My Music Journal 2025: February 28, 2025

 

Friday, February 28, 2025

Time:  8:25 AM
Song: Have You Ever Seen the Rain
Artist: Outliers, John Fogerty, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Mode of Consumption: First song on Release Radar Spotify playlist.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1yzgMzhlFNdGAlL5Mopdoq?si=47b412c1a20248dd

I like to think that I’ve opened my mind quite a bit to the many genres and styles of music of the world over the years. I admit that in the past that was not always the case.

I didn’t like country music for a very long time. In fact, I usually didn’t even give it a try. While I can still be particular when it comes to what country I’ll accept into my life, I’ve certainly added quite a bit of it to my collection over the last decade or so.

I wasn’t always warm to rap or hip hop growing up either. While I can’t say that I am well-versed in either genre to this day, I usually am willing to give it a try when someone recommends an artist or song to me.

I am sure there are plenty of other examples that I could mention if I had time to consider the subject more.

But overall, I have become more diversified in my listening over the years.

With that said, I don’t understand why the song I am listening to is a thing.

It sounds to me like something some tech kid did in his basement for giggles. For those that can’t or don’t want to listen, what we have here is the original recording of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” infused with what I would term techno beats and with the speed altered at random points.

Outliers is a pair of producers named Falco and Pete, and I guess this version blew up on Tik Tok. I guess that's cute, but does it deserve an official release. I suppose they probably have to try and recoup the fees for using this song somehow. Still, I could have went without ever hearing this.

Maybe I’m overthinking it.

My Music Journal 2025: February 27, 2025

 

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Time:  5:50 PM
Song: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Artist: Johnny Cash
Mode of Consumption: Listening to vinyl “Hymns by Johnny Cash” while eating supper

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/4ouRy2y1A34GcHhouzkls0?si=e1b7df66211542d8

We bought this record at an estate sale a couple years ago along Freeport Road, just past Penrose Road, if my memory serves me right. The estate sale had a fair amount of old county vinyl with much of it being of the gospel variety. 

I like the cover as shown above, with a young Johnny Cash in a suit playing a guitar with a stained glass behind him. It’s the sort of record I feel like will sell fast. It’s in nice condition. The cover draws your eye. It’s Johnny Cash. The only drawback is the gospel part. 

I’m not opposed to gospel music, I just know that it can be a tough thing to sell when it comes to vinyl. I think the people that like listening to gospel music must already have a bunch of it or something. There’s certainly a lot of it at garage sales and auction lots. I usually sell gospels in lots of 50 for whatever I can get for them. 

So, it’ll be interesting what this record will do. I realize, I got it for a buck (maybe less), and so there had been at least a few people that passed it up over the two-day sale. Yet, when I go on Discogs it appears to be valuable. From what I can tell, this is the mono version (CL 1284) released in 1959. The high-end value is $36. The low is $12. The median is $25.66. 

I will set up as almost exclusively as a vinyl seller. That’s what people come to me for. So, I have a better chance of finding that one person that wants this one when they see it.  

Will I find the person will to pay $25 for this one? 

Hmmm, that’s the question. I usually shoot for around the median when I price. The cover is a little scuffed at the bottom, and a little yellow on the back. The vinyl itself is immaculate for being so old. Maybe $20 to start with. 

Well, I guess we’ll see. Keep your eyes out, I’ll likely be setting up at a sale sometime in April.

My Music Journal 2025: February 26, 2025

 

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Time: 4:12 PM
Song: The Wrestler
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Liked Songs on shuffle on Spotify.

Link to Song: https://open.spotify.com/track/6E6xVYnTszA6MerlIuiAoY?si=dc355e7fee31492f

I’ve had Spotify on for the last half hour or so, and I think this is the third Bruce Springsteen song to play.

It started with “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and then after a few songs it’s played “Waiting On A Sunny Day.” It needed a song from the 80s and maybe the 90s to get a quick-hit tour of the Boss’ catalog.

This is the first time today I’ve had a chance to rest my mind from work, and that’s only because I can’t decide where I should hit next.

What’s tingling in the back of my mind is my post from Feb. 19, which was generated the night before at our Write On meeting. To recap, I wrote a fictional diary about a guy in his 40s who loses his job and is quite befuddled by what to do with his life.

A few things keep coming to mind:

1. I think if I keep the diary format, he might be writing it to a long-lost friend. Likely a childhood friend. I don’t know if the friend died, or if they just had a falling out. The loss of this friendship haunts him, whether he acknowledges it or not. Perhaps the story would partly be about either reconnecting with this friendship, or about finally letting it go.
2. I am wondering if keeping the format as a diary is the best idea, or if I should just make it a narrative. I don’t know if the lost friendship plot persists then. Perhaps the story would be something completely different.
3. I have thought about having our main character chase some latent dream. One of my thoughts is having him begin training to be a professional wrestler. I figured it would open the door for some humor. It’s possible this works with the lost friendship plot also. I don’t know. I have also thought about having take up an instrument. Start dating someone, or maybe more than one someone. Interjecting a conflict with his son. The only thing I know is that he’s not going right back to work.
4. Mostly, I think I should just sit down and write for an hour and see where it goes.

