I have been schlepping around a massive collection of musical media for decades, ranging from vinyl and cassettes from when I was a kid, CDs from teenage to medium-adult years, and iPod MP3s onward from there. Over the years I accumulated more plastics and bits. At some point in the last few years it seems like that collection has become obsolete; I realize it has been a couple of years since I bought any CDs or digital downloads, or powered on my iPod for that matter. Come to think of it, I haven’t even pirated much of anything in that time either. (Ironically, I recently got a new turntable, more about that next time.) Practically everything is ready right now to queue up for online streaming. This revelation must be obvious to the rest of the world. I’m a late adopter and I take a long time to decide on things. From another perspective then, if it has won me over, it’s pretty solid. Continue reading →

It’s comforting but unsettling to find obituaries written online the moment we hear the news of someone significant passing away. A writer takes the time in advance to cast warm light on a life span and distill the essence of character. This morning I noticed a photo of younger David Bowie in the side panel of imgur and could draw the quick conclusion he was in the news for more than just his latest record, “Blackstar.” Just as fast as I could load reddit.com/r/music I could see a major thread running – I knew he must have died. Continue reading →