Living In Rhythm

Here's something weird about me. For as much as I love music and buying/owning CDs, I am not really a fan of used music stores, or buy and trade places. I don't know. There's something really satisfying about unwrapping new music and feeling like it is yours only and no one else has ever listened to it and had an opinion on it. I don't like to share music. I like to recommend music. I'll make someone a mix. I will not lend them a CD. You know you're very special to me if I actually physically lend you a CD. I am protective of my music.

Strange, then, that I am almost the complete opposite with books. (Though I don't lend them out, typically, either.) Used book stores are my playground. I love them. I love knowing that someone else's hands have turned the pages. Even better if someone else's name is written in the front cover. I once bought a book I will probably never read, just because someone had written on the first blank page 'I adore you' and nothing else. If someone ever bought a book for me and wrote that on the first page, I'd likely propose. (Possibly via the first page of a book.) Old books smell better. They're easier to hold. The pages aren't all pressed together.

I found an incredible used book store today. My theory on used book stores is that there has to be a certain amount of disorganization. I've been in a book store in Vancouver that was so organized it was disorientating. I'm sorry, you have books separated by alphabetically by genre, then alphabetically by author? Too clean. I was in a used book store in Halifax that was such a disaster it was overwhelming. There were general 'sections', but I got totally lost, fearing that if I didn't look at every shelf (nearly impossible, unless you had an entire day) I'd miss some potential gem. Then I heard someone ask the clerk for a certain genre and the woman said, "Oh, you have to go to our other location for all children's books." Another location! Absurd! How would you ever know what you had, to be able to answer someone if they needed a title?

The store I was in today was small, in an historic old town near where I live. It was broken up into sections, and the books were alphabetized vertically, instead of horizontally on the shelves, so the owner (who was the only one working in the store) could fit more books on the shelves in her little shop. There was a huge room of mystery books - her favourite; I asked - and a perfectly appropriate back corner with wall to wall, floor to ceiling shelves of classics. The front part of the store was all fiction, alphabetized by author. She had a travel section, cooking section, sci-fi, religion, etc. History and biographies were lumped together, which makes sense to me.

I asked for a book and she knew exactly which shelf it was on, exactly which books it was in between, and when she held it up, she said, "Wait, which edition did you want, honey?"

This woman just loves books.

I walked out the door $20 poorer but with four books in my hand, and that is a fair trade if you ask me.

Next time I go back, which will be soon, I'll likely be picking up more classics.

Suggestions?

This post is archived under books, the collection

I am never not in love with music. That's pretty much a given by now, right? I'd hope so. If you have any doubts about that, you have probably only just stumbled upon this blog and you should probably scroll back and read a little more.

The love? It's permanent.

I know I always say I'm looking for new music. This is true. I'm always searching for the next voice that's going to make me crazy with adoration.

But really, there's only so many 'new' people I'm going to love that way. Let's be honest, for a music snot like myself, it's not easy for me to listen to someone and fall in love at first listen. And I'm not just saying that because it usually takes two or three for me to really decide. Nine times out of ten, I don't even like something new that I'm listening to, I'm merely testing it out (so glad iTunes bumped up previews to 1:30!). It's not like every artist or band that comes out is a Chris Young or a Needtobreathe.

I have this thing for re-falling in love with music. Yes, re-falling. Verbed it.

There are artists who will always be in the heavy rotation pile, so to speak. Mayer, Urban, Paisley, Legend, McKnight, Kanye, D'Lo, Aretha, et. al. That love's not going anywhere and I'm exposed to it daily.

My album collection is still in totes from the move that happened a full year ago. It's almost shameful, really. For a while I didn't have CD storage, and now I do, but I can't decide how I want to organize my albums. Leaning towards alphabetically by genre, but I still have this really weird, very strong desire to do them alphabetically by region, just to see what that looks like.

I'm getting away from my point.

All the albums I listen to regularly have been uploaded to my laptop. Explains why I have well over 3,000 songs on here. However, I have over 400 albums sitting in totes (or, as the case may be, in stacks on my shelves surrounding my stereo). Obviously not all these albums are on my laptop. There are complete catalogs of artists not on my laptop.