My Music Journal 2025 - February 25, 2025

 

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Time: 7:45 PM
Song: Freak on a Leash
Artist: Korn
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s while coming home from Taco supper at Aunt Betty’s

Link to song:  https://open.spotify.com/track/6W21LNLz9Sw7sUSNWMSHRu?si=42aee463a17e45ea 

We turn onto Quinn Road, a hilly rural road that cuts east to west off Route 40 just north of Sterling. We’re the only ones out on this dark February night in Illinois. It’s warm. Temps near, maybe even in the 50s, during the sunny afternoon. A complete change from the week below when there was snow cover and below zero temperatures. 

Korn’s song starts to wind down into the nonsense breakdown that is most of the las two minutes of the lyrics. 

Somewhere I am sure Korn fan just went ballistic. How can you call it nonsense? 

I am not calling the song nonsense. Just that the lyrics devolve into sounds, and it’s likely the defining moment of the song for those us from the 90s, even though it’s tough define even what is happening. 

“Kelly used to be able to do this really well,” Jodi says, remembering a mutual friend from high school. 

I think: What do you call this breakdown of words? I am sure there’s something technical term, either in literature or music. Onomatopoeia? Maybe, but not sure it quite fits. 

When I get home, I decide to look up what the lyrics say. According to genius.com: 

Boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma.

Followed by

Da-boom-da-da-mmm-dum-na-ee-ma. Several times. 

Then in the bridge following this section alternating lines finish with the phrases “ming-a-ooh” and then there is one “hee-a-hoo.” 

I’m not sure this clears anything up for me. I think I have to respect that within the context of the song, this nonsense not only works, but make sense. 

My Music Journal 2025 - February 24, 2025

 

Monday, February 24, 2025

Time: 6:05 AM
Song: Use Somebody
Artist: Kings of Leon
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s while riding an exercise bike.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5VGlqQANWDKJFl0MBG3sg2?si=2981681237934675

I remember seeing a clip of Paul McCartney sometime over the last few years where he was explaining that early in the Beatles career, they were trying to write songs to make money. The modern audience had a mixed reaction to this admission.

Authentic art, after all, isn’t supposed to be motivated by money.

But, as a teenager from a lower-to-middle class family in Liverpool, McCartney and his bandmates, each of similar backgrounds, weren’t thinking about songwriting as art as much as a skill. One they hoped would open doors to a better life for themselves.

The Beatles, as it turned out, could write songs that made money. That instinct or motivation never left the group, even after the music stopped. The band broke up in 1970. Each decade since the band has become bigger and bigger and so has the money.

I’m not saying the Beatles are sell outs. I am not saying their music isn’t art. I’m just saying writing songs that the masses liked was always part of their makeup.

That’s what pops into my head when I hear “Use Somebody.”

Kings of Leon was the underground band of the mid-2000s that all the hardcore music fans and critics seemed to love.

“You got to hear these guys!”

“There going to be huge!”

They were the darlings of critics. Their fans couldn’t understand why everyone wasn’t getting into them. 

I had a couple different friends bring Kings of Leon to my attention. I liked what I heard, but didn’t follow them that closely.

Then “Use Somebody” hit in 2008. And that was it. A hit. A song clearly written to make money. It had a hook. It was an earworm. It was superficial enough to be universal.

Suddenly everyone knew Kings of Leon.

And all the people that had pumped the band up, professed to disliking that song.

The very thing that all those people had said would happen, happened. Kings of Leon became a huge band. And they hated it.

Weirdly enough, while I am sure that single is a big reason why Kings of Leon are living very comfortably now, it feels to me like it’s the reason their momentum ultimately slowed down. I know Kings of Leon are still together. They still release new music. But I never get the sense that there is a lot of momentum around it. While I have heard some of it, I can’t even say without looking it up, if I like their newer music or not.

My Music Journal 2025: February 23, 2025

 

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Time: 3 PM
Song: Moon River
Artist: Audrey Hepburn
Mode of Consumption: Jodi practicing on the keyboard.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1XwAKjAZ1xDZOcuyZoqce4?si=12f6cadba710405d

One of the writing contests that I am entered includes a requirement to judge story duels between two other contestants. Everything is anonymous, and you never judge in the genre that you are entered in. My case I had to write a Revenge story, so I have not read any Revenge stories. 

I was in the middle of judging one of these duels when Jodi walks in needing to use the computer. She offers to wait for me to finish, so I begin the second story. 

This story is a Time Travel Romance, and it’s taking an ambitious approach, mixing in fragments of letters written by the narrator’s mother to his father. It’s a story told in short segments, and clearly trying to lean heavily into imagery. Frankly, it’s a more difficult read than most in the contest. 

Then Jodi starts plunking on the keyboard. That sounds bad, but the reality is that she hasn’t practiced in a long time, so she plays “Moon River” key by key, the melody not quite arriving at her pace. It’s a song she had become pretty good at, but again, she hasn’t practiced, so her playing is stunted. 

