[BostonCard]

Yeah, music is context specific, not just on an individual level but on a society-wide level.

https://sites.gatech.edu/econjournal/202...e-economy/

This paper found that music mood is correlated to stock returns in the same week and anti-correlated to returns the next week.

We find that music sentiment is positively correlated with same-week equity market returns and negatively correlated with next-week returns, consistent with sentiment-induced temporary mispricing.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...5X21003718

BC

[BostonCard]

Yeah, music is context specific, not just on an individual level but on a society-wide level.

https://sites.gatech.edu/econjournal/202...e-economy/

This paper found that music mood is correlated to stock returns in the same week and anti-correlated to returns the next week.

We find that music sentiment is positively correlated with same-week equity market returns and negatively correlated with next-week returns, consistent with sentiment-induced temporary mispricing.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...5X21003718

BC

[qwerty49]

Hulk is absolutely right; context is everything.  And everything is relative.  My own musical background is a chaotic soup that reflected the times.

I'm from that suburban boomer generation that grew up with just about everything on the radio/TV.  As a kid I can even remember Patti Page singing "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?" and my parents watching Perry Como on TV.  And of course my parents didn't want me to listen to subversive stuff like Elvis.

I was coerced by my mom into taking classical piano lessons and, even though I was pretty good, I hated playing that 200-yr-old stuff note-for-note for my stuffy old teacher -- until one day I arrived early and Lloyd, the clerk at the piano store where I had my lessons, blew me away playing the bluesy theme riff from "77 Sunset Strip."   Inspired, I came back the next week and showed Lloyd how I had figured out the theme songs from "Maverick," "Rifleman," etc -- "Now you're finally learning how to play the instrument," he grinned.

And then all hell broke loose with a rush.  Folk music took center stage and all of a sudden lyrics were meaningful.  Suddenly music took on a whole new dimension.  Dylan came along and we all picked up guitars and croaked out "The Times They are a-Changin" and "Blowing in the Wind." 

And just as quickly the Beatles and Stones led the British Invasion, while Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys literally defined modern harmony.  Turn around again and all of a sudden so many great, danceable tunes starting coming out of Motown. 

Now toss in the psychedelic era (The Dead, The Airplane, etc) and some groundbreaking jazz (Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, etc) to make your head spin.

Then add "new" genres such as country-flavored rock and it's all a lot to absorb before your early 20's.  (And I did get to see both Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks play on-campus parties at Stanford in the late 60's!)

I played in a pretty hot cover band from '71-'74 and by then we referred to our Dylan, Motown and Stones tunes as oldies -- things were moving that fast!

Looking back, before I hit the ripe old age of 25, here are some fave songs:

Wild Horses  (Stones).  A beautiful chord structure, just a really fun song to arrange and play.
Lodi (Creedence).  Ever spent any time in Lodi? 'Nuff said, LOL.
Just My Imagination (Temps). Captures that angst of unrequited love so well....
She's Gone (Hall&Oates) a really nice fusion of pop and soul.  In later years, "Live at Daryl's House" was a true revelation into how great a musician Daryl Hall was/is.
Long, Long Time (Linda). Yeah, what a voice. She did so many great tunes but this one was the door-opener.

Honorable mention:  I Will Always Love You (Dolly 1974/Whitney1992) -- An underrated love song IMHO.  Both versions are fantastic.

But then disco came along in the late 70's and ruined everything.  It took me a while to recover from that, and then I spent 9 years overseas in the 90's and that pretty much guaranteed I would stay in the Jurassic Age.

[qwerty49]

Hulk is absolutely right; context is everything.  And everything is relative.  My own musical background is a chaotic soup that reflected the times.

I'm from that suburban boomer generation that grew up with just about everything on the radio/TV.  As a kid I can even remember Patti Page singing "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?" and my parents watching Perry Como on TV.  And of course my parents didn't want me to listen to subversive stuff like Elvis.

I was coerced by my mom into taking classical piano lessons and, even though I was pretty good, I hated playing that 200-yr-old stuff note-for-note for my stuffy old teacher -- until one day I arrived early and Lloyd, the clerk at the piano store where I had my lessons, blew me away playing the bluesy theme riff from "77 Sunset Strip."   Inspired, I came back the next week and showed Lloyd how I had figured out the theme songs from "Maverick," "Rifleman," etc -- "Now you're finally learning how to play the instrument," he grinned.