I want to listen to them. I want to be reminded why I bought these albums, why I fell in love with them. Or, as I'm sure I'll find, didn't.

I know I failed on the whole 'Listen To All My Albums In Alphabetical Oder' thing. This is basically that project on a smaller scale, and it allows me to skip over Jack Johnson, because, let's be real, there's no effing way I'm listening to that garbage, okay?

I basically want to listen to Norah Jones like it's 2002, or Mat Kearney like it's the day after seeing him open for Jason Mraz in Stanley Park.

I'm going to start, however, with Bonnie Raitt. Because I'm pretty sure no bad thing has ever started with Bonnie Raitt.

This post is archived under aretha franklin, brad paisley, brian mcknight, chris young, d angelo, john legend, john mayer, kanye west, keith urban, needtobreathe, new music, the collection

So I got this idea today...And I think it is awesome. But then again, I'm biased.

I have this dream image in my head of my future home office. I have always wanted a home office. I don't have one now, and it seriously bums me out. The office will be decorated in black, white and chocolate brown. It'll have a mahogany coloured desk and a full wall of mahogany coloured bookshelves. And for art, I'll have black and white prints of some of my favourite musicians. I have SRV, Hendrix, Ella, Coltrane already. They are about the size of a record cover, and all are really obscure (as in, you can't find the images just by Googling). I've picked them up over the years at flea markets and crazy yard sales.

I've put a lot of thought into this.

And so what is the idea, you ask?

The idea is to create a mosaic using all the covers of the albums I own. I will use a program not unlike this one. It'll take a while, and I'll need to figure out what I want the mosaic to look like when it's done. Maybe a set of headphones? A record player? That would be pretty cool. And it'll be a really cool representation of this stage of my life (or whatever stage I'm in), because I'll obviously continue to compile albums after the mosaic is made.

I wouldn't choose a jukebox, but here's an idea. The mosaic is made up entirely of album covers. Very cool.

This post is archived under the collection

I put on one album today, listened to approximately 15 seconds of the first song, and had to turn it off. The guilt overwhelmed me for breaking the promise to listen to all my music. I just couldn't do it. I can't.

Bedouin Soundclash is the most unimaginative, self-indulgent (musically speaking) band. Hint to these guys: You're not Bob Marley. You're not cool and edgy. You fit a niche four years ago that was for some reason open and people took an interest. That doesn't mean you're good.

I couldn't listen to the album. It was the only CD my travel partner would listen to while we drove from Toronto to Vancouver. Yes, I had a milk crat full of CDs, and he had an iPod. But we listened to his iPod (his taste was questionable at best) and this album, and he gave it to me as a gift to commemorate the journey.

It just annoys the hell out of me.

So you'll have to forgive me for breaking the rules.

I will now go dance around my apartment to Beyoncé, who comes after BS (hahahaha. Bedouin Soundclash = BS. Fitting) in my collection.

This post is archived under music, the collection

Like I said, the B's section in my collection is pretty huge, so I'm going to give some thoughts as I have them, so as not to forget.

My morning consisted of Lloyd Banks (yes. I know) and Barenaked Ladies. This afternoon is Dave Barnes, The Beatles, Bedouin Soundclash (I think I will cringe...not into them AT ALL anymore) and maybe a little Beyoncé if I can get to it.

Here's the thing: Lloyd Banks' The Hunger for More is one of those albums I bought...I don't know why. But I liked it, legitimately liked it, for a long time. Listening today, I was a little disgusted by my own lack of taste. The rappers I like are Common, Kanye, Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, etc., and so on. Lloyd Banks raps about pretty much everything I hate about rap. But I listened to the whole thing, because I couldn't break that promise to myself to listen to every song on every album (slightly neurotic, I know). There are a few good tracks, but there's a good chance that album is not coming off the shelf again any time soon.

Now. Barenaked Ladies. Gordon came out in 1992. Which would make me 8 at the time of its release. This is an album that is a Canadian classic. I'm sure we all remember hearing If I Had $1,000,000 on the radio and laughing at how ridiculous it was. But that album is a bit of a stroke of genius, really. Highlights are Enid, What a Good Boy (that song is absurdly good), and Blame it on Me. The harmonies, the musicality, the jazz sensibilities...It's all just really good.

