My Music Journal 2025: February 7, 2025

 

Friday, February 7, 2025

Time: 11 A.M.
Song: The Heat of the Moment
Artist: Asia
Mode of Consumption: Jukebox Selection at Arcadia in McLean, Illinois

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1nmZ8yqKkfooOuYvtFctDp?si=937a3f349d384292

About fifteen minutes from Bloomington, there’s a little town named McLean. It’s your average midwestern village tucked along an interstate (I-55 which runs between Springfield and Chicago) with the truck stop seemingly being the modern hub.

The past century hub is a small town square a few blocks from the interstate. There’s a little park in the middle of the roadway and building on the outside of the square.

One of the buildings is now filled with another memory of days gone by. Arcadia is a museum filled with retro arcade games and pinball machines. The best part – this isn’t a museum where you can only look at the artifacts. The games are operation, and for a quarter or maybe 50 cents, you can be transported back in time to the late 1980s or early 1990s.

My colleague Ty and I decided to take a short detour today on our journey home from a conference in Springfield. It had been a busy couple of days with extra hours, so we took an hour to step back in time.

Part of that journey included a jukebox that still played 45s. Since we were the only ones Arcadia at the time, I decided to use a few of my quarters to play a few songs. I mean, a quiet arcade is just a bit weird. Plus, I always loved pickings songs on Jukeboxes. It’s a chance to be a DJ. To set the mood, and the music always seems to sound great blasting from their speakers.

I picked five songs, and one of them was “The Heat of the Moment” by Asia for a couple reasons.

1. It’s a high-energy rocker that fits the era of the museum.
2. It’s fun.
3. And, when you’re playing an intense game, you are very much in “The Heat of the Moment.” Har. Har.

Anyways, if you’re looking for a fun day trip, check out Arcadia in McLean. Heck, maybe even go to the truck stop for lunch.

My Music Journal 2025: February 6, 2025

 

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Time: 3:24 PM
Song: Rattlesnakes
Artists: Jack Van Cleaf, Zach Bryan
Mode of consumption: Listening to Release Radar on Spotify at the IPLSA conference in Springfield.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5yzAaKGdD6HwTxeXcdyNxY?si=35025140f2074d87

Every year I man a booth for ASE at the IPLSA conference in Springfield. For professional services like surveying, the professionals must obtain continuing education points every year, and the conference offers classes and seminars for this. Our company also supports the association by having a booth.

Usually, one sets up a booth to get business, but most of the people that attend the conference offer similar services as we do. So, manning the booth doesn’t require a lot of attention. Just the occasional conversation with industry peers to gauge possible future projects that might hit the streets.

So, I spend the day doing similar work on my laptop that I do from my normal desk in Dixon. I prepare proposals. Answer emails. Basically, do whatever needs to be done from a marketing and proposal standpoint. Sometimes, like earlier this morning, that’s a lot. It was a juggling match between incoming requests and existing duties.

About noon, the emails slowed down, and I had satisfied the most urgent of the requests.

Now, most of the attendees are at a class, so I slip on the headphones. Listen to music and review my to-do list.

With the song playing, it’s a bit like a music video. People walk by. Nod their heads. Grab a snack from the table of refreshments.

A couple of guys chat about politics the next booth over, and I am glad to have the music to cover it. The next intelligent political conversation I hear will be the first intelligent political conversation I’ve heard.

I am sure everyone is thinking about getting through the remaining hours of this show. Maybe they consider who they want to talk to, or who they need to talk to. Other exhibitors probably have big fish they want to snag to sell equipment. My company is probably one of those fish, but I am not the guy they need to talk to.

Hotel workers staff the minifridge with soda, and another one is getting alcohol ready for the evening’s social event.

All of it is to the beat and lyrics of this song. Some of it fits. Some of it doesn’t.

My Music Journal - February 5, 2025

 

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Time: 1:30 PM
Song: If You Could Read My Mind
Artist: Gordon Lightfoot
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on the way to Springfield for the IPLSA Conference

Link to Song: https://open.spotify.com/track/57ct8jKi6trntXiRV0NnXi?si=411132a3e0dc4107

Our vinyl collection started as Jodi’s vinyl collection, and sometimes I wonder if she regrets having ever started me down that path.