And then all hell broke loose with a rush.  Folk music took center stage and all of a sudden lyrics were meaningful.  Suddenly music took on a whole new dimension.  Dylan came along and we all picked up guitars and croaked out "The Times They are a-Changin" and "Blowing in the Wind." 

And just as quickly the Beatles and Stones led the British Invasion, while Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys literally defined modern harmony.  Turn around again and all of a sudden so many great, danceable tunes starting coming out of Motown. 

Now toss in the psychedelic era (The Dead, The Airplane, etc) and some groundbreaking jazz (Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, etc) to make your head spin.

Then add "new" genres such as country-flavored rock and it's all a lot to absorb before your early 20's.  (And I did get to see both Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks play on-campus parties at Stanford in the late 60's!)

I played in a pretty hot cover band from '71-'74 and by then we referred to our Dylan, Motown and Stones tunes as oldies -- things were moving that fast!

Looking back, before I hit the ripe old age of 25, here are some fave songs:

Wild Horses  (Stones).  A beautiful chord structure, just a really fun song to arrange and play.
Lodi (Creedence).  Ever spent any time in Lodi? 'Nuff said, LOL.
Just My Imagination (Temps). Captures that angst of unrequited love so well....
She's Gone (Hall&Oates) a really nice fusion of pop and soul.  In later years, "Live at Daryl's House" was a true revelation into how great a musician Daryl Hall was/is.
Long, Long Time (Linda). Yeah, what a voice. She did so many great tunes but this one was the door-opener.

Honorable mention:  I Will Always Love You (Dolly 1974/Whitney1992) -- An underrated love song IMHO.  Both versions are fantastic.

But then disco came along in the late 70's and ruined everything.  It took me a while to recover from that, and then I spent 9 years overseas in the 90's and that pretty much guaranteed I would stay in the Jurassic Age.

[Hulk01]

and jackettree got me thinking:

At least a decade ago, I asked my Facebook friends to identify their 20 favorite songs.

Surely, I thought, Satisfaction and Like A Rolling Stone would earn several mentions.  I mean, those are great songs, near or at the top of Rolling Stone magazine's regularly updated "500 Best Songs of All Time."

Satisfaction was the first song I distinctly remember hearing. In the back of my parents' Volkswagen bug, I was three years old. From the opening guitar riff, I was transfixed and my dad almost immediately changed the station.

Most transformational song for me was The Animals' cover of the Clarence Ashley song House of the Rising Sun. So popular, it was the first British invasion Billboard 100 #1 song not directly connected to the Beatles (yes, I know Peter & Gordon's A World Without Love reached #1 before House of the Rising Son but it was written by McCartney and Lennon). It was released 61 years ago today, and was an instant, massive hit.

Some say it was a turning point in music, the first true folk rock song, including music critic and author Dave Marsh) and Ralph McLean of the BBC. The Animals were on tour with Chuck Berry and were looking for a song not directly connected to Berry. They closed the show with it, people loved it. BOb Dylan loved it so much, he dropped the acoustic sound and took up the electric sound for his next album, Bringing it All Back Home.

For me, Burdon is the most underrated British lead singer. Great with The Animals, great with War. Tiny little singer, brobdingnagian voice. Brian Jones called him the best blues singer to ever come out of England. Minor trivia: Burdon was the Egg man in the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus."

---

Same feelings re Satisfaction.  Sitting shotgun in Rick Hanson's blue '56 Chevy,  driving into Manzanita, Oregon, July 1965.  This utterly new sound, that famous opening riff to Satisfaction.  WTF is this?

He pulled the car onto the gravel.

We just knew things were changing.  

I think of that moment and  instantly think of Brian Wilson, famously, driving in LA,  hearing the opening to The Ronettes' Be My Baby, and pulling over to try to figure out what the eff Phil Spector was doing there.  

Many years later, I met Ronnie in Minneapolis after a gig.  Her sing-and-dance duo with Eddie Money on that Take Me Home Tonight video is among my favorite musical memories.

