SiriusXM and Regional Songs?

I've come to the conclusion that some popular songs were regional hits but were rarely if ever heard outside those regions.

Why? Let me explain. 

I have SiriusXM satellite radio in my car. When the idea of satellite radio was first put forward, I thought one would be crazy to pay for radio when there's free radio over the air. Then I bought a car that came with a year-long free trial. By the end of that year, I was hooked. For one thing, no commercials on the music channels (just a lot of promos touting that). And also, for trips, you don't have to search for good radio stations. You just have to listen to the satellite radio. It does have drawbacks beside the cost. It doesn't go through foliage well so leafy trees can block the signal. And mountains do too. It doesn't work very well when I travel down the Columbia River Gorge toward Portland to see my grandson. But other than that, it's great.

Since getting SiriusXM (used to be two companies called "Sirius" and "XM" but they merged in the hope of surviving), I've heard a few songs I've never heard before. For example, Angry Eyes by Loggins and Messina. And something called Jeans On by David Dundas (whom I'd never heard of). Also Jessica by the Allman Brothers (I'd obviously heard of the Allman Brothers, just not that song). And Lovely Day by Bill Withers. And finally Ariel by Dean Friedman. Never heard of the song or the artist. And the song sucks.

It might be that I stopped listening to Top 40 in about 1977 and switched to what the radio biz called "Album Oriented Rock" or AOR. 

But still, I'm wondering if those songs never made it to the Pacific Northwest where I've lived most of my life (except for when I lived in California when I was in the Army). Another interesting fact is I never heard Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd until I was in the Army.

Have you heard of those songs? Were they hits where you live? Or are they as unfamiliar to you as they are to me? Let me know in the comments below.

Music Storage

If you're old enough to remember cassette tapes (at left), you know you could buy them in various lengths. One of the more popular lengths was 60 minutes. That meant you could record 60 minutes of sound on the tape, usually music. Usually.

I was curious how much music is currently on my iPhone and what that would mean in 60-minute cassettes. According to my phone, I have 7.66 Gbytes of music on it. About two-thirds is classical, I would guess. I have 1,662 "songs" on my iPhone. Although not all are songs because a song technically has someone singing and most of my classical music is instrumental.

So I did some research and found that a 60-minute cassette tape could hold 4.5 Mbytes of data. That's 0.004395 Gbytes.

Simple math shows it would take 1,743 60-minutes cassettes to hold all the music on my iPhone.

What about CDs? A CD holds 650 Mbytes. So that means it would take 12 CDs full of data to hold what's on my iPhone. To be honest, that doesn't seem to be enough. 

But that is still amazing. Rather than carry 1,743 cassettes or 12 CDs, I carry one iPhone that has other functions and data (lots of pictures of our cat). 

Another way to calculate it: According to iTunes, I have enough music on my phone to last 4.9 days. That's 117.6 hours so I'd need that many 60-minutes cassettes. (I'm a little concerned that that number is approximately 10% of the 1,746 number I got above. Did I make a magnitude error?)

What about vinyl records. A 12-inch vinyl record (LP size) can hold 46 minutes of music using both sides. So that's 153.4 LPs to hold the music on my iPhone!

I know some people say vinyl sounds better, especially with tubes and not transistors in the stereo equipment. But I never heard the difference and LPs are fragile. Look at them wrong and you get a pop or scratch. 

Since CDs hold 74 minutes of music, I'd need 95 CDs. That seems like too many. Way too many. Maybe it's because of compression.

What do you think about this older technology? Let me know in the comments below.

We're So Spoiled

Vinyl Record

A while back I got a song stuck in my head. The only line I remembered was "There'll be one child born to carry on, to carry on." So I googled it. I found out that it's a song called "When I Die" by Blood Sweat & Tears. (The song came out in 1968.)

I clicked on the YouTube link in Google to hear the song. And I heard seemingly random pops and clicks in the recording. Being an older fellow, I immediately realized that the YouTube video was recorded off a vinyl record and the pops and clicks are what vinyl records develop if they aren't cared for lovingly. And maybe even if. And we used to put up with it because that was the only way to enjoy music other than listen to the radio (where you didn't have a choice of what to hear).

Later cassette tapes came out but they had "tape hiss." And, yes, I'm ignoring 8-tracks.

