There are maybe four writers who could persuade me to go to iTunes and download music without even listening to a preview.
Here’s <a href=” http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/living-with-music-a-playlist-by-peter-robinson/”>one</a>. I am listening to Richard Hawley as I type this, and have also purchased albums by Keren Ann and Kate Rusby.
(The books are superb, too, by the way.)
I looked through his list and there’s a lot of overlap between his list and my iTunes collection. I’m a big fan of Keren Ann, the new duo of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Kate Rusby, Nick Cave, Coltane, the Thompsons, and Lucinda Williams.
That’s a great list. Keren Ann is wonderful. You know when you like 3/4 of a list, you’ll probably like the others too. Out to get that Hawley chap.
Isn’t the overlap interesting? (Except for the Dead.) I-Tunes makes me a bit crazy, though–most of my music is on CD and even vinyl (though I confess the latter’s just a fetish), connected to four speakers, the better to win stereo wars with The Teen Boy and his I-Tunes on his feeble little computer speakers. If you happen to be I-Tunes-shy, you can hear many of these artists for free at Pandora–if you haven’t tried Pandora.com, “The Music Genome Project,” it’s a great way to be caught off-guard by music you might never hear, otherwise. Enter an artist’s name to create a “radio station,” and Pandora will play that artist’s tracks, plus artists it considers similar by some unknown logarithm. I created a Kate Rusby station, and now, 7 or 8 tracks later, it’s playing Linda Thompson, whom I’ve never heard before. And as for Strauss’s Four Last Songs, give a listen to Jessye Norman’s voice.
Okay, time for a story . . .
A few weeks ago, when I was in New York, I was interviewed on the Lenny Lopate show. I was waiting in the hallway when a tall, curly-haired man burst in with a bunch of records under his arm. “Records!” he said. “I like records!” He went through them with great enthusiasm; I remember one was by Bobby Fuller. He had a British accent and in my head I stereotyped him as “Charming aging hippie DJ.”
He kept talking to two young women working on their laptops. LOTS of energy. Then he began assessing the press in the UK. “No, we don’t want to talk to them, they’re like the New York Post here.” (I could be getting that wrong; he definitely made the comparison, but perhaps he did want to talk to the paper in question.) It became apparent that the two young women actually worked for this fireball. I glanced down at the floor, where there was a stack of CDs by one of the women’s feet. Even upside down, I recognized the cover because I had been given it just the day before as a gift — Allison Kraus and Robert Plant. Which made the aging hippie . . . Robert Plant.
I thought of saying just that: “You’re Robert Plant.” But I’m pretty sure he knew that.
The only other thing that occurred to me was, “I’m sorry, but I just never really liked Led Zeppelin all that much, but I think it’s because the first boy who played it for me was kind of dim.”
I don’t think he needed to hear that, either.
Terry Teachout (possibly through Sarah Weinman) introduced me to the Music Genome project. Very cool.
I heartily endorse Richard Thompson (and Linda). And if there’s anyone out there who hasn’t heard Coltrane’s My Favorite Things — wow, you’ve got an “into heaven I’m hurted” moment coming on. I particularly like the two songs with Johnny Hartman.
I have a friend who is a musician, Bob Turner is his name and his most recent cd has a Linda Thompson song on it “No Telling” It’s a beautiful love song. If I may be so bold as to plug his cd, it is called “Nice Place to Visit” and you can hear a selection by going to http://www.acousticbylines.com and clicking on his picture!
Zelda,
That kind of boldness is always welcome here.
I’m always here to make everyone else look better. I know my place in life and have figured out ways to exploit it.
I like the new song from Hannah Montana and her dad Billy Ray Cyrus. I’ve said it, I’m proud, and I’m not backing down dammit.
It’s been a while since I checked out Pandora but it is, in a word, awesome. And Diana, I love the idea of stereo wars – I really wonder what havoc iPods and MP3s will wreak upon the sound-happy (somewhere, in my parents’ house, is my dad’s very very old quadrophonic speaker hookup.)
Thanks, Laura. I didn’t want to overstep the boundries!
Well, we always have Bryon when boundaries needed to be overstepped.
(Just kidding, Bryon.)
I haven’t listened to Nick Cave in years. I will most definitely check out Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
Byron, I teach middle school. If I made that statement, I would be the most popular teacher, ever.
On a completely separate note — in today’s Washington Post crossword puzzle B-A-L-T-I-M-O-R-E and W-I-R-E-T-A-P cross eachother. Thought that was kind of cool.
Totally off topic, but: in the Oct. 1 issue of Library Journal they review a book called Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore and mention mystery writers Laura and David Simon!