Turn The Radio Up For That Sweet Sound

Hold me close, never let me go-oh oh.
Keep this feeling alive. Make me lose control. 

It was a song in the 1980's from a guy from Cleveland who had a huge hit in "Hungry Eyes" from the movie Dirty Dancing. It went to #3 on Billboard's top 100 songs.

When I'm on the road, in the Chicagoland area, you know I listen to jazz, WDCB. If I go west, to Iowa, I have to wait until I'm about 30 minutes into the state before I can pick up the Kirkwood College jazz station, KCCK. In the meantime, I'm in a vast area of search button pushing to find something I'll listen to.

I've been in the car a lot in the past month. The most recent trip was to Iowa. All of this has been for business.

If I'd get my act together, I could bring my CD folder and know that I'd have my preferred music wherever I go. But the last time I cleaned out the CD folder was back in November and there's Christmas music in it. I only think about cleaning it out when I'm pulling out of the drive or, like right now, but if I stop blogging and clean out the CD folder, I'm liable to forget about blogging. It's that whole idea we, in the gaming world, call the "ooh shiny" effect.

Anyway, having had to go to Wisconsin every day for a week and then to Iowa, I've spent a lot of time button punching to find something I'll listen to. I find myself gravitating toward "oldies" stations and the "oldies" I listen to are from the 1960's through the 1980's. While I listened to jazz during those years, I also was quite aware of what was going on in pop music.

On a previous work trip last year, I decided to write down the names of the songs I heard more than once because I knew I'd be going into and out of various radio station broadcast areas. It was going to be interesting. There's a huge amount of music in those 20 years. Why, if I'm going from place to place, do I hear the same songs played over and over? I haven't heard the above song in a very, very long time in spite of its standing as hugely popular in 1988.

There is a web site I follow, Upworthy. Politically left, they find some interesting videos that cover a large gamut of social causes. Sometimes, I think they are too far to the left for my tastes, but they have shown me interesting points of view. One of their posts from last month hit close to home.

You don't have to agree with Upworthy's stance on raising the minimum wage, banning fracking or gun control, but this is something you should be concerned about. It's not just how often you hear "Mrs. Robinson", it's how often you hear Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga or Mozart. It's how many sports or talk stations you can find.

It seems like a long time ago, but radio stations were fairly independent entities. Their play lists were dictated by what music the station itself could get its hands on. Now, the feed is created somewhere else and sent to the station. It's mixed up just enough that if you're driving from Chicago to Cedar Rapids, you'll hear similar songs on the oldies stations, but maybe not the same ones. WDCB moved, at the beginning of this year, to larger quarters driven, in part, by their vast collection of jazz. They have music they bought and their DJ's decide what they are going to play, not some corporation somewhere outside of the station. (The Saturday morning DJ routinely brings records to his show, stuff you can't find in CD format.) If I call in and ask for Ella and Louis' "April in Paris", they have that. One of my friends in Ohio posted a complaint on Facebook against a local station. They were doing a "you request it" event and the song he requested hadn't been played in 12 hours, in spite of numbers the station posted on its web site suggesting he wasn't the only person who wanted to hear that song.

It's admittedly hard for a station to have all music from their selected era. If you include things like "one hit wonders", the artists that had one hit, even a minor one, and then dropped out of sight, the songs must be in the millions. I like Billy Joel. I should get a greatest hits album. But I heard "Still Rock and Roll to Me" three times in the Iowa trip. Think about Joel's body of work and this is the song I heard.

It's not an answer to pay for Sirius XM radio. I don't see that as any more broad than having 6 corporate entities decide what I will listen to. The problem is that new artists have a much, much harder time getting any air for their music. This is across the board from country to pop to rap to classical to folk. (When was the last time you heard a folk song on the radio? Be honest. Yeah, I didn't think so. WDCB plays 3 hours of folk music on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. This is more than Peter, Paul and Mary or the Irish Rovers, too.) We are exposed, less and less, to interesting new voices and more and more to prepackaged, over hyped artists with similar sounds.

I hope that the next time you're listening to the radio and "Mrs. Robinson" comes on, you'll remember that Simon and Garfunkle have a great many more hits than this; "The Boxer", "Sounds of Silence" and "Bridge over Troubled Waters", are three of their biggest hits, bigger than a song from the movie, The Graduate. Chances are good, you won't hear these in your travels because someone somewhere far away from where you live decided that "Mrs. Robinson" is the song you get. That should bother you.

Beverage:  Scottish Breakfast tea

Deb

Ethereal

We often gripe about having to drive into the city. It's often not a pleasant trip. I've done it for so long that it's pretty much a mindless drive. I turn on WDCB and head east.

But yesterday was quite the scenic day. It made me glad that I always have my little camera on me and reminded me of why I love living here.

We had drizzle all morning. The combination of a large body of water to the east and warmer air created an impressive fog bank. You get kind of used to seeing the skyscrapers of the skyline obliterated on cloudy days. It wasn't until I got into the downtown that I realized this was a different kind of cloudy.

 

I forget the name of the building in the forefront. That's the Sears, oops, Willis, Tower in the background. The clouds and fog seem to wrap themselves, like a shawl, around the buildings. Almost anything of 10+ stories had fog wisps above the 10th floor. 

Jon and I headed to this job he's had for the past 4 years. My photos going northbound on Lake Shore Drive are blurry and not very good. I think the combination of the gray and the drizzle just didn't lend themselves to through the windshield photography. My little camera has proven itself great for doing what I need it to do when I need it to do it. It's just that if I'm driving, I can't compensate for water on the windshield. 

