was up to. For the project I "got" and listened to the entire discography. First of all, it re-enforced my belief that re-mix albums blow. Take a decent song and make it go dikka-tsa, dikka-tsa? No thanks. As for the regular albums, the first two I enjoyed, although probably as much out of nostalgia as anything else, and the rest I thought were ok. I feel like NIN is a band I should like more, but I just can't get past the goth-esque "I'm so afraid of God" thing. There are moments here and there of musical or textural beauty, but the over-all impression (for me) is that I just don't care. That being said, I did really enjoy Ghosts (perhaps because it is instrumental) and am seriously contemplating buying it on vinyl despite the $45 price-tag.

Last week I went to Maine for a few days, and my entire ride up was the Nirvana discography. Even after this recent listening I have such mixed feelings about this band. Because they were good, but they were also overrated. And while Kurt was saddled with that "voice of a generation" tag, he was very much the embodiment of that moment. It's not that he, or his band, were extraordinary visionaries, more like they were the absolute stereotype of what was happening at the time. The first time I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was over the loudspeakers at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert (openers: Smashing Pumpkins (who I hated) and the completely unheard of Pearl Jam) and while I had been hearing buzz about Nirvana by then (Nov. '91) it was just another new good band, not some out-of-the-blue bolt from heaven. Now, in 2008, the still-played hits from these albums have the feel of classic rock chestnuts, which I guess they are. And none of my impressions of individual albums changed. I've always thought Bleach was overrated by people who wanted to pretend they were on the bandwagon earlier than they were. Nevermind is as poppy as they get. Incesticide, being a b-sides & rarities collection, has some hidden gems and some throwaways. In Utero is still my favorite, noisy and angry. And Unplugged revealed that some of their songs were actually good.

On a completely different subject, it looks like I'm going to be moving to Providence and going back to school. A confluence of forces have conspired to lead me to these decisions. The first is that Chris not only sort of has to sell the house, but also wants to move to someplace warmer. (He is, after all, old.) That made me look at my life and think about where, physically, I wanted to be. As he talked about Florida as an option I looked into Full Sail University, which has certain benefits, but then I'd have to move to Florida. As I started to think about school, I decided to look into URI, specifically the Continuing Education (or Old People's College as I like to call it) up in Providence. Then there is a social element. With Harry starting college this semester I'd have a sort of school buddy, even though we'll be at different campuses. Next is the fact that I'm now in the system at as220 and have the opportunity to grow that a bit more. And finally, Kyle has been dating someone who lives in Providence so he spends most of his time up there anyway. The other night he and I met after work and when I asked if he wanted to move to PVD he said sure.

All the chips are in place. Let's proceed.

So, I have. The other day I met with an advisor to get the ball rolling. He told me some things that I might have figured out on my own, but it was useful to hear from someone in an official capacity. And yesterday I filled out my application, mailed it along with my CCRI transcript and called my high school to have them send that transcript. Next week I plan to meet with a financial aid advisor, and perhaps the heads of a couple of departments. So things are moving forward. Future, here we come!