THE BLANK GENERATION

Well, I've completed 10.5 successful days so far in my "Year Without Music" campaign. But, it seems like it's been ten times that. So, I figure it's a good time to sit back and reflect on just how wonderful my year has been so far in comparison to, say, the Godfather of Soul. (Keeping things in perspective always helps. And to my knowledge, no prior business associate is suing me for a rape at gunpoint which then caused the onset of Graves' Disease. So, it's been a good year.)

I've resisted the urge to purchase an album, filling that void in a variety of ways:

1) Going to the local library. We're lucky in the twin cities to have two worthwhile libraries that feature a healthy music collection, of which I can borrow 20 albums at a time. A quick scan of the Champaign library's R-Z turned up a Sonic Youth record I've yet to hear, the recent release by teenyboppers The Redwalls, and a couple recent Richard/Linda Thompson albums. Not a bad score for $0.

2) Listening to WFMU even more than usual thanks to iTunes on the work computer. Tuesdays are my favorite day as I get two superb programs back-to-back: "Three-Chord Monte" from 11-2, followed by Brian Turner's show, which takes me all the way to the "Yabba Dabba Dooo!" whistle-blow at 5pm. Turner's show is wildly eclectic, featuring found sound (motivational tapes, TV show cutouts, and the like), avant-garde rock, experimental ambient-noise, fucked-up jazz, and psych-punk. There's nothing else like it on the dial.

3) Purchasing a Parasol gift certificate to present to my friend Donovan for his b-day. (I can't recall the last time I walked in there and bought something for someone other than me.)

4) Selling some records on eBay (building expectations for a future purchase, as per the loophole in my "Year Without Music" plan): The Ponys ($7.26), a really bad Gary Jules record that I was duped into buying for his cover of "Mad World" ($7.25), and a Beach Boys box set ($18.49). All told, that's like $33 worth of spending cash that will surely net me three new albums in addition to my ONE allotted record for January.

5) Of course, revisiting records that I already own. Last night, I drank a cold beer and sat in a warm bath (good for the head cold?) and enjoyed Plush's debut album, More You Becomes You, which Robert Christgau graded at a C-plus. (I bet ole Bob just hasn't tried the beer-in-the-bathtub listening experience yet.) I give it an A. The album got me thinking about making a list of my ten favorite "obscure/underappreciated" records of the past decade. (Actually, it got me thinking about my favorite albums released over the first five years of the "oughts," of which that would make the list if not for the fact—unbeknownst to me at the time—that it was released in 1998. My, how time flies when you're in the bathtub.) I love making lists, which in today's post-High Fidelity world might seem clichéd, but I can't help my dorkiness.

6) Agreeing to DJ at the forthcoming tsunami benefit.

7) A renewed interest in my "Howdy Stranger" series, which should pick up the pace in the coming weeks. I'd like to get through my CDs by May, and move on to my records after that.

8) Cooking. (Well, at least attempting to feign an interest in it.)

9) Reading. I recently picked up a Phil Spector biography, which was penned mostly prior to Spector's 2003 alleged murder. That, coupled with all these new magazine subscriptions the household will soon be receiving thanks to M's airline miles, should keep my pre-bedtime reading marathon in constant motion. I'm looking forward to Dwell, especially. (One can dream, no?)

10) Actually doing work while at work. For some odd reason, I've been able to concentrate a little easier at work. Maybe this whole drive for clarity is actually working, at least at work.


N/P—WFMU

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 11 at 4:16 PM.

6 Comments:

noiseboy:

www.radio1190.org

radio 1190 is a college radio station broadcasted from boulder co. i has great specialty shows on the weekends and evenings. you can go to their website and see the schedule. i recommend the international music show on saturdays at 10am and the jazz show right after it. sundays is the best. at 10 starts folk, blues, country, then reggae, and later that day a good americana show. sunday and monday nights are hot, as well. you can listen over that fancy maaaachine you got right in front of ya. shit tons of FREE music.
a beer and a bath is top notch.

By  Anonymous, at 5:39 PM  

Thanks for the tip. I normally listen to the radio (via the web) at work, since my records aren't there, and not at home. But, I'll make a point of checking it out.

By  thenoiseboy, at 6:04 PM  

"Actually doing work while at work."

Huh? Me no comprende.

By  Jonathan Wright, at 6:25 PM  

--Actually doing work while at work.--

Ya know, I have one of those jobs where it's easy to forget that I'm supposed to be doing work and instead surf the web for 3 hours at a time, b/c I'm bored and I dislike my job.

By  thenoiseboy, at 8:42 AM  

Are you going to see Jens Leckman in Chicago in March?

By  Anonymous, at 1:14 AM  

Actually, for a change of pace, I'm going to see him the night prior in Bloomington, Indiana. I've only been to Bloomington once, and I didn't get a chance to partake in the rock and roll nightlife there. So, I figure this is a great opportunity to.

By  thenoiseboy, at 8:26 AM  

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