Each sound draws me from the story, my mind stretching to understand what the writer is trying to do. Is the writer being too vague? Am I not smart enough to understand? Plunk, did that note just plunge through all my synapses? 

She finishes the song, and goes into another. Something easier because she plays quicker. 

I finish the story, and think, screw it, I am going to have to read that again before writing my critique. 

My Music Journal 2025: February 22, 2025

 

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Time: 11:40 AM
Song: Wild Night
Artist: John Mellencamp, Michelle Ndegeocello
Mode of Consumption: Playing over speakers at Burger King in Rock Falls

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/6opIwpImZYdxNgG4wpDxED?si=c0c4797fca3c449f

We ran a couple errands on Saturday morning including a stop at the bank to move some money from our savings into a CD. Our reward for this adulting was to head over the bridge into Rock Falls and eat some greasy fast food. It’s not something we do often, and probably look forward to too much. 

We made small chat while we consumed our burgers and French fries, breaking only to take a drink of soda. 

About midway through the meal, John Mellencamp and Michelle Ndegecello’s cover of Van Morrison’s Wild Night played over the speakers. 

“Man, I really loved this song when it came out,” Jodi said. This cover was released in 1994, when both Jodi and I were twelve. I remembered it getting lots of air play. 

“I even had Mom drive me to the mall one Saturday so that I could buy the single,” Jodi continued. “But when we got there, they were all sold out.” 

I imagine she was going to buy that single on cassette tape. It’s possible it would have been on CD, and maybe, just maybe, there was still 45s in 1994, but I doubt that the local record store carried vinyl (or much vinyl) by that point. 

Sometimes it’s easy to forget how the world has changed. In 1994, Mellencamp and his record company likely made a mint just off the sales of the single for this song. Not to mention the sales of the album “Dance Naked” that also featured the song. I know the album must have sold pretty well, because I see that CD quite a bit in sale bins at garage sales and used music shops. 

While vinyl has made a cute comeback into the market, it still doesn’t sell a glimmer of what hard copies of vinyl, cassettes and CDs sold in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The fact is everyone streams music. When a new tune gains attention, all a twelve-year-old has to do is get on Spotify to hear their favorite song. 

The artists get a bit for that, but it’s nowhere near the income artists received back in the day, much less the mountains of cash the record labels made. 

More importantly, when a couple like Jodi and I eat at whatever equivalent to fast food is in thirty years they won’t have that kind of story to talk about.  Maybe just a mention of them remembering the song that was playing. 

I think we’ve lost something. 

My Music Journal 2025: February 21, 2025

 

Friday, February 21, 2025

Time: 7:54 AM
Song: Anyone for Tennis
Artist: Cream
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on the way to work.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/6vJ7Eh9EnJ8i4RXUV1usRz?si=a5cfe39cf64f41bf

Michael Jordan’s former estate in Highland Park, IL, is available for rent for $230,000 a month. We’ve joked this week that maybe that could be a vacation for us and several others. A month at the Jordan estate with our closest friends and family.

It’s a 7-plus acre estate featuring an indoor basketball court, a full gym, tennis courts, a putting green, and a mansion complete with all the amenities one would expect to find in the home of the world’s most famous professional athlete and sneaker peddler.

Celebrity and athlete homes have always drawn interest. I remember it being a topic in the 90s when it got out that White Sox slugger Frank Thomas had 20-some restrooms in his home. Ludicrous. As was the fake outrage. Who cares how many bathrooms the guy has? If you don’t have to clean them, why does it matter?

I always think about it another way when it comes to athletes. When did they use all this stuff? I assume Michael Jordan lived in this house during his tenure as Bull, but likely not that much since leaving the team in the late 90s.

During his career, Jordan was fully involved in the season from October through June. That schedule included traveling around the country on a weekly basis. Even during homestands, he was probably rushing between the games, practice, and other training and media requirements. In the offseason, I suspect he didn’t stick around the Midwest that much. I am sure there were vacations to the islands. Likely he was on one coast or another often, making promotional deals, shooting commercials and movies, and doing whatever else is required of being famous.

So, did Michael Jordan ever use the tennis court? Were there rooms in the mansion that he never spent a minute in?

I mean, we have a much smaller house and there are still parts of it I don’t see that regularly, much less spend time in.

I think when the history of our civilization is written, it will conclude that there was a lot of wasted space and unnecessary luxury.

My Music Journal 2025: February 20, 2025

 

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Time: 8:15 AM
Song: Basic Being Basic
Artist: Djo
Mode of Consumption: Listening Spotify playlist called “The New Alt”

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/03zWQa4ZQEMofug2Gmh6io?si=a53e48079c1645b3

Thursday morning is breakfast morning at ASE. Our secretary, Rosemary, hands out menus from a local restaurant – we recently made the change from “Town and Country” to the new place in town “Mom’s Diner” – and then she calls the order and picks it up.

The first year that I worked here, I struggled with a new job, new coworkers and an ultimate change of lifestyle on all fronts. Breakfast morning was a highlight.