Early in our marriage, she mentioned wanting a Gordon Lightfoot record with “If You Could Read My Mind” on it. I thought, well good, that’ll be something I could look for when shopping for Christmas or Birthday presents. The only problem was that I could never remember the name of the song.

So fast forward a year or two, and I am covering a local softball team in a tournament in Indianapolis. It was shortly after my Dad had retired, so I invited him along because I knew he liked softball, and it would be a rare chance for us to spend a week together.

On one of the off days of the tournament, we ventured down to an antique store south of Indianapolis and spent the morning wandering around. We came to a booth that was loaded with vinyl records, and I mentioned to my Dad that Jodi wanted a Gordon Lightfoot record with a certain song on it.

Which song? I couldn’t remember. This was before flip phones and neither Jodi and I believed in texting. So, I thought we could wing it.

So, Dad picked out three albums and he bought all of them as presents for her upcoming birthday. Of course, it turned out the song wasn’t on any of three including one which was a greatest hits album. At that point, our collection was fairly meager, but the folk singer from Canada was well-represented.

Now, I never forget the name of this song.

 

My Music Journal 2025: February 4, 2025

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Time: Noon
Song: Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird
Artist Will to Power
Mode of Consumption: Music playing at the dentist’s office.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7zMMs6D2XAx1kPlM2ibFc8?si=166f8d0c9d854668

It’s not always easy to think when someone has their hands in your mouth. I mean, in any other context other than the dentist’s office, it doesn’t happen right. A doctor might put a thermometer in your mouth or shine a light into it to see your throat, but rarely are they stuffing their fingers in there.

I suppose there are people who enjoy such things during intimate times with those they are intimate with, but it’s certainly not something that I desire.

So, while sitting in the dentist chair with the technician scraping plaque from my mostly pearly whites, “Baby, I Love Your Way” covered by Will to Power comes one, and I think a few things.

The first is that this was possibly the first version of both “Baby, I Love Your Way,” and “Freebird” that I knew. It was released in 1988, and I remember it being in the rotation of the pop music channels out of the Quad Cities.

Second, I imagine fans of both Peter Frampton and Lynyrd Skynyrd hate this cover. It’s the sort of overproduced, glimmery sound that rock fans loathe. Again, I probably heard this version first, so while I wouldn’t say I am fond of it, my dislike doesn’t cut so deep. It’s just something I could live without hearing. I don’t consider it sacrilege.

Third, this cover had to be made with the thought that it would be a staple for dentist offices for the rest of time. In fact, as I was thinking this, I began to wonder if I had heard this song every time that I had been to the dentist. It just felt right. Not to overshare, but in my youth, I wasn’t the best at caring for my teeth. That has resulted in some extensive work. While that’s subsided, I have spent a copious amount of time at the dentist, my mouth open, and drills whizzing along with the dulcet tones of this cover.

To cap the morning, I could overhear one of the other technicians talking to a patient in one of the other rooms about how she thought they played about 10 songs in rotation on the station the office played. I couldn’t make out the whole conversation, but she admitted the songs even made it to her personal playlists simply because they are so imbedded in her subconscious. Not because she liked them that much.

My Music Journal 2025 - February 3, 2025

 

Monday, February 3, 2025

Time: 7:50 AM
Song: Truckin’
Artist: Grateful Dead
Mode of Consumption: MP3s on Phone on the way to work

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1I6l01BaBgBCVkfQCpIlR6?si=121ffc2a49bd4974

Probably ten years ago or so, Jodi and I were at home, having a discussion, maybe even dancing around to the radio while we did dishes. Basically, being silly young married people while doing adult chores.

Well, I asked her what that thing all the kids were doing?

“What’s that?”

“Oh, you know…”

I couldn’t think of the name. I wasn’t really all that connected to young people’s culture even though I was probably only in my early 30s. Working at the paper was long hours, and while I spent most of the time covering high school athletes, the interviews usually stayed the course of the usual athletic banter. Yet, I had heard the term somewhere, probably even seen it on TV. Who knows where?

What I was thinking of was twerking.

What I said was: “Truckin’.”