I remember when CDs came out and I first listened to them and they were amazing. No pops and clicks and the music was as clear as anything. The first CD I bought was Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits because it had "Money for Nothing" on it. I also bought it on cassette so I could listen to it in my car.

CDs lasted a good long time (maybe 20 years or so) before digital music came out on iPods. Now we can download music or stream it. But it all sounds good compared to what we used to have. We are spoiled these days.

And yes, I know, some people are going back to vinyl. Don't as me why.

Do you remember vinyl records? Or 8-tracks? Let me know in the comments below.

My Favorite Bit of Opera

I'm taking a break from writing about cars today!

I have eclectic tastes in music. I can listen to most any music except rap/hip-hop and jazz. I can even listen to old country music.

Every now and then I just have to listen to my favorite bit of opera. It's the "Flower Duet" ("Sous le dôme épais") from the opera Lakmé, written by Léo Delibes. The opera was first performed in 1883.

I've never seen the whole opera and I don't really want to. It would be interesting but after the "Flower Duet" in Act 1, I'm sure the rest of the opera would be a let down.

I think it's likely the most beautiful piece of music ever written and performed. 

Judge for yourself here. That is the best performance of it I can find online. 

Even if you hate opera, give it a shot.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. 

Best Songs of the Decades

I saw on Twitter that someone was listing their 100 favorite songs on their blog. I thought that was ambitious. I have probably have a hundred favorite songs (there's over 2,000 on my iPhone) but to list them all would be hard. And to separate the favorites from the ones I merely like would be arduous. 

So I thought I'd just list my few favorite songs. But then I remembered that I already did that. Okay, it was four years ago, but still...

So I had the idea: my favorite songs of each decade I've been alive. That seemed less laborious. I was born in the sixties so we'll start then. These are the songs that make me turn up the radio...

1960s: Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane.  It came out in 1967 so I must have discovered it later because I was very young in '67. I love the vocals and the driving beat. 

1970s: This is harder. The '70s are my favorite decade for music. There's Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix and Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. Add in Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple (some of the best guitar work of the decade). There's 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago. And the song I've always called "my favorite": We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad. So I guess that has to be my favorite of the 1970s.

1980s: Music changed in the '80s. The existence of MTV didn't help the headlong slide into commercialism. But there was still some good music. This one is easier. My favorite song of the 1980s is Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. Mark Knopfler's guitar work is amazing. Unfortunately, these days it's hard to find a copy online that hasn't been bowdlerized because one verse is offensive to some. They don't understand the context of the song.

1990s. This is even easier. I pretty much stopped listening to newly released music about 1992. It all just sucked too much (and it's only gotten worse). So my favorite song of the 1990s was released in 1991: Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.

2000's through 2020s: Nada. Zip. Zero. I don't know if the music changed or my tastes changed. I suspect the former. 

Do you have favorite songs from the decades listed? Disagree with my opinion of the 2000s and up? Let me know in the comments below.

Chicago Concert

 A week ago Wednesday, the first day of the month, I went to Walla Walla, Washington to see the band Chicago. It was definitely worth the drive.

I've liked Chicago since I was a teenager. I had almost all of their albums up to Chicago VII. After that album they went all pop in the '80s. (The albums I didn't have were Chicago Transit Authority, which was their first, a live album call Chicago at Carnegie Hall, and Chicago III.)(I never  heard any good things about Chicago III and the live album.)(Don't really like live albums anyway.)

The concert was at the rodeo arena at the Walla Walla Fairgrounds. I had floor tickets nine rows back from the stage. The only bad part was we were on the dirt of the rodeo arena. And the chairs were small and close together. I bought the tickets early in March of 2020, but we all know what happened and the show was delayed until this year.

But the concert was great. A bit loud but great (the speakers were about two-stories tall). They concentrated on their earlier stuff but did a little from

Photo by S. Evan Townsend

the 1980s. There was a drum duet which actually was pretty good. I'm not sure how many original members of the band are still in it. Their website doesn't list the members, just the ones who have left the band. Most of the playing was spot on and great. But some was a bit off (especially the flute player). The crowd was really into it (as was I) and that of course, feeds the band's enthusiasm. It was a very good time.

They hinted they'd be back next year. So maybe I'll have to go again.

I told my wife going in that they were either going to start or end with "25 or 6 to 4" (about a song writer lucubrating) They ended with it. All in all, a great show.

(I would have done this blog post a week ago, but I didn't have time between the concert ending and the blog post going live at 6am my time.)