I guess that might be sad. Something so simple. Something so basic. It’s just breakfast. Most weeks either an omelet or skillet (which I’ve determined are basically the same thing just arranged differently), occasionally a pancake. Heck, I even got excited about the toast on the side. Toast, can you believe it. Two slabs of bread, buttered, and then I would add a layer of grape jelly.  

I think it’s one of those things you either get or you don’t.

Today I went with the 2X2X2 selection, which is two pancakes, two eggs (scrambled for me), and two sausage links (you can pick bacon). I listened to this playlist, and you know what? Spotify was one of the other things that helped my transition to this job. I have spent hours listening to tunes as I learned this line of work. I continue to listen, even though my responsibilities have increased, and I have adjusted to the workplace.

The other thing that helped me was writing. For the first time since college, I wasn’t writing all the time for my job (I write a little, but nothing too demanding or creative). The paper tended to drain my creativity. So, I jumped two feet into independent writing, including this blog.

Maybe I’m a basic guy. But it was the little things that helped me, and I am at a better place now than I was when breakfast day was the weekly highlight. Not to say I still don’t find it to be one of the perks of the gig.

My Music Journal 2025: February 19, 2025

 

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Time: 4:05 PM
Song: Under the Bridge
Artist: The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mode of Consumption: Listening to my Liked tracks on shuffle on Spotify.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/3d9DChrdc6BOeFsbrZ3Is0?si=7b595e17ba344106

So, I am going to cheat. Below is what I wrote last night at Write On. It’s a diary style story from the point of view of a fictional character. This song was playing while I gave the piece a quick edit this afternoon, and it fits a little bit. Although, I don’t think the story takes place in Los Angeles or involves heroin addiction. There is an aura of isolation in the song and story. Also, I will note that, Jodi and I saw the Chili Peppers last year in St. Paul, and we were literally at a park under a bridge, and they didn’t sing this song. Maybe they thought it would be too on the nose.

Enjoy the story! It doesn’t have an ending, this is just what I had time to type. I might look to continue this to see where it goes. 

Thursday, March 1, 202X

Dear Fictional Companion,

There are ninety-six steps from the eighth floor of the Larson Building to the lobby. I learned that just today, even though I had spent the last twelve years working on that eighth floor and thinking I should scale them each morning, lunch and end of day to improve my fitness.

Well, today, I made the descent. Not because I finally was tired of the little spare tire my ex-wife likes to tease me about when she comes over once a month (more on that later, I promise), but because I didn’t have a choice.

The elevator was broken.

And I had to leave.

To be more accurate, Larry Fowler told me at exactly 10:42 AM that I had to leave.

“Charles. Chuck. C-Diddy. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Dot. Dot. Dot.” Larry’s the same age as me but loves to read books about being a better manager. Giving your employees silly nicknames must be one of the hints. He also rattles off “Charles, Chuck, C-Diddy” whenever he addresses me. I want to punch him in the C-Diddy.

I was laid off. Downsized. Shit-canned. Pick the term, that’s what I was. He told me at 10:42 AM, and followed that with that I needed to be out of the building by 11:30.

“Sorry about the elevator Charles. Chuck. C-Diddy,” Larry said, as I was leaving carrying a box half-filled with things from my desk that I didn’t really want. “No hard feelings.”

I counted stairs on the way down, each taking me closer to being 47-years old and unemployed for the first time since I was twenty-one.

Yours truly,

Charles Lyndon

 

Friday, March 2, 202X

Dear Fictional Companion,

You’re the only one I’ve told so far about being jobless. I worry once I breathe a word of it outside of the Larson Building it will grow like Jack’s Beanstalk so that everyone can see. I believe the term is called viral in internet speak.

I can see it now. Tweets from everyone from Elon Musk to Suzie the captain of the local cheerleading squad spreading the news all with the hashtag #ChucksABum.

I’ve kept my shade drawn today, the garage door closed, I may not even venture to the mailbox. The neighborhood would just assume I was sick or something. We live in a post-COVID world right, that thought should keep nosy folks away for at least three years.

I had two text messages on my phone last night.

One from Erick Wylde. His desk was near mine. We liked to murmur insignificant things to each other throughout the day about the weather, about sports teams, about co-workers we liked or disliked. Erick has to be twenty years younger than me. Safe from layoffs, downsizing, shitcanning because he makes significantly less than me.

His message went like this:

“Hey Chuck, dude, man, sorry about the job. Hit me up if you want to get a drink or something. E.”

We’ve never got a drink together before. I haven’t messaged back yet.

The second was from my son, Jeremy.

“Hey, break starts the 22^nd. Staying at moms for a few days, maybe hit your place on the 27^th or something.”

I replied, “K. Love you.” to that.

Yours truly,

Charles Lyndon

Saturday, March 3, 202X

Dear Fictional Companion,

Today was Saturday, so I decided I could open the shades, pull the Mazda out of the garage, and check the mail.

I even went so far as to drive to the grocery store and buy a gallon of milk, bread and two candy bars. I didn’t make a list before going, and realized when I came home that there were probably an additional ten items that I should have purchased. Like toilet paper. One roll left in the house. Let the panic start!