And speaking of that: dancing with Grace Slick and The Jefferson Airplane on stage at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, 1967.  Somebody to love, indeed.

And waking up in Minneapolis and hearing that Prince had passed. That night, downtown was lit up purple in mourning and the rain came and came.  That entire day felt funereal; he was our Prince.

And,  later, writing and producing a 60 second tribute to music for Musicland ("A King, a Queen, and a Prince.  . ."this land. .  .. .is a music land.) And later, again, , writing a novel in which my thinly veiled alter ego is a singer-songwriter. Because, yeah, that was my wish, just not my talent. 

Love y'all's reminiscences.

[Hulk01]

and jackettree got me thinking:

At least a decade ago, I asked my Facebook friends to identify their 20 favorite songs.

Surely, I thought, Satisfaction and Like A Rolling Stone would earn several mentions.  I mean, those are great songs, near or at the top of Rolling Stone magazine's regularly updated "500 Best Songs of All Time."

Satisfaction was the first song I distinctly remember hearing. In the back of my parents' Volkswagen bug, I was three years old. From the opening guitar riff, I was transfixed and my dad almost immediately changed the station.

Most transformational song for me was The Animals' cover of the Clarence Ashley song House of the Rising Sun. So popular, it was the first British invasion Billboard 100 #1 song not directly connected to the Beatles (yes, I know Peter & Gordon's A World Without Love reached #1 before House of the Rising Son but it was written by McCartney and Lennon). It was released 61 years ago today, and was an instant, massive hit.

Some say it was a turning point in music, the first true folk rock song, including music critic and author Dave Marsh) and Ralph McLean of the BBC. The Animals were on tour with Chuck Berry and were looking for a song not directly connected to Berry. They closed the show with it, people loved it. BOb Dylan loved it so much, he dropped the acoustic sound and took up the electric sound for his next album, Bringing it All Back Home.

For me, Burdon is the most underrated British lead singer. Great with The Animals, great with War. Tiny little singer, brobdingnagian voice. Brian Jones called him the best blues singer to ever come out of England. Minor trivia: Burdon was the Egg man in the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus."

---

Same feelings re Satisfaction.  Sitting shotgun in Rick Hanson's blue '56 Chevy,  driving into Manzanita, Oregon, July 1965.  This utterly new sound, that famous opening riff to Satisfaction.  WTF is this?

He pulled the car onto the gravel.

We just knew things were changing.  

I think of that moment and  instantly think of Brian Wilson, famously, driving in LA,  hearing the opening to The Ronettes' Be My Baby, and pulling over to try to figure out what the eff Phil Spector was doing there.  

Many years later, I met Ronnie in Minneapolis after a gig.  Her sing-and-dance duo with Eddie Money on that Take Me Home Tonight video is among my favorite musical memories.

And speaking of that: dancing with Grace Slick and The Jefferson Airplane on stage at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, 1967.  Somebody to love, indeed.

And waking up in Minneapolis and hearing that Prince had passed. That night, downtown was lit up purple in mourning and the rain came and came.  That entire day felt funereal; he was our Prince.

And,  later, writing and producing a 60 second tribute to music for Musicland ("A King, a Queen, and a Prince.  . ."this land. .  .. .is a music land.) And later, again, , writing a novel in which my thinly veiled alter ego is a singer-songwriter. Because, yeah, that was my wish, just not my talent. 

Love y'all's reminiscences.

[Mick]

But then disco came along in the late 70's and ruined everything.  It took me a while to recover from that, and then I spent 9 years overseas in the 90's and that pretty much guaranteed I would stay in the Jurassic Age.

Little tiny pushback here. Yes, it was very period-specific. But it was great time, great music, and as Hulk once pointed out, if you could do the dances, it was better than being a front man for a band. And I forget the name of the black singer who said this, but his comment was "It was the last time that black people bought music made by white people." Can concur.

[Mick]

But then disco came along in the late 70's and ruined everything.  It took me a while to recover from that, and then I spent 9 years overseas in the 90's and that pretty much guaranteed I would stay in the Jurassic Age.

Little tiny pushback here. Yes, it was very period-specific. But it was great time, great music, and as Hulk once pointed out, if you could do the dances, it was better than being a front man for a band. And I forget the name of the black singer who said this, but his comment was "It was the last time that black people bought music made by white people." Can concur.

