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Miscellaneous thoughts and ramblings
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
 
Rock On, Dude
People frequently say to me “Bean, you are such a groovy cat. You must have great taste in music. What kinda music do you listen to?”

Actually people have never said that to me. People usually say something more like “Bean, you are an extremely introverted geek. Thank goodness your wife dresses you.”

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Music.

For a long time now, I've been listening to Yahoo's LAUNCHcast, an internet music station that let's you rate how much or how little you like different kinds of music. You can rate entire genres, artists, albums, or individual songs. The station then plays what you like, but also plays songs that you haven't rated yet that were highly rated by other members that also like the same stuff you do. It's a customized radio station. You need a Yahoo account, but it's free. I've entered over 500 ratings and at this point I hardly ever hear a song I don't like, and it's exposing me to occasional music I haven't heard. The other fun thing is that you can share your station with other people. So if you want to hear the stuff I like, click on the title of this post. It's mostly 70s and 80s classic rock with a sprinkling of newer music and a little jazz.
Comments:
You're welcome. ;-)
 
Oh, yeah. The only way I even found out about it is that Nomad turned me on to it. Thanks, Nomad.

Hey, Nomad: If there's no identifying info in your station, do you want to put a comment with a link to it so folks can listen to it?
 
Hmm. Okay. Here's my station. Anyone daring to tune in is in for a frighteningly eclectic mix of classic rock from the 70s and 80s, big band, traditional jazz (ella fitzgerald, louis armstrong), Latin, Irish, Folk, 80s pop, classic country (johnny cash, willie nelson...), 50s rock and roll, 40s crooners, songs from musicals and gawd only knows what else. I have made over 3500 ratings.

I just tuned in, and was treated to some obscure Moody Blues, before transitioning into Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman singing "Come What May" from the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack. Tred at your own risk.

My Station
 
The last 8 songs I've heard:

The Greatful Dead, Recedes (While We Can)
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Have You Ever Seen The Rain
U2, Mysterious Ways
The Doors, People Are Strange
Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze
Bryan Adams, Summer of '69
Rush, A Passage To Bangkok (Live)
Lisa Loes, Stay
Belinda Carlisle, Heaven Is A Place on Earth

The last two are not my cup of tea, but the rest were great! If people who actually know music see this thread they will rightfully turn their nose up at my pedestrian ways, but I'm happy, not proud.
 
Trippy! We both got Lisa Loeb! I hadn't ever heard of her prior to tonight!

Here's my "recently played" list:

Johnny Cash: Songs of the Patriot (with Marty Robbins)

Creedence: "Down on the Corner"

Statler Brothers: "Flowers on the Wall"

John Prine (a must-add if you don't have him): "Illegal Smile"

Beach Boys: "In my Room"

Simon and Garfunkle: "Song for the Asking"

Robert Earl Keen: "The Road Goes on Forever"

Tex Ritter: "Rye Whiskey"

Willie Nelson: "Georgia on my Mind"

Neil Diamond: "I Think it's Gonna Rain Today"

Hank Williams Jr: "Family Tradition"

Carpenters: "Turn Away"

Pretenders: "Tattooed Love Boys"

LISA LOEB!!! "Stay"

Now, I've got the Irish Tenors on. I only rated them for Mrs. Nomad. They're getting skipped.
 
ooooh, sweet skip, dude. Skipped the Irish Tenors; got the Eagles "Hotel California" live.
 
We converged at Lisa Loeb and Creedence. Highly unusual.
 
I think Lisa Loeb might not be coincidental. I think Yahoo has a list of recent releases that it tries to "push" whether it's something we've rated or not. I don't know if the artists pay to have their songs played or something. That's how I discovered Renee Olstead. For a few weeks, I was hearing a lot of her songs though I never rated her.
 
It was more fun when I thought it was pure serendipity. :-(
 
Launchcast even has a nice feature to work around the Bernie Taupin issues inherant in all Elton John.

I'm singin' along with John, and joyously proclaiming "Daniel you're a star" before finding myself completely perplexed by the next phrase.

No problem. I click "find lyrics" and soon come to realize that Daniel is not simply a star; but "a star in the face of the sky".

So, it's good for your blood pressure too.
 
For those readers with Godby complexes, if Godby had Launchcast, Godby would listen mostly to:

-Bruce Hornsby and the Range
-Hootie and the Blowfish
-Van Halen (with Sammy Hagar)
and
-Los Lobos

It goes with his sandwich and a coke personality.
 
Godby was born to be mild.

Now, what was the deal with Seal? Does Godby like Seal, or does Goby not like Seal? Or was it someone else entirely that had some issue with Seal that I'm not remembering?
 
You forgot Seal.
 
Godby's enigmatic obsession with Seal has never been adequately explained. Leonard Nimoy considered reviving the "In Search Of" series to explore the issue, but was blackballed from the studio (pending investigation) when his "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" video was discovered in a Cerritos crack house.
 