Music I Don't Like

It may be April Fools' Day, but I'm being perfectly serious. 

I have eclectic music tastes. I listen to classic rock and classical music and even opera on occasion. I can listen to country-western, folk, and some jazz. I don't like rap and hip hop. 

But even though I listen to classic rock from the 60s through the 80s (no good music after 1990), there are some groups/singers from that era I refuse to listen to.

Number one is The Grateful Dead. They are kind of folksy but more drug induced. Their music just puts me to sleep. Reminds me of a joke. "What did the dead head [fan of The Grateful Dead] say when he ran out of drugs? 'This music sucks.'"

There there's Steely Dan. I like one song of theirs: "Dirty Work." Otherwise, they tend to sing in this breathless jazz style that just grates on my nerves.

Genesis and Phil Collins are also on the list of music I don't like. Just 'cause.

I don't like Neil Young. His voice is just annoying. He's okay with Crosby, Stills and Nash. But solo, forget it.

I'm not crazy about the Allman Brothers and Greg Allman as a solo act. But that's more because when I first got SirusXM in the car, it seemed as if they played the Allman Brothers or Greg Allman every damn time I got in the vehicle.

I'm not a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen, either. I like "Born to Run" and "Dancing in the Dark." But that's about it. Most of his stuff is pretentious and overwrought.

And I know this might get me cancelled, but I'm not a huge fan of The Beatles. Some songs are okay but mostly I just turn them off.

If I were joking, I'd say I didn't like Led Zeppelin, Chicago, Dire Straits, and the Eagles.

Are there any musical groups that play in the genre you like, but you can't stand? Let me know in the comments below.

No Good Music after '91

The other day on Jeopardy, they had a pop music category and I knew none of the answers (or questions, in Jeopardy parlance). That's because I don't think there's been any good music since '91....1791. Okay, I'm joking. 1991. Or maybe 1994 when Kurt Cobain died.

I just don't like modern music. Does that make me old? Maybe. And I loath rap/hip hop (I don't even know the difference; I don't even know if there is a difference).

I've talked about my music tastes before. And they are eclectic. But nothing after about 1995.

About modern music and performers, I feel like Brian in this clip from Family Guy:

I used to work with a woman who listened to modern music (she was older than I) to know what her grandchildren were listening to. But she also seemed to like it. She told me who Lady Gaga is.

I sometimes wonder if the music is worse, or my tastes have changed, or I'm just an old guy who doesn't like new stuff. I'm sure that's not it.

How do you feel about modern music. Let me know in the comments below.

Theme Songs

A while back I was watching Mission: Impossible (the 1996 movie version with Tom Cruise). And I started listening to the music and noting how it made the scene more exciting and tense. Okay, that's the job of a soundtrack, but this was the Mission: Impossible theme that was originally written in the 1960s for the television show. It was a bit updated, but was basically the same music.

When I was a kid in the 1960s (yes, I'm that old), I was obsessed with the Hawaii Five-O theme. So much so that my mother bought me the 45 rpm record of it (yes, I'm that old) and I played it constantly. I didn't watch the show much (my parents didn't allow it because it was "too adult") but I loved that music. Even today, it brings back feelings of impending excitement and adventure.

So a well-written piece of music can stand the test of time. But then again, music written in the 1700s is still powerful and evocative today.

How does music affect you? Let me know in the comments below.

Music...

I have what some might say is eclectic taste in music.

I like (some) opera.

I love a lot of classical music.

And

And so much more.

I like (some) country

And, of course, I love classic rock (at my age, you kind of have to)

And...

And so much more. But nothing since about 1994.

I don't like rap/hiphop. I don't like modern country. And I loath what's come out since the year 2000.

What do you like? Do you have any songs I should consider liking. Let me know in the comments below.

Rich Girl

Saturday when I was driving I heard the song "Rich Girl" by Hall & Oats. This song came out in 1977 when I was in high school. And there was one girl who immediately got labeled "Rich Girl." Her name was Shelly and her family was well off. They always had a new Cadillac and lived in a big house. I had no idea what her father did to earn his wealth.

One day in English class, the teacher was trying to instruct us not to use vague terms in our writing. So she asked the class what was a "comfortable" yearly salary. She wanted to show the range that people thought that term meant.

I think the low was $15,000. I rather shocked the room when I said $25,000. Then Shelly pipes up with $30,000.