So, I ate a candy bar and watched a college basketball game between two teams I didn’t care about. I bet myself the team in the blue would win by eight. They lost by twelve. I checked professional sports gambler off my list of future professions.

Yours truly,

Charles Lyndon

Sunday, March 4, 202X

Dear Fictional Companion,

I texted Erick back at 10 AM.

“Yeah, you want to meet for lunch today. I’ll even pay.”

I showered. I combed my thinning hair. I picked out a T-Shirt and jeans. Unemployed guys don’t have to wear khakis and collars, I told myself. I paced around the house. I checked my phone’s charge and reception probably two hundred times.

When noon came and passed, I made a frozen pizza and changed into a pair of shorts. There was golf on the TV. I fell asleep.

My phone buzzed at 6:30 PM. A text from Erick.

“Sorry was on the road this weekend. Let’s shoot for another time.”

He didn’t throw out a specific day, and I read that as much as you are fictional, my dear companion, so is his interest in ever meeting with me.

Yours truly,

Charles Lyndon.

 

Monday, March 5, 202X

Dear Fictional Companion,

My first boss out of college was named Hans. He was Norwegian with a thick red mustache and barrel chest. The first time he shook my hand, I knew that this was a man that could crush my skull with his fingers, if he wanted, too.

You don’t do a shit job for a guy like Hans.

He was a sweet guy. He had like a half dozen red-headed kids with a tall blonde woman I assumed he ordered from a Norwegian female factory and he liked to lift heavy boxes over his head just for grins.

Hans would never have fired me. He would have taken me under his arm, said, “Chucky, dis company’s struggling, but we figure out how ta keep ya on. Don’tcha worry none.”

I should never have left that place.

I bought a newspaper today, only to find out that nobody puts job ads in newspapers anymore. Apparently, you have to go online.

Great. Ten different job websites, each wanting different usernames and different passwords with capital letters and numbers and icons. I use the dollar sign in all of my passwords.

Positive thinking, right?

Yours truly,

Charles Lyndon.

 

Tuesday, March 6, 202X

Dear Fictional Companion,

I called my ex-wife today, and she became the first person I told. Her name is Rena. She still laughs with no regard for who hears her, and she has never lied to me. Even when she cheated on me, she didn’t lie about it. More on that later, I promise.

So, I told her, and you know what she says?

“Well, good for you.”

That’s what she says, and she means it. She’s not being a smartass, even though that’s one of her specialties.

“Good?” I guffawed.

She blitzed me then with more words and sentences than I could track. I am the kind of guy that can get stuck on the premise of a story and never get around to understanding the point.

Before we ended the call, I told her that I would call Jeremy and let him know. I am going to wait a day on that call. She’ll tell him before that, I am sure.

Yours truly,

Charles Lyndon.

My Music Journal 2025: February 18, 2025

 

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Time: 7:45 AM
Song: Superstar
Artist: The Clarks
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on the way to work. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/4PkPSzN12MShC2ZrYPuQtL?si=6a90040fb77d449b

In the summer of 2002 (I think), I loaded up a van of my friends and we drove from Sterling to DeKalb for a concert at Ottos, a small downtown club. The headliner that night was O.A.R., a group that had hit it big on college campuses across the Midwest the previous school year.

It was a warm, blue-sky day. It was my first summer working third shift at National Manufacturing, so I probably slept until mid-afternoon, and I woke with a sore throat and stuffy nose but determined to power through. Twenty years later, I probably wouldn’t have been admitted to the club. Thanks, COVID.

Ottos was a classic downtown club, two floors, the second a balcony that looked down on the stage. We stood on the balcony, shoulder to shoulder with each other and with complete strangers. My nose was completely plugged in the warm, humid room. I had both an awesome and miserable time.

The Clarks were the openers, a young band so hungry to build their fanbase that they handed a free CD with a few tracks at the door. They played a fine, but mostly forgettable set before O.A.R. hit the stage and the entire building started rocking. I kind of think that’s what ended up being the story for the Clarks. They were a fine little band, but mostly forgettable.

I should not this isn't my favorite song from the Clarks. I liked their single "Hey You" a little better, but they are similar sounding songs.

My other clear memory from this concert was that we were standing near a group of guys, who I think were drinking heavily (maybe). We were under 21, so maybe Ottos didn’t serve alcohol. Still, it was a college town, so maybe they snuck some in.

One kid had red hair, a skinny kid, my memory tells me. He was a little loud talking to his friend, and I remember him saying at one point that he was looking to get into a fight that night. It didn’t seem like he had anyone in mind, he just wanted to brawl.

That was a pretty foreign concept for me. My idea of good time didn’t involve either hitting someone or getting hit by someone. In fact, a good night usually meant nothing of the sort happened.

It might have been one of the first times I realized just how differently other people approach the world, and I think that’s why it sticks in my memory.

My Music Journal 2025: February 17, 2025

 

Monday, February 17, 2025

Time: 5:10 PM
Song: Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)
Artist: Tom T. Hall
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on the way home from work. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/11QUG7teTcHUXgP1KsdvuX?si=8d94702358fb4d84 

The drive home featured some staples of my musical lifetime. A real tour of my listening roots, if you will.  

“Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen – Boy, that’s been in rotation since my sister bought me the Boss’s Greatest Hits on cassette tape sometime in the early-to-mid 1990s. 

“Yesterday” by the Beatles – Really anything from the Beatles dominated my ears throughout junior high and high school. This one is the ballad of all ballads in my mind. 

“I Want You” by Savage Garden – While I was basically a classic rock kind of guy in my later teens, for some reason Savage Garden weaseled their way into my ears and heart. I can’t deny I still enjoy when one of their tunes crosses my path. 

But before all of those shuffled onto the speakers of my Jeep Renegade on this frigid Monday afternoon, Tom T. Hall hit the speakers. While Mr. Hall is by no means a new artist, in fact he’s dead. His music is a relative newcomer to my playlists. 

I believe I first knowingly encountered his music when one of his Greatest Hits albums was in a box of CDS I bought at a sale. 

There was a time in my life where I wouldn’t have given country music like this much of a chance, but that changed slowly over time. 

Probably first came Johnny Cash’s American IV released just before his death in 2003 with his haunting cover of Nine Inch Nail’s “Hurt.” 

My anti-country bias melted more when I got hooked on The Avett Brothers in the early 2010s (thanks Spotify shuffle). While the Avett Brothers probably don’t fit precisely under the country label, their Americana sound opened the doors for other similar artists. Jason Isbell. Ryan Bingham. James McMurty. 

Then came John Prine. What started with enjoying “Lake Marie,” snowballed into loving Mr. Prine’s entire catalog. I am sure a few of his tunes will make this journal throughout the year.

So, you can see, I was primed for Tom T. Hall when I gave his hits album a try. His mix of humor, wit, and heart fell right in line with Prine. And, as this selection provides, I now know the secret to life: “Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money.” 

My Music Journal 2025: February 16, 2025

 

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Time: 2:45 PM
Song: Halo
Artist: Gabrielle Shonk
Mode of Consumption: Cirque du Soleil Crystal performance at Vibrant Arena Moline, IL. 

Link to song (Note Spotify only has the original by Beyonce): https://open.spotify.com/track/4JehYebiI9JE8sR8MisGVb?si=1bdeae46ca8d445a

Link to a performance of a performance of Crystal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fipm9fH9nQk

For the last decade or so, Jodi and I have forgone getting physical Christmas presents for our parents, choosing instead to take them on day trips at some point of the year. The fact is our parents are to the point in their lives where they don’t really need much more stuff, and we are looking to make more happy memories while we still can. 

This year we took my parents and Jodi’s mom, Kathy, to see Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal in Moline on Sunday. 

This is the first production by Cirque du Soleil to take place on ice, so it combines the usual gymnastics and acrobatics of a Cirque production with ice skating, ice dancing, and other daredevil tricks at high speeds on the frozen surface. 

It was a stunning performance that I recommend to anyone. Lots of stunts. Music. Charm. Wit. Humor. Heart. 

The show culminates with this cover of Beyonce’s “Halo” with the main character of Crystal performing with a male trapeze performer. (Really, I recommend watching the attached video, I admit to not knowing the nomenclature for this stuff). It’s a moving and breathtaking cap to the show. 

Jodi and I had never seen a Cirque de Soleil show before, although we regret that we didn’t cough up the 60 bucks in Vegas about ten years ago to watch “Love,” the show inspired by the music of the Beatles. Seeing today’s show only makes us regret that more. 

My Music Journal 2025: February 15, 2025

 

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Time: 10:30 AM
Song: Life is a Highway
Artist: Tom Cochrane
Mode of Consumption: Listening to the radio in the kitchen. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/0hKF8N8aflF1uDzEEnPr2j?si=1b38793981c844b3

I am scrolling through Facebook or Twitter as Jodi works around the kitchen. I had just finished sweeping the kitchen and dining room floors, the usual Saturday morning chore. Jodi was starting to work on some treats she’s giving away to family and friends for Valentine’s Day.

She sings along to the chorus: “Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long…” 

She dances around a bit, singing and laughing. We can be silly because it’s Saturday and there’s no one else around to see us. She’ll love that I am sharing it here. 

We were hit with a couple more inches of snow last night, and we are supposed to get more throughout the day today, but so far it hasn’t done much of anything. 

We drove to town early this morning, making stops at Menards and Farm & Fleet. Mostly buying things for our cats and dog. 

Our schedule is pretty clear for the day. We bought a fountain soda at the gas station to have with popcorn tonight when we likely will watch a movie or a couple episodes of one television show or another. Between then and now, it’s just little chores. Walking the dog. Maybe getting the tractor out to plow a little snow. Read a bit. Write a bit.

Maybe life isn’t so much a highway today. More like a meandering country road. One where I’m in no hurry to get to the destination. 