I know that Oven would really enjoy the song ("Lady" by supergroup, Styx) playing on my station at the moment.
 
Styx is a pretty cool group... although some of those others sound awful. For the most part, I've never even heard of those people... but then again, I mostly listent to classical and foreign music, anyway.
 
Bean - does B&C know that, while she's pulling her hair out with billing, you are rating music and blogging?
 
My Launchcast is dedicated to all my has-been favorites:
Billy Joel
Blondie
Eagles
Foreigner
Journey
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd
Rush
Styx
U2
 
Ralphie: Yes. I was doing those things 5 feet away from her. I was mostly finishing chart notes and calling patients about their labs, but sometimes I need to take a break and blog. KnowhatImean?
 
Right now, "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Bugles! Sweeeet.
 
"Brown-eyed Girl" = Van Morrison

I need to rate Oingo Boingo. I'd forgotten about them... although I did download the Simpsons' theme song in mp3 a while back, and that's Danny Elfman, so I got that goin' for me...

...which is nice.

(will any of these geeks I blog with get the "Caddyshack" reference?)
 
Eclectic tastes in music are wonderful.
Reared on classical music, I moved on in the late 1960's, the 1970's to whatever my brothers listened to: rock'n'roll, R & B, blues, contemporary "adult easy listening", jazz, smooth jazz (there's a difference). And in the 1980s and 1990s I went on to like Klezmer, kids' songs. These days I also listen to my husband's faves: Psychedelic Sundays on a rock'n'roll station.
Give me a song, any kind of song, and "I can name that tune in 3 notes...!"
 
Da dum... Da
 
was that meant for me?
oh, okay--old famous vaudeville drumroll, used after the comic punchline was given. am i right? huh? huh?
 
Close. It was the theme from the Pink Panther. ;-)
 
you know, while i was typing my answer to you above, i was thinking "pink panther"--but you presented the "tune" in a different "key" than i'm used to. how did you expect me to get it?
actually , the joke goes: what did the pink panther sing when he stepped on the insect? answer: "dead ant, dead ant, dead ant..."
have yourself a great day, nomad. time for you to settle down in one place! (with a name like that you're definitely a man on the move)

:)Pearl
 
Actually, since adopting a career as a custom tour designer, it seems I rarely get to wander myself. Rather, I spend my time creating brilliant journeys for people I've never met, while secretly resenting my own stationary role. The irony is would be delicious if it wasn't so bitter.

Then again, I live on the Monterey Bay, so I guess if I gotta stay put for extended periods there are worse places to be.
 
okay, in response to your response,nomad, here come my bad puns...

MAP out your life's plans; SCHEDULE in some appointments; announce that nomad is a TOUR de force to be reckoned with; and while you're thinking through all that, snack on some MONTEREY jack cubes and play some background music: "the WANDERER" as sung by Dion (1961).

sound like a plan?
 
I misread the first sentence, thinking you said "Tour de France", and got lost in the Alps.

;-)
 
hey, aren't you the same nomad that told me many posts ago "kiss my ____!"

glad we're "friends" now. you, too, are a most funny guy a la Doctor Bean. kudos to you.
 
You WERE aware that that is the customary greeting in Nomadic culture, right? Roughly translated, it means, "Welcome to our blog. Nice to meet you."

;-)
 
(just lost my comment to you. here goes deja-vu!)

yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you say.

so i guess that means if i were to say the same to you, *of course* you'd understand what i meant, being the nomad that you are.

would love to stay and chat, but i've got to nomad away from my work desk, nomad across the parking lot to my car, nomad my way home...where i lose the nomad title and take up the wife/mom crowns.

ta-ta from toronto.
 
Toodles TP.
 
I actually really like the Eagles...
 
Billy Joel and Led Zeppelin are good too, I remember singing Joel's songs in school chorus. Not too fund of Pink Floyd and can't stand Seal. I like jazz and 40s/50s/60s/ musicals and singers... Simon & Garfunkel are cool, too... Some of the others are a total mystery, though.
 
Except Godby. :-)
 
I like all the stuff on Oven's list.

But actually, my theory is you only like the stuff you listened to at 17. Everything else has to sound like that or you lose interest.

For the record, my favorite bands are Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Pretenders, Led Zep, Beatles, Franz Ferdinand (just kidding--but I do love this band for the reasons stated above), Blondie, Garbage, Billy Joel (everything up to An Innocent man-the rest is crap), REM (early stuff only), Eagles, Supertramp, and basically everything else that was stolen out of my car.

Oh, and the Moshe Skier Band, but that stuff just sounds like all of the above for some reason.
 
Mose Skier Band definitely rocks. I will be certain that world redemption is at hand when one of their songs plays on my launchcast station.
 
For some reason, early in my blogging career, I thought it would be interesting to list what CDs I had in my car. Here's a list of what the car thieves got:

Car CDs
 
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