Monthly Archives: March 2008

Back Seat Producers

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I still suffer from this bad writing habit of starting with a clear objective and then wandering off to a completely different topic. Just like when I went out for a walk today. I thought it would be great to walk directly southwest to the lake, but through a series of random turns I ended up directly northeast, almost at BYU. If this were an essay exam for English Composition or Western Civilization it might matter, but I think I finally have the liberty to turn left when I say right. The only red mark on my paper is that this topic is still pent up in my mind; I put all that effort into my last post about being a U2 fanboi when I should have been telling you about Trevor Horn. (So, now my tastes in music are pinpointed to the 80’s. Should be obvious already.) Continue reading →

“And It’s Been All Over You”

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Knee jerk. I get an email from Plan 9 Music every week with the New Releases. I spent some time in Virginia in 2000 and I signed up for their newsletter, lingering like a chronic itch. With my rapid scan across the list certain bands trigger my post-hypnotic suggestion to drop what I’m doing and load up amazon.com and add to my wish list; on bad days I shake off my stupor and wake up at the record store with a bag full of CDs. At some point I no longer have a choice when it comes to buying new records that come out. That doesn’t always work out as far as actually enjoying the music, but sometimes I’ll catch myself in a “Ooh, this is… actually… really Good!” Continue reading →

“SO”

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Who is going to read this? Probably just me. I get a kick out of my own writing. Some day I’ll show my mom, and it will be like declassifying the top secret memos of my cryptic adolescence. I’ll just go on trying to describe things that don’t come across very well with words and that don’t seem to relate from one person to the next. If I’ve ever tried to convey my experiences with some really interesting (to me) record it always falls flat. Sure I have some intense feelings or imagery about it, but the words I come up with can never build the significance and the other person can’t possibly get it the same way I did. An interpretation of art (notice how I didn’t say music, because you might inappropriately include corporate top 40) is unique to every person’s background and tastes. Continue reading →

We Dis’ the 70s, Easy Target

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Where. To. Start.

This compulsion has been driving me for years with building intensity. Maybe all the way back to ABBA and Alice Cooper I didn’t have much to work with. I’m just glad “Dancing Queen” didn’t stick and that I didn’t wind up with “Party Monster” based on my catastrophic debauchery. No, instead I stumbled through Kool & the Gang, O N J and E L O. I swear it was completely innocent and naive. There’s nothing pure and virtuous about how my family nurtured me in Queen and the Doobie Brothers. Well, I don’t hold my mom accountable for the Carpenters and Johnny Mathis. Continue reading →

They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parked Domain

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What a great day! See, I learned something from creative writing. Open the story with something that takes a lot more explanation. Some writers take the liberty of another thousand pages to fill out what they meant by their first few words. I have no doubt it will take at least that length to clear out the clutter in my mind to tell you about my obsession: Music. Today I’m finally putting impetus to my intentions and I’m settling on a suitable domain name, senseandsound.net. All alliterations aside, this was not my first choice. “senseofsound.net” made more sense to me, but the squatters win for now. Continue reading →