Well, needless to say, I haven’t lived that one down.

So, now anytime this song comes on, I think about that time. If we are together, we both tend to yell, “Hey, this is what all those kids are doing!”

Usually that follows with us singing the chorus: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”

Yes, yes it has, Jerry.

My Music Journal - February 2, 2025

 

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Time: 4:40 P.M. 
Song: Bad Tattoos 
Artist: Edward David Anderson
Mode of Consumption: Midwest Revue with Billy Rose on MAC 94.7 out of Clinton, Iowa 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/30zrwkD3qZmYQOpJ9JLFlY?si=425d3db0d3da4593

The Midwest Revue is one of the rare locally (or at least regionally) produced radio programs that features up-and-coming artists originating in the Midwest. It’s hosted by Billy Rose every week from 4-6 PM on Sunday afternoons on MAC 94.7. I believe it also can be streamed online. 

To call this a throwback segment would be an understatement.

Much like newspapers, the radio industry has been consumed by large media conglomerates that spew nationally syndicated programs most of which is geared to one partisan audience or the other and the music is often a filtered mix of artists and songs that blend with those partisan beliefs. 

Billy Rose is a flower in the field of manure. 

It’s two hours of songs and music news all produced by Rose, who I believe lives in Clinton, Iowa. Occasionally, he will also have these hungry artists in studio for interviews and live performances. 

I appreciate that what he is doing is a fair amount of work. He probably spends hours each week curating the underground music scene to decide who to feature on his program. The sounds of which is often a mix of rock, Americana, folk, pop, and country. 

I wish this sort of thing was more common in all aspects of radio and media. Instead of the homogenized and redundant mass media, we could have truly unique programs that highlight the tapestry of talents and topics of people in their respective communities. It’s not a program that yells at you, or preaches to you, or tries to force you to agree with them. 

It’s a presentation and a program, something to experience, to enjoy and move on. 

As Billy Rose says often, “That’s good stuff.” 

My Music Journal 2025: February 1, 2025

 

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Time: 9:30 A.M. 
Song: Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
Artist: The Gaslight Anthem 
Mode of Consumption: Downloaded Songs in iTunes while editing a story for a contest. 

Link to story: https://open.spotify.com/track/2FxnvkyxWLFXFANYWzcQhQ?si=0ff18a9a8ee549f9

I consider the story I am writing to be small and quiet. It’s not a summer blockbuster filled with explosions and A-List stars. This is the small independent film where the acting teacher at the community college is hired to play the lead. It’s about people wearing blue jeans and t-shirts. 

It’s a tribute to my time at the newspaper and some of the people I worked with. Ironically, it never mentions sports or the sports department. It’s about the role of a newspaper in a small community and how that newspaper is put together by people living within that community. It’s about how the perception has been warped to some degree by the people that own the media in order to move forward political ideologies. 

I don’t know if I am doing a great job of conveying all of that in the story. It’s a little too subtle. I don’t know. I like parts of the story, but I am not confident this story will be well received in this contest.

Oh, well. I’d like to advance in the contest, but I enter these things because they force me to write and it’s a way to curate ideas that I have had bouncing around my head. 

Here’s a short excerpt from the story: 

“Well, this stays here,” Elmore began, “but it appears Maxwell Media will be purchasing the newspapers in Lincoln and Sheldon.”

“I thought there wasn’t enough money to fill the reporter we lost last spring, how can they afford two more papers?” Kate asked. 

Elmore shuffled more paper, and Geoff removed his glasses, rubbing his eyes. 

“Yes, well, the company’s budget and this paper’s budget are two different things, two different veins of money. There is money in the acquisitions budget, but we’ll be looking to streamline across the board to make this purchase more palpable.”

“Streamline!” Kate exclaimed. 

“Kate, don’t.” Jeff started. 

“Ah, yes, the famous code words. Streamline. Synergy. Efficiency. That means cut staff to a bone to maximize profits and minimize cost. To hell with the quality of the product. To hell with good journalism.” 

Geoff moaned. Elmore waited.

“Now more than ever small communities like Jordan need newspapers staffed with real people.” 

“Yes, well.” 

That was all Elmore Maxwell said.