Musical Eclectisism for Elitists

"I have a broad taste in music. aka I listen to everything." versus "I only listen to trance."

Don't you think that the person who listens to everything is more open minded? Maybe you can identify with them on some artist that you both like. For some counterintuitive reason, the perception of those who listen to anything is that of an elitist. Weird, huh? Consider that the person who specializes in only one (sub)genre of music can know much more about it than the casual listener of everything. Also that specialist probably selects their music because it is the best kind of music.

I am one of those "listen to everything" people, within limits. Some music has a time limit. For instance, when I first started listening to rap and techno, I couldn't stand either of them for longer than an hour at a time. I realized that even though I listen to "rap, hip-hop, country, classical, jazz, reggae(tón), flamenco, 'latino' music, rock & roll, punk rock, indigenous, ska, pop (well, at least a little bit...FOW are really popPY), folk, techno"...they're all really the same. I'm not sure how to explain it being without much of a music education, but they seem to all do the same thing. There are a few bands that seem a little different...Rasputina, Sigur Rós, Björk, (can't think of many others right now), but they're only a little different. Maybe it's something to do with an inherent quality of music that I don't know about (Paula tells me something about eastern v. western music produces this kind of effect).
I also realize that I don't listen to much "world, oldies, a capella, show tunes, heavy metal, grunge, eastern music (see above), blues, bluegrass, *other types of music that I don't even know exist*."

I've noticed that instead of the musical specialists looking down on the "everything listeners," it's the other way around. I don't look down on single-genre-listeners for their musical practices. I simply wonder how they can stand it. Sometimes I want to hear the light voice of Sarah Brightman or Norah Jones while other times I want to feel the energy of Millencolin or System of a Down. At times it's the rythm of the horns that gets my feet tapping while other times it's the violin popping out of an orchestra that makes my heart race. Sometimes I yell "SHUT UP" at the computer or CD player and skip to the next song or album because something just triggered a switch and I can't listen to the current thing anymore.

I'm always looking for more good, new (to me) music no matter what the style. If you have suggestions, please pass them my way. I must warn you that it might take me a while to listen to/get in to the music you throw my way. Thank you to the HC Spanish-speakers for helping build my library of Spanish-language music; to Stephanie for all kinds of awesome new stuff, random friends for sporadic suggestions, TBW for all the poppy stuff, Abercrombie Zach for a freshman year music raid, and everyone who uploaded stuff to me while I was on the network.

Pick #45

Wilson Pickett - Mustang Sally

Top Shelf

NOTE: THIS PARTY HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE 9TH OF NOVEMBER.


This is advance notice (special for the readers of my blog) that we're having a top shelf party the first weekend in November...I guess that makes it the night of the 2nd 9th. To get in, you have to bring a bottle of high quality liquor (or wine, beer, whatever...it just has to be nice). No plastic-bottle-vodka allowed.

That Famous Fountain

I bet you've seen this in your Spanish textbook.

Health Care Surrogate/Living Will

Not too long ago, I filled out some paperwork that gives my parents the right to make "less-than-terminal" medical decisions for me in the event that I cannot make them myself. That way doctors can't just administer all kinds of useless crap and charge you for it later. Also, it means that somebody has my back when I can't come to the plate myself.

The health care surrogate is not to be confused with your living will. The living will is your decision on when you want them to pull the plug on life support. I think it is important to have a living will, not only for yourself, but even more for those around you. For instance, my mom's mom died of cancer. She spent her last days hooked up to a breathing machine. I don't remember exactly what here time frame was, but I think that she didn't want to stay on life support longer than 2 weeks. When the time came and my mom had to end her mother's life, she was just following her mom's wishes. Imagine how difficult that decision would be for someone to make on your behalf when they do not know what you want.

I got these forms done up pretty cheap by a Vero lawyer named Darryl Jacobs. Look him up in the book. He's friendly and efficient. I guess this sort of paperwork is like an insurance policy...pay a little bit for it knowing that it could save you a lot of money in the future, but home that you never have to use it.

Edmund Skellings

Edmund Skellings is a Nobel Laureate in poetry. He was the dude who invented the idea of putting audio with written text. He read one of his collections of poetry and put a vinyl record in the sleeve of the book. Just think...those CDs that come with your textbook, the idea of putting that stuff together came from him. Through the years, his audio media have shrunk.

He was also the first poet to put his poetry in a Dolby 5.1 surround sound format with visuals. I got to see (parts of) this DVD before it was officially released in a Forum class freshman year. It's pretty crazy, words appear and there's colors and stuff is flying on/off the screen in perfect harmony with the sound coming from the speakers placed in every corner of the room (and in the front center).

One of his poems that I liked more than the rest is called "Aisle of You." Before it was even played, I put it together. Then you heard his voice saying it over and over. One of those things quite like "What?? I said 'vacuum'!!" or "olive juice," only not really.

I hung out and talked to him for a bit after his presentation. He's a cool old dude. A little weird, but I guess that's how you get street cred as a poet (if the Nobel Prize doesn't do it). He told me that he's always looking to revise his work because you can never get something perfect. I guess there is no boundary to the open set of perfection. Balls.

Facebook Stalking

I was talking to Meg today on the phone and she let me in on a few privacy settings you can do on facebook. I guess they were there all along if I had looked for them, but I quit playing with that stuff after I initially set it up. They have added more options since. It's pretty customizable. By clicking "privacy" in the upper right of the home screen, you can control who: sees your profile, finds you in a search, sees your status, peruses pictures of you, and a bunch of other stuff. I went on tonight and tightened some things up. For instance, now faculty can't see my pictures or status updates.

I have "facebook stalked" people, including my good friends in real life. However, my "stalkings" are usually limited to a once-in-a-while browsing of their pictures and reading some stuff on the wall or favorite _____s. I also like to check my new friends to see if we have some random friends in common...it's cool how the "small world" thing plays out in so many situations.

I've heard of some pretty sketch practices though. I think that the feed helps people stay on top of your life...even easier than constantly checking your away message. I mean, that stuff is totally legit if it reminds you of stuff that your friends are doing. I guess like anything else, moderate use is cool while extremism is bad.