My Music Journal 2025: February 14, 2025

 

Friday, February 14, 2025

Time: 6:05 AM
Song: Lucky
Artist: Bif Naked
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s while riding stationary bicycle.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/76ZeSKJ7ekxZzOgqszwnA4?si=6cd25d41b504483b

I ride the stationary bike parked in our basement, playing music through the Bluetooth speaker of our little turntable. The bike is in the corner of our basement that I call “Dan Land.” It has the bar I made a few years ago, the bar top a collage of rock stars and lyrics under epoxy. Dan Land also has the baseball bat bench my dad and I made with the seat being a baseball card collage covered in epoxy.

There are crates of vinyl records all around Dan Land right now. Crates of vinyl I am still working through, and the rest are vinyl that I sell either via Marketplace or at sales during the warmer months.

In all, Dan Land is a chaotic third of the basement. Jodi has another third of the basement she calls “Club Jode Fu,” where she works on her various crafts. The other third of basement is basically taken by storage and necessities like the furnace, water heater, water softener and sump pump.

I am reading an old National Geographic article while I exercise. The article is about the importance of touch, and the development of prothesis that are increasingly becoming better at simulating the sensation of touch through technologies that I can neither explain nor fully understand.

It details the complexity of the human skin, how the sensations send messages to the brain, how that the sense of touch is the first to develop. The need of babies for human touch, particularly from their mother, is vital to their development.

We take it for granted, don’t we. The things we touch. The people. Our pets. The joy we find in a handshake or a hug.

The article mentions a man breaking down in tears when he was able to hold hands with his wife with the experimental prosthesis.

I am nearing the end of my ride when Jodi comes down, wearing her winter coat. It’s a frosty February morning with temperatures hovering around zero. She’s leaving for work.

She gives me a kiss goodbye and ascends the stairs.

I know we are the lucky ones.

My Music Journal 2025: February 13, 2025

 

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Time: 5:00 PM
Song: The A Team
Artist: Ed Sheeran
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s while driving home from work. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1VdZ0vKfR5jneCmWIUAMxK?si=3ca0a690af864d81

I pull onto Galena Avenue in Dixon and this song comes on my MP3s. Hmmm, I wonder when this got added. 

I have no memory of it. Frankly, I don’t know if I have ever heard this song before. Ed Sheeran songs all sort of sound the same to me.

Clearly, I missed most of the Ed Sheeran fad. Probably too old. Maybe too male. I don’t know. 

My two memories of Ed Sheeran are two appearances he made as an actor. 

The first is playing himself in the movie, “Yesterday.” The quick synopsis is that in a blink the Beatles are removed from the timeline of the world for everyone save one man named Jack, who then becomes a superstar by recording all their songs. 

Jack meets Ed Sheeran (playing himself, I believe), and there is a scene where the two have an impromptu songwriting contest. Sheeran writes a very Ed Sheeran type song, and Jack whips out “The Long and Winding Road.” Sheeran admits his defeat, and seems to indict he had been some sort of champion of impromptu songwriting contests. 

I remember thinking it was a strange scene, because I’ve never heard of musical artists competing in this fashion. Also, I don’t know why Ed Sheeran was the champion of such contests, and why speed of songwriting is important. Finally, “The Long and Winding Road” has never been one of my favorite Beatle tunes, so Jack picking that one didn’t hit with me. 

The second Ed Sheeran appearance was his brief role in HBO’s “The Game of Thrones.” Sheeran plays a singing soldier in the Lannister army. Sheeran and a small band of Lannister soldiers are camped alongside the Kingsroad and unwittingly encounter Arya Stark, fresh off killing the entire Frey family and now a trained Faceless Man assassin. While never revealing her identity, Stark tells the soldiers she is traveling to King’s Landing to murder Queen Cersei. They all laugh. 

The scene is meant to emphasize that while Cersei Lannister and many of her family were power hungry monsters, the men fighting in the army were basically normal people just doing what they are told. Small cogs stuck in the wheel that Daenerys Targaryen had claimed to want to break in an episode around this same time. 

I think the scene took heat when it was released because it didn’t really seem to serve a purpose other than to get Sheeran some air time. Maybe so. 

I think it probably was supposed to remind Arya that there had to be a limit to her thirst for revenge. 

Ultimately where it missed the mark was that the showrunners should have had some of the same Lannister soldiers appear in the second-to-final episode when Daenerys is burning King’s Landing and her Unsullied are mercilessly killing Lannister men who have surrendered. Seeing this band of normal guys murdered would have drove home the point that Daenerys had lost sight of breaking the wheel and instead was crushing the cogs caught on it.  

My Music Journal 2025: February 12, 2025

 

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Time: 5:17 PM
Song: Milkshake 
Artist: Kelis
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s while driving home from work in a snow storm. 

Links to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/4LmzPJDil70LpiApWfOI6O?si=7ab77ca837a44d95

OK, a few things here. 

First, I mention a snow storm above. There was a time in my life I would have considered today’s snow storm just a little snow. Actually, I still do. Most winters twenty-to-forty years ago (at least in my memory) had snow events like this almost weekly between the end of November to the middle of March. This winter, this was the first snow of any consequence that we’ve had. The last few years we’ve generally had one maybe two marginally serious snow events a season. 

We’ve had three, maybe four inches today. It’s a light snow. It’s blown a bit, but the roads are mostly clear. There are no drifts even ankle deep much less the knee-to-hip depth that lead to homebound days for those of us who live beyond the city limits. 