What struck me as I was remembering this is how low those numbers were. Now days $25,000 is about poverty level for a family of four (it's actually $25,100).

So we need to adjust those numbers for inflation. One thousand dollars in January 1977 is equivalent to $4,300 today. So...

$15,000 = $64,500
$25,000 = $107,500
$30,000 = $129,000

Of course, 1977 was at the beginning of the double-digit inflation of the end of Jimmy Carter's presidential term. And we've had forty-one years of varying inflation to degrade the dollar.

Or maybe this is just an indication of how old I am.

My Favorite Music

Back to the 52-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is: "A favorite … book/music/movie."
I talked about my favorite book here. So I guess we'll go to music.

I was thinking about this today. My favorite song of the 60s is probable "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream. My favorite song on the 70s is likely "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple. My favorite song of the 80s is "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. That, even though Sting from the Police sings on it and the Police are one of my least favorite groups. My favorite song of the 90s is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. My favorite song of the 2000s and the 10s is one I don't have to listen to.

My favorite overall "modern" song is "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad. I love the pounding rhythm of it.

But I don't just listen to modern music. I'd say my iPhone is about half full of classical music.

One of my favorite classical music pieces is from an opera. It's wondrously beautiful. Another is Beethoven's Ode to Joy, which is technically the fourth movement of his Ninth Symphony. The best part is 7:20 minutes into it. But it's all good.

In fact there are too many to list here.

What's your favorite music? And what do you think of my choices? Let me know in the comments below.

Movie Review: La La Land

Thursday I watched the movie La La Land. Here is my review: it's a musical; I hate musicals.

Music of My Heart

Back to the 52-week blogging challenge and today's prompt is "Music of My Heart." Not quite sure what they mean by that.

I already did a blog post on music that had me put my iPhone on "shuffle" and write down the three songs that came up.

So, Music of My Heart. I guess I'll just name some favorite songs/pieces.

It's almost Christmas and one of my favorite bits of music is the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's The Messiah. Actually, ironically, The Messiah is probably more appropriate for Easter than Christmas as it follows all of Jesus's life, death, and Resurrection. But it is traditionally performed at Christmastime.

Another favorite piece of mine is the "Flower Duet" from the opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes. The link is to one of the best performances I've found of the duet. I just wish it didn't have French subtitles. The beauty of it is transcendental. If you don't like opera, give this a try. You'll change your mind.

But I have eclectic taste. Probably my favorite rock song is "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad. It's just a powerful, hard-hitting rock song. Also hard hitting is "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin. If you listen to the lyrics you realize it's about Vikings.

I usually don't like cover songs, but this version of The Immigrant Song is amazing.

Speaking of covers, did you know that Jimi Hendricks's "All Along the Watchtower" is a cover of a Bob Dylan song? Still one of my favorite songs from the 60s. Hendricks's "Foxy Lady" is amazing, too (I can't find a good version on YouTube).

And then there's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

So that's some of my favorite music. What's your favorite music?

Music

And we're back with the 30 day blogging challenge (that I'm doing in approximately 30 weeks). Today it says: "Put your music player on shuffle and write the first three songs that play and what your initial thought is." I assume, initial thought about the song.  Okay, here goes:

(By the way, my "music player" is my iPhone. and with the advent of Apple Music, I'm having a very hard time doing this. It seems I can't just say "play shuffled songs" through the settings. I'll try Siri. Ah, that worked)

1: Bach: The Goldberg Variations for keyboard BVW 988 "Variation 21 Canone alla Settima"  played by Glenn Gould in 1955.

Thoughts: Well, of course, "Ahhh, Bach." I have found only one piece by Bach I don't enjoy immensely and that's his early work of St. John's Passion. There's a precision and almost mathematical quality to Bach. The Goldberg Variations are no exception.

2: Already Gone by The Eagles. (Yes, my music taste is eclectic.)

Thoughts: Not my favorite Eagles song but still enjoyable. One of their more country-sounding pieces, but it was early in their career when they were a bit more country.

3. When the Whip Comes Down by The Rolling Stones.

Thoughts: Again, not my favorite Stones song but you can hardly go wrong with the Stones. This song is off the Some Girls album, the only Stone album I ever bought because it has a lot of songs I like. The Stones like to add a lot of energy to their music, some of it sexual. Listening to the Stones is an experience. It's not music you'd listen to for relaxation.