[BobK]

A Fool in Love Ike and Tina Turner
Hit the Road Jack. Ray Charles
Blue Bayou Linda Ronstadt
Rhiannon Steve Nicks
The Weight The Band

[BobK]

A Fool in Love Ike and Tina Turner
Hit the Road Jack. Ray Charles
Blue Bayou Linda Ronstadt
Rhiannon Steve Nicks
The Weight The Band

[Publius]

I recommend keeping current with music.  It's a great way to stay mentally young.  With streaming it's easy to access music, but with so much out there it's daunting to drink from the fire hose.  I use three simple filters:

1. Listen to anything anybody recommends with EUTM if you've never heard of it
2. Check Metacritic on Friday (new release day) and listen to any album that rates 80+, anything 70+ if it's an artist you at least like a song or two
3. Listen to the top charting songs in your favorite genre.  In my case it's Alternative which covers a lot of ground and is really whatever is cutting edge or innovative across many genres.

It does help to have a two hour round trip daily commute to work.

[Publius]

I recommend keeping current with music.  It's a great way to stay mentally young.  With streaming it's easy to access music, but with so much out there it's daunting to drink from the fire hose.  I use three simple filters:

1. Listen to anything anybody recommends with EUTM if you've never heard of it
2. Check Metacritic on Friday (new release day) and listen to any album that rates 80+, anything 70+ if it's an artist you at least like a song or two
3. Listen to the top charting songs in your favorite genre.  In my case it's Alternative which covers a lot of ground and is really whatever is cutting edge or innovative across many genres.

It does help to have a two hour round trip daily commute to work.

[BostonCard]

Another way to expand my musical horizons is working out on Peloton.  I simply favorite any song I like; many are songs I’ve heard before, but often they are new to me (sometimes even though they are old songs).  Other times, I’m reminded of songs that I liked once upon a time but have forgotten (EMF’s Unbelievable for example, from my last ride).

Since we had a thing on Songs of the Summer, they recently had a 30 min Top 10 summer songs run.  Here’s the playlist (many that have been described here):

Watermelon Sugar by Henry Styles
Despacito by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and (in this version) Justin Bieber, though I like the original without him better
California Gurls by Katy Perry and Snoop Dog
Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Summer Girls by Lyte Funkie Ones
Summertime Sadness by Laura del Rey
The Boys of Summer by Don Henley (also, the Atari’s cover)
Summer of ‘69 by Bryan Adams
Summer by Calvin Harris
Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift (not the Bananarama song by the same name)
Kokomo by The Beach Boys (and I will say I like this as a summer song more than the suggestions that Mick had, though almost any Beach Boys song would qualify).

BC

[BostonCard]

Another way to expand my musical horizons is working out on Peloton.  I simply favorite any song I like; many are songs I’ve heard before, but often they are new to me (sometimes even though they are old songs).  Other times, I’m reminded of songs that I liked once upon a time but have forgotten (EMF’s Unbelievable for example, from my last ride).

Since we had a thing on Songs of the Summer, they recently had a 30 min Top 10 summer songs run.  Here’s the playlist (many that have been described here):

Watermelon Sugar by Henry Styles
Despacito by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and (in this version) Justin Bieber, though I like the original without him better
California Gurls by Katy Perry and Snoop Dog
Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Summer Girls by Lyte Funkie Ones
Summertime Sadness by Laura del Rey
The Boys of Summer by Don Henley (also, the Atari’s cover)
Summer of ‘69 by Bryan Adams
Summer by Calvin Harris
Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift (not the Bananarama song by the same name)
Kokomo by The Beach Boys (and I will say I like this as a summer song more than the suggestions that Mick had, though almost any Beach Boys song would qualify).

BC

[jacket3ree]

I just spent the weekend in Lodi. Napa without the crowds.  Would recommend.

Plug for Jonathan Richman's That Summer Feeling. Early '80s. Doesn't have to be happy unicorn time, does it?

[jacket3ree]

I just spent the weekend in Lodi. Napa without the crowds.  Would recommend.