It’s not dark. Just gray out like it has been all day. The snow is blowing sideways, but it’s not so heavy that it impairs vision. 

A real snow event has much more danger, more precipitation, and blinding winds. The grumpy old man at me wants to mock any school that called classes off. In my day, I wouldn’t even had bothered to turn on the radio to find out if school was canceled. There was no chance. This would have just been a Wednesday with some snow, soon forgotten, and likely buried under the snow that came with the big storm a day or two later. 

Second, those following along on this blog probably consider this song selection to be a departure from my usual fare. I agree, it strays from my listening tastes. I have it on my phone for a couple reasons. 

1. Jodi likes it. Simple as that. I add music she likes because she’ll be listening to these MP3s when we travel. 
2. There was an episode of “Raising Hope” – a show we probably only watched a handful of times in syndication – where the Cloris Leechman character enters a cooking contest and changes the words of this song to “My hot dish brings all the boys to the yard.” It’s a scene that we’ve mentioned dozens of times since even though – as I said – we barely saw any of the episodes for that sitcom. 

Third, it just hits me that this song, a type a song I usually wouldn’t be listening too, would be playing while I puttered along a snowy country road in a storm I once wouldn’t have considered a storm. 

My Music Journal 2025: February 11, 2025

 

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Time: 4:27 PM
Song: Rainy Day Women #12 & #35 
Artist: Bob Dylan
Mode of Consumption: Vinyl Record of Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7BkAlVpGwXXl3sYNn5OoJ7?si=18e95ee2e9e54605

We had a meeting at 3 p.m. today in Sterling to complete a land purchase, so I left work early. The business at the title company finished a little before 4 p.m., and when I arrived home, I decided that I could work the last hour remotely, so I wouldn’t have to use PTO or take so many short lunches. 

I set the laptop on our dining room table, and I figure it’s a good time to put some vinyl on while I scan the emails from the time I missed. Much of my life is spent scanning emails. 

I picked Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits from my collection, and I was reminded that the very first CD I ever bought was this very album. It was purchased at the old Wal-Mart in Sterling, and I don’t remember if I was in junior high or high school. 

It’s strange because I was usually frugal in my teens, and when it came to music, I usually stuck with what I knew. I probably knew some of the songs on this album, but I don’t have any memories of listening to a Bob Dylan song before that CD. 

Why did I choose it? 

I suppose I was aware of Dylan’s standing in the popular music world, and as a big Beatles fan, it wasn’t that far of a stretch that I would stick with 1960s-based music. 

Perhaps, I thought it would sound cool if some random person asked what CD I bought first. 

“Well, Bob Dylan, of course.” I can see me saying with my pinky up. 

I might have been curious. What’s the big deal about this guy? Let’s just see. 

Whatever it was, I do remember putting it in my new boom box, and “Rainy Day Women #12 & #35” hitting the speakers, and realizing this wasn’t what I expected. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the hint of mischief in his voice, the upbeat arrangement. I was stoned without ever taking a puff. I was stoned without a rock ever hitting me. 

I was dazed. 

And then “Blowin’ in the Wind” followed, and that was like a changeup from a hurler blazin’ 100-mile-per-hour fastballs. With each track there was something similar, but altogether different. 

Back then I didn’t have the context for all the lyrics, and many of them I still don’t quite understand, but every time I put this album on, and that first track hits, I get the same feeling. Like I am stepping onto the path of a great adventure. 

My Music Journal: February 10, 2025

 

Monday, February 10, 2025

Time: 7:57 PM
Song: White Winter Hymnal 
Artist: Fleet Foxes
Mode of Consumption: Playlist Pandemonium Winter is Here playlist for songs from the last twenty years that reminds us of winter. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/0GegHVxeozw3rdjte45Bfx?si=7a5f817f03784c85

I’ll admit that today is the first time that I’ve went through most of the day without being inspired by one song or another since I started this little blog experiment at the beginning of the year. And since I am already tired I doubt I'll be staying up late enough to just luck into one, so I had to be proactive in choosing a song.

It was bound to happen. 

I listened to music during the normal times. Morning workout. Drive to work. First few hours of work. Drive home from work. 

It was just a day where I was either busy or my mind just wasn’t tuned to the music. 

So, I sit down tonight wanting to find a song that fits this feeling. 

Well, this morning I had listened to this playlist, straight through, and yet late in the morning, I looked down to realize that it had ended and that Spotify had slipped into whatever songs it feels relates to the playlist. 

I like the “White Winter Hymnal,” and I decide it’s a song that feels like it would play in the background of a movie or TV show, but it wouldn’t dominate the scene. Instead, the action on the screen would carry the movement, while the song simply helps move it along.

If you didn’t know the song, you might not even have noticed it, probably not until it played in some random playlist sparking your mind to remember where you’ve heard the damn thing before. 

Maybe all of this relates to winter. That between the cold and the dark, we’re moving through time, barely even noticing the notes, the chords, the melody, and the lyrics of life playing just at the edge of our conscience.