Flash Fiction Friday: The Song

Today's Flash Fiction Friday is The Song. It was inspired by this:

The aide-de-camp touched a box that was set on a low table in the middle of the hotel suite's main room.

"Now, even their NSA cannot hear us, Ambassador General," he said, speaking in Valgarian. They weren't sure the humans could understand their language but they weren't taking chances.

The Ambassador to Earth was adjusting his dress uniform.  The Valgarian race was military and all government jobs came with a rank and uniform, no matter how uncomfortable they were.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" the Ambassador growled, trying to fit in the bright purple tunic.

"We have to keep the humans unaware of our plans," the aide-de-camp replied. "We have to humor them until our fleet is in position to destroy this planet and take from the humans all the riches of this solar system. They are so weak and pitiful they haven't even started exploiting their near moon or the asteroid belt."

"Again, why do have to go to this 'concert'?" The last word was in English, there is no Valgarian equivalent.

"We were invited. Apparently, it has something to do with their culture and they wish to show off to us."

The Ambassador growled. "The sooner we wipe these puny humans out the better."

"Yes, Ambassador General."

There was a knock on the door of the suit.

"Come," the Ambassador said in English. He'd used a learning machine to download it into his brain before arrival. That and all of Earth's major languages. It took a time period the humans would call "thirty seconds."

The door opened and a tall human in those funny clothes they wore with the colorful piece of cloth tied around the neck stepped in.  It was the United States Secretary of State. "It's time to go, Ambassador," he said. If the Ambassador knew more about human emotions he might have noticed the man's haughty air and been offended.

"Yes, we'll be right out," the Ambassador replied, trying to get his last rank insignia straight. The gravity on this planet was more than he was used to and it made every little movement a chore.

He was taken by a large black wheeled vehicle to the venue for the "concert."  Secret Service agents followed the "limousine" in larger black vehicles called "essuvees." At the concert hall, puny humans stepped aside at the orders of the Secret Service agents and the Ambassador was led to a balcony, walking on the cilia of his underside. Waiting there was the Ambassador Lieutenant, another aide for the General, who had been studying the humans longer than anyone else on the Ambassador's staff.

The Secretary of State hovered about, making sure both of the Valgarians were comfortable before he sat in a "chair" next to the Ambassador.

The Ambassador looked over the large room. Rows and rows of humans sat facing a raised area where more humans sat. Each of those humans was holding a device the use of which the Ambassador could not fathom.

The lights dimmed, a man walked out in even funnier clothes, with long tails hanging down where the feces comes out. He bowed to the people in the rows of seats and the humans all smacked their hands together repeatedly.  He stood in front of the humans with the devices.

Two women came out. Human women, the Ambassador scoffed to himself. This entire race was repugnant, he thought. He had no idea how they manged to breed. They even had fur on top of their heads like some base animal.

The man with the funny long tails on his clothes raised his hands. In one was a slender white stick. The people with the devises, both human male and female, the Ambassador noted, moved their devices. Some put them against their mouths or even put one end in their mouths. Others held them with sticks over them. Still others just stood by them with sticks. The Ambassador was interested despite himself. What kind of barbaric ritual was this "concert"?

The sound started then. It was soft and seemed designed to lull a being.

"What is this sound?" the Ambassador General demanded of the Lieutenant.

"They call it 'music,' Ambassador General," he replied.

"Gentlemen," the Secretary of State whispered, a forced smile on his face, "It is customary to be quiet during a performance."

The Ambassador General snorted.  But he became quiet and started listening again to the sound, the "music." And one of the women began speaking.  But it wasn't speaking, it was almost wailing. It was, the Ambassador General realize, the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. He'd had planetary leaders beg him not to destroy their planet and, yet, this sound was even more beautiful than that.  When the second woman joined in it became even more lovely and then, to his amazement, when he didn't think he'd ever experienced anything this beautiful, the women wailed at the same time and he closed his eye stalks and let the sound wash over his body.

When the sounds and wailing stopped, again the humans smacked their hands together and some in the audience below hollered.

The Ambassador General opened his eye stalks.

"We will not destroy this race," he said to the Lieutenant.

"Sir General?"

"We cannot destroy something that produces sounds such as these. We will not destroy this race."

"But our entire civilization, culture, heritage depends on destroying inferior races to cleanse they galaxy of their stain."