Plug for Jonathan Richman's That Summer Feeling. Early '80s. Doesn't have to be happy unicorn time, does it?

[BostonCard]

Today I learned that the median age of an MTV viewer is… fifty-six.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/can-m..._permalink

BC

[BostonCard]

Today I learned that the median age of an MTV viewer is… fifty-six.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/can-m..._permalink

BC

[qwerty49]

Today I learned that the median age of an MTV viewer is… fifty-six.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/can-m..._permalink

BC

Wow, that’s a sobering fact. I’m sure I’m not the only one here who did the math and nodded yup.

[qwerty49]

Today I learned that the median age of an MTV viewer is… fifty-six.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/can-m..._permalink

BC

Wow, that’s a sobering fact. I’m sure I’m not the only one here who did the math and nodded yup.

[Mick]

I just spent the weekend in Lodi. Napa without the crowds.  Would recommend.

Plug for Jonathan Richman's That Summer Feeling. Early '80s. Doesn't have to be happy unicorn time, does it?

Spent two of the last three weekends in Los Olivos. Like an underpublicized Calistoga. Also was in Solvang, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.  It's a great place to live, isn't it?

Today I learned that the median age of an MTV viewer is… fifty-six.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/can-m..._permalink

BC

All-nostalgia and oldies, all the time. MTV started when I was a sophomore in college. Gad, I'm old...

[Mick]

I just spent the weekend in Lodi. Napa without the crowds.  Would recommend.

Plug for Jonathan Richman's That Summer Feeling. Early '80s. Doesn't have to be happy unicorn time, does it?

Spent two of the last three weekends in Los Olivos. Like an underpublicized Calistoga. Also was in Solvang, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.  It's a great place to live, isn't it?

Today I learned that the median age of an MTV viewer is… fifty-six.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/can-m..._permalink

BC

All-nostalgia and oldies, all the time. MTV started when I was a sophomore in college. Gad, I'm old...

[BostonCard]

So for Drumeos 50th "... for the first time" series (if you don't know what this is, scroll up in this thread, the tables got turned, and Drum had Brandon Toews (who usually is in the control room picking the song) play a song that he had never heard before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjZXepAZcQ

It's also a song I had never heard before, from a band, PRESIDENT that just formed this year.

The song, Fearless, was actually pretty good in a metalcore kind of way.  Towes guessed Bring me the Horizon, which is pretty close.

Here's the original Fearless.
https://youtu.be/uHHTmoJ0_tA?si=jgBBzp0bMGP5vxej

BC

[BostonCard]

So for Drumeos 50th "... for the first time" series (if you don't know what this is, scroll up in this thread, the tables got turned, and Drum had Brandon Toews (who usually is in the control room picking the song) play a song that he had never heard before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjZXepAZcQ

It's also a song I had never heard before, from a band, PRESIDENT that just formed this year.

The song, Fearless, was actually pretty good in a metalcore kind of way.  Towes guessed Bring me the Horizon, which is pretty close.

Here's the original Fearless.
https://youtu.be/uHHTmoJ0_tA?si=jgBBzp0bMGP5vxej

BC

[BostonCard]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

[BostonCard]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

[PalmTree]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

Please (!!!) tell us she played....bass

[PalmTree]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

Please (!!!) tell us she played....bass

[Mick]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

Please (!!!) tell us she played....bass

Dr. Bertozzi played the electronic keyboards...

Tom Morello was in college rock band with 2022 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry – and they were good | MusicRadar

But was gifted a bass...

Superstar science: Custom guitars for Nobel laureates and Swifties’ seismic signals

[Mick]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

Please (!!!) tell us she played....bass

Dr. Bertozzi played the electronic keyboards...

Tom Morello was in college rock band with 2022 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry – and they were good | MusicRadar

But was gifted a bass...

Superstar science: Custom guitars for Nobel laureates and Swifties’ seismic signals

[BostonCard]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

Please (!!!) tell us she played....bass

Dr. Bertozzi played the electronic keyboards...

Tom Morello was in college rock band with 2022 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry – and they were good | MusicRadar

But was gifted a bass...

Superstar science: Custom guitars for Nobel laureates and Swifties’ seismic signals

Evidently the won the battle of the bands at Harvard.