Now I'm onto Dave Barnes. I listen to a little Dave Barnes (1 or 2 songs) almost every day. He always seems to come on myTunes (almost always on shuffle), and I very rarely ever skip over him. But here's what I've discovered: Listening to the album in its entirety, from start to finish, is far, far more fulfilling. I can appreciate the songs better this way somehow. This pretty much goes for every artist/album.

Albums are created meticulously. They don't just throw the songs on there in any order and hit 'burn' and that's the record. There's a serious thought process that goes into it. Which songs go where. One thing I've noticed over the years is that very, very often, track #5 on any given record will be a slower song or a serious ballad. This makes sense. After five up-tempo or mid-tempo songs, you can slow it down without losing your listener.

Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that in the day and age where you can download one song off an album, or shuffle up your entire collection, we're losing a little of the artistry that goes into making a record.

It's nice to enjoy that again.

This post is archived under barenaked ladies, common, dave barnes, jay z, kanye west, lupe fiasco, the beatles, the collection

So we all know I can cry big ugly tears over music/songs/lyrics.

Almost every musician I know can also do an odd high-pitched laugh that is born from complete awe and admiration of something they hear. It's something that is absurd, really, but the most common reaction to some kind of musical brilliance is to laugh. And it's a great sound. Sitting in a roomful of musicians and listening to Pino Palladino's basslines on The RH Factor's Hard Groove album was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced. Just laughter. It's almost like we don't know how else to express ourselves in those moments when we're amazed.

I also tend to get a big, wide, ridiculous smile on my face. Probably the biggest kind of smile you'll ever see from me. Teeth and all that.

Very, very rarely will one song elicit all these responses from me. Very rarely.

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room is one.

And this: Patty Griffin - Let Him Fly (Live)

Let Him Fly was the first Patty Griffin song I ever heard, and it was like something shifted in me. Literally, something changed. I wasn't the same after that. I think I've listened to this song a thousand times (no joke). Often imitated, never duplicated. This song is just so, so damn perfect. Literally, one of the most perfectly constructed songs I think I've ever heard.

Youtube just took me to this live version, and I had a little moment in my office. Smiling, but tears in my eyes, then I laughed a little. My best friend, who works in the same office as me, walked by and asked if I was okay.

More than okay.

This woman changed my life. I will never forget sitting in my basement apartment in Toronto, my computer set up in the little corner in my bedroom, listening to this song for the first time.

I know I talk about Patty a lot. Don't expect that to change.

This post is archived under music, patty griffin, pino palladino, the collection, the rh factor

Finally finished the A's in my collection. I think I underestimated how long this experiment is going to take. I might have to up my game a little bit. Especially considering there are over twice the amount of B's as there are A's.

So here are just a few notes on the first leg of the journey; things I thought and had the sense to write down in my little journal so I could share with you.

- Aaliyah's self-titled 2001 album could be released and every single track on there would/could be a hit. Absolutely brilliant. She was the one who worked with Timbaland before working with Timbaland was cool.

- Ryan Adams is the coolest weirdo ever. I say weirdo with love. Cold Roses is one of those albums in my collection that I can always put on. Always. If I don't know what I want to listen to and I put on that record, it becomes what I want to listen to. I don't know if I've explained that well, but it's true.

- Most people would probably say Cryin' is their favourite Aerosmith ballad, but mine is Angel. Love that song. Love the album it's on.

- Jann Arden With the VSO is an incredible live album that anyone with ears should listen to on headphones. Make yourself some tea, light a couple candles, put on headphones, enjoy.

- India.Arie. Pure love. Uplifting. Spiritual. Beautiful.

-Augustana is one of the few bands that I would rather not listen to on headphones. There's something about putting their music on real loud in the car, or real loud in the house and just letting it swallow you. Sweet and Low is one of my all-time favourite driving songs.

And now, on to the B's. There are easily 35 albums in this section. This could take a while!

This post is archived under aaliyah, aerosmith, augustana, india.arie, jann arden, music, ryan adams, the collection