"This is not an inferior race," the Ambassador General said with anger lacing his voice.  "Call off the fleet, we will move on from this place and leave them in peace."

The Lieutenant lowered his eyestalks in a sign of obedience. "Yes, Ambassador General."

Guest Post: Voss Foster

Today we welcome Voss Foster to our blog.

I’m so very grateful for you letting me share your blog space today.

I’m a music freak. I sing, I play trombone, and I belly dance. And then there’s the writing—every time I sit down to plan out a book, I put together a playlist. While the Tartaros playlist went the way of the floppy disk when my computer died, I did want to share some Tartaros sort of music with y’all. So, ten songs that I think speak on the themes, feelings, characters, or some other element of the book.

1. Better Dig Two by The Band Perry: There’s so much timeless love in this song, it has to go with this book.
2. Otherworld by The Black Mages: specifically, the version with vocals by Kumi Koda. It deals with time travel and kidnapping and general darkness.
3. Circa Mea Pectora from Carmina Burana: It’s sort of a love song. Well, love and sex. And it’s very grandiose, which helps.
4. Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars: It’s a love song, but there’s so much deception, and this sort of uncertainty in the lyrics. Plus the stunning vocals don’t hurt.
5. Down with the Sickness by Disturbed: I know, it’s sort of cliché, but, when someone decides to make Tartaros into a movie, I want this to be Lilith’s song. Or the song of the Horsemen.
6. Hurt by Johnny Cash: Just for the raw, emotional content. I don’t think anyone comes out of Tartaros unscarred.
7. Lichtgestalt by Lacrimosa: It’s a song all about insanity, and the duality of a person. A darker side and the ‘normal’ side.
8. Love the Way You Lie by Rihanna: Another dark, twisted romance song.
9. Unseelie Self by Alexander James Adams: Another very dark piece. And it’s spoken word, which I have a very big soft spot for.
10. River Lies by Seanan McGuire: More deception in the love. That’s sort of the aesthetic here, I’m seeing.

Blurb:

A demon hunter, Daniel Tartaros is sworn to slay the denizens of Hell and, for over a decade, he has. He’s kept the world, and his girlfriend, safe. But, one night, the demons cross the threshold to his home. His girlfriend is taken, possessed by a powerful demon. Too powerful for him.

 

But the horror increases when he finds out the truth: it’s not just a demon. Lilith, the Queen of Hell, bound herself into a human body to be with him. But, broken free and without the restraint of a human life, she still needs him, and plans to use all of her power to keep him. She’ll do what it takes to keep him, even if it means the end of life.

They should pull apart, should, by all means, abandon their relationship. But something powerful pushes them together, something so subtle neither notices until it’s too late to turn back. With Earth hanging by spider’s silk, the tiniest ripple from either Daniel or Lilith could send it swinging into the fires of destruction.

 

~~~~~~~

Voss Foster lives in the middle of the Eastern Washington desert, where he writes speculative fiction from inside a single-wide trailer. When he can be torn away from his keyboard, he can be found cooking, practicing photography, singing, playing trombone, and belly dancing, though rarely all at once. His first full length work, Tartaros, is out now through Prizm Books.

 

Blog: http://vossfoster.blogspot.com

Twitter: @VossFoster

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VossFoster

Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/103419943123239246170/posts?tab=XX

Tartaros Available Here: http://www.prizmbooks.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=48

 

Thank you, Voss! 

Christmas Music

It's Christmas time (and Merry Christmas to you!).  Time for the annual fight between my wife and me about . . . Christmas music.

It's all my fault.  I basically do no like most Christmas music.  And the newer and more modern it is, the less I like it.  She was just listening to something like this (I can't find the exact thing she was listen to, maybe I have the artist wrong):

And I said, "I'd better leave before that gives me diabetes" which upset her.  For some reason she doesn't seem to be able discern the difference between that and this:

(This version drags a little, this is supposed to be a joyous song, not a dirge but this version is too fast.  The version I have is almost just about right.).

I got sick of Christmas music when I worked as a disk jockey in the late '70s (yes, I'm dating myself) and we played Christmas music incessantly from Thanksgiving to December 25th.  And the sappier it is, the more I dislike it.  Whereas the sappier it is, the more my wife seems to like it.

So it's our annual fight.  I usually just avoid being around her when she plays that music (I'm doing that now).  It helps keep the peace.

P.S.: This is one of the best pieces of music ever.