Also, random factoid about Morello is that his great uncle was Uhuru Kenyatta, the first President of Kenya.

BC

[BostonCard]

TIL that Tom Morello (guitarist and singer for Rage Against the Machine) played in a band at Harvard with now Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor (at Stanford) and Nobel Prize winner Carolyn Bertozzi.

BC

Please (!!!) tell us she played....bass

Dr. Bertozzi played the electronic keyboards...

Tom Morello was in college rock band with 2022 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry – and they were good | MusicRadar

But was gifted a bass...

Superstar science: Custom guitars for Nobel laureates and Swifties’ seismic signals

Evidently the won the battle of the bands at Harvard.

Also, random factoid about Morello is that his great uncle was Uhuru Kenyatta, the first President of Kenya.

BC

[BostonCard]

Interesting data here on what songs do most people know the lyrics to:

https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-sunday...-everybody

The top ones (Happy Birthday, Jingle Bells, Star Spangled Banner) are pretty obvious, but once you get down the list it gets interesting.  A fair number of Disney theme songs (Let It Go, We Don’t Talk About Bruno), and then some random ones, like Tubthumping by Chumbawamba.

https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-sunday...-everybody

BC

[BostonCard]

Interesting data here on what songs do most people know the lyrics to:

https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-sunday...-everybody

The top ones (Happy Birthday, Jingle Bells, Star Spangled Banner) are pretty obvious, but once you get down the list it gets interesting.  A fair number of Disney theme songs (Let It Go, We Don’t Talk About Bruno), and then some random ones, like Tubthumping by Chumbawamba.

https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-sunday...-everybody

BC

[BostonCard]

New track from Raye (She actually first performed it in the summer)

Where the Hell is My Husband?

https://youtu.be/CpKcoHrWTF8

BC

[BostonCard]

New track from Raye (She actually first performed it in the summer)

Where the Hell is My Husband?

https://youtu.be/CpKcoHrWTF8

BC

[jacket3ree]

I recommend keeping current with music.  It's a great way to stay mentally young.  With streaming it's easy to access music, but with so much out there it's daunting to drink from the fire hose.  I use three simple filters:

1. Listen to anything anybody recommends with EUTM if you've never heard of it
2. Check Metacritic on Friday (new release day) and listen to any album that rates 80+, anything 70+ if it's an artist you at least like a song or two
3. Listen to the top charting songs in your favorite genre.  In my case it's Alternative which covers a lot of ground and is really whatever is cutting edge or innovative across many genres.

It does help to have a two hour round trip daily commute to work.

I tried, I really tried. I agree with Publius' sentiment here, but I just couldn't do it at last Saturday's wedding. 

[NB to Nobadeer: Ian couldn't rush the field at Scott last Friday because he was in Arkansas, as was I, for his best friend's wedding. Incidentally to a Stanford alumna. We watched the Hoos give up the tying touchdown on a pre-wedding reception terrace right at closing time. He went on to watch overtime with his friends, many of whom are alumni of Arizona State, which followed FSU-UVA. My wife and I are old, so we went back to our rented house, but not so old that we couldn't figure out how to stream the end. I got his Wahoowa!! text just before play on which they made the ultimate stop started, so I knew what was going to happen just before it happened. Same thing happened on the last second field goal that Tech beat Clemson with. Somehow no matter the circumstance, he is always slightly ahead of me.]

Anyway, gorgeous venue in Northwest Arkansas with all that Tyson and Walmart money: Crystal Bridges

The couple and their friends are in their early 30s. I don't know this music at all. Apparently the deal is to encourage a mosh pit with everyone screaming the lyrics and putting their forefinger and index fingers in the air toward each other. Nothing slow. Almost nothing I recognized. The DJ mashed everything together and everything had a disco beat and the acoustics were horrible, but I metaphorically aged at least ten years into a curmudgeon standing there in my suit. They played a remix of Ain't No Mountain High Enough and a pretty close version of the Eurythmics, but that was all I knew. The rest of it was...good enough to find a quiet space with my wife and watch Alabama-Georgia. After the wedding we finished off the House of Guinness on Netflix (good modern Irish punk) and I found a documentary on Led Zeppelin, which includes footage of their first real gig, which is straight out of Spinal Tap's air force base concert. We also watched Sinners, which my wife loved for the vampires and music and I loved for the music. And a surprisingly good narrative despite vampires, which I usually stay away from as much as anything with zombies in it.

My tradition is to find local record shops and buy some vinyl.  Sorry Publius, I am a lost cause. I bought a collector's 50th anniversary picture disc of the Dead's Blues for Allah, a special edition Little Feat's Don't Fail Me Now, a Mofi master of Santana's Caravanserai (because the only copy I ever had was on cassette) and some Levon Helm because Arkansas.

That said, I dutifully check out all the current recs here, so I hope there is hope.

Incidentally, a fair amount of former high school and college football players and coaches among the wedding crowd. Pretty knowledgeable about all things college football.  Consensus is that Stanford is a mess right now. But Stanford has money, so.....

[jacket3ree]

I recommend keeping current with music.  It's a great way to stay mentally young.  With streaming it's easy to access music, but with so much out there it's daunting to drink from the fire hose.  I use three simple filters:

1. Listen to anything anybody recommends with EUTM if you've never heard of it
2. Check Metacritic on Friday (new release day) and listen to any album that rates 80+, anything 70+ if it's an artist you at least like a song or two
3. Listen to the top charting songs in your favorite genre.  In my case it's Alternative which covers a lot of ground and is really whatever is cutting edge or innovative across many genres.

It does help to have a two hour round trip daily commute to work.

I tried, I really tried. I agree with Publius' sentiment here, but I just couldn't do it at last Saturday's wedding. 

[NB to Nobadeer: Ian couldn't rush the field at Scott last Friday because he was in Arkansas, as was I, for his best friend's wedding. Incidentally to a Stanford alumna. We watched the Hoos give up the tying touchdown on a pre-wedding reception terrace right at closing time. He went on to watch overtime with his friends, many of whom are alumni of Arizona State, which followed FSU-UVA. My wife and I are old, so we went back to our rented house, but not so old that we couldn't figure out how to stream the end. I got his Wahoowa!! text just before play on which they made the ultimate stop started, so I knew what was going to happen just before it happened. Same thing happened on the last second field goal that Tech beat Clemson with. Somehow no matter the circumstance, he is always slightly ahead of me.]

Anyway, gorgeous venue in Northwest Arkansas with all that Tyson and Walmart money: Crystal Bridges

The couple and their friends are in their early 30s. I don't know this music at all. Apparently the deal is to encourage a mosh pit with everyone screaming the lyrics and putting their forefinger and index fingers in the air toward each other. Nothing slow. Almost nothing I recognized. The DJ mashed everything together and everything had a disco beat and the acoustics were horrible, but I metaphorically aged at least ten years into a curmudgeon standing there in my suit. They played a remix of Ain't No Mountain High Enough and a pretty close version of the Eurythmics, but that was all I knew. The rest of it was...good enough to find a quiet space with my wife and watch Alabama-Georgia. After the wedding we finished off the House of Guinness on Netflix (good modern Irish punk) and I found a documentary on Led Zeppelin, which includes footage of their first real gig, which is straight out of Spinal Tap's air force base concert. We also watched Sinners, which my wife loved for the vampires and music and I loved for the music. And a surprisingly good narrative despite vampires, which I usually stay away from as much as anything with zombies in it.

My tradition is to find local record shops and buy some vinyl.  Sorry Publius, I am a lost cause. I bought a collector's 50th anniversary picture disc of the Dead's Blues for Allah, a special edition Little Feat's Don't Fail Me Now, a Mofi master of Santana's Caravanserai (because the only copy I ever had was on cassette) and some Levon Helm because Arkansas.

That said, I dutifully check out all the current recs here, so I hope there is hope.

Incidentally, a fair amount of former high school and college football players and coaches among the wedding crowd. Pretty knowledgeable about all things college football.  Consensus is that Stanford is a mess right now. But Stanford has money, so.....

[Mick]

I just spent the weekend in Lodi. Napa without the crowds.  Would recommend.

Clearly you weren't "stuck" there...

[Mick]

I just spent the weekend in Lodi. Napa without the crowds.  Would recommend.

Clearly you weren't "stuck" there...