Heading southbound on Lake Shore Drive after lunch, it was a different story. The drizzle had ended but the fog remained. It was so cool. Lake Shore Drive's "technical" speed limit is 45 but I don't know anyone who drives that. I could drive 50-55 while shooting photos and not get honked at. 

I really like this photo.

 

The north end of Michigan Avenue with the Hancock Center is just barely visible. I was across from the Lincoln Park Zoo when I took it, for those who know their Chicago. It's almost like they are ghosts of buildings, suggestions. They did become more visible as you got closer. The fog was still heavy but you could see the top of the Hancock in between cloud drifts. 

I think, however, this is the best photo to come from the drive. 

 

This is Lake Point Tower. It's a condo building that sits the farthest east off the near north side. Just south of it is the point where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. To the east of it is the lake and, what is wholly obscured here, Navy Pier. Lake Michigan is to my left, just concrete barriers away. This section of Lake Shore Drive is about as close as you'll get to the lake. 

I love how this is almost a black, white and gray photo. The only color is the red from the taillights of the car ahead of me and the almost imperceptible green traffic lights. I love how the fog cuts the building off, making it ghostly and completely removes the park and buildings that are Navy Pier to the east. Lake Point Tower sits almost defiantly east of the Drive. 

It was damp and cold doing what I had to do, but when I get photos like this, accidentally, really, it makes the drive in worth it. I know I have quoted this poem by Carl Sandberg before.

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on. 

Yes, this was his inspiration.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Wondering about the paper.

I get the Daily Herald. I have gotten this newspaper for years, over a decade, I believe. They do more local coverage than the Chicago Tribune or the Chicago Sun-Times. Lately, however, I have wondered if it's worth it.

Newspapers and magazines are fighting for their very survival in a media-saturated world. I can get my news from any source now, colored just the way my ideology leans. I certainly don't NEED a newspaper. I can hear the local news on the radio in the morning, the very local news from WDCB, College of Du Page. I get a news feed through AT&T/Yahoo, who provides my Internet service. There are millions of ways to get the news I want or need. The newspaper is not my only option.

I bring this up because delivery of my paper has been inconsistent. When Carole was coming, I let the papers pile up in order to clean the house. I sat down over Memorial Day and read a half month's worth of newspapers. Oh I know the Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup. I know about the oil spill and the earthquake off Vanuatu. I know about the controversy surrounding President Obama's decision not to lay a Memorial Day wreath at Arlington National Cemetery. Personally, I think there should be a contest. High school aged kids write a 500 word essay on why the president should come to their Memorial Day remembrances. Every state submits one essay and the president decides on May 1st, which observance he attends. I honestly don't think many kids realize why we have Memorial Day. Send the President to their hometown, to speak in their hot and stuffy gymnasium about the sacrifices men and women made so we have a Memorial Day. Maybe you can't stand that year's flavor of president, but you will remember him talking about Memorial Day.

I'm sorry, I'll get down off my soap box. Got a bit side-tracked there.

As I was reading through my newspapers, I noticed I didn't have all of them. At first, I thought maybe I'd read them, but the randomness of the days missing told me I never got the paper in the first place. Then, on Wednesday, May 26th, there was no paper. I totaled up the missing papers; almost a full week. Why am I paying $43 every 8 weeks when I'm getting 7 weeks worth of papers?

I emailed the Daily Herald. It's a thankless job, delivering papers. I remember helping a friend deliver the Cedar Rapids Gazette and collect for the delivery. She had to pay, up front, for the papers and then collect. She got to keep a certain amount, but that was cut when people did not pay. If she quit delivering their papers, they would complain. The paper would give them a credit, which came out of her earnings. So, that misty, foggy, damp and dreary night, she handed me a list of people and I marked down who did and didn't pay her. I did that with her for three pay periods which helped convince the Gazette that some people were deadbeats. Some people would get extra service because, when she came to collect, they gave her a tip. I don't remember the lady who gave us a bag of cookies because she knew we had to walk all over town.

I don't know how it is now. I get a bill. There is a spot for "carrier tip". Even in my cash strapped life, I try to tack on a dollar or two. I know delivering the paper means going on in all weather, in your own car, in the wee hours. It's a thankless job and probably pays just enough to cover your car expenses and a bit more. It's probably not something you could earn a livelihood at, support a family. I guess I think, if everyone on the delivery person's route tacked on a dollar every other bill, they would get a nice chunk of change.

I'm changing that policy now. The Daily Herald was most apologetic about the missing papers. I've been credited 2 weeks for the inconvenience. But yesterday, there was no paper again. I'm thinking it's been more Wednesday's papers than any other day; never Sunday. Wednesday's paper contains the food ads. Is there something about that particular paper that is important? There aren't coupons, just a food section. I don't know. I had to go to the web site today and click on "Missed yesterday's paper". I don't want to have to do this every week or 10 days. It's not value to me.

I like the newspaper. I grew up in a time when newspapers still had clout and relevance. It could be argued they do not now. I like the feel of a newspaper. The ability to read more in-depth than on the Internet. I also like the freebies that come in the paper. I was very low on cereal and wondering how I could scrape up some funds.

A Sunday paper arrived at just the right time. I used the coupon for Chex and got a box of Rice Chex, not the honey nut which was free. Trix, well, "Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids". They were amusing but not in a "must have a box" way.

So, we shall see. I probably wouldn't miss not getting a newspaper and my budget would certainly enjoy being $43 richer every other month. Still, I think a little bit of me would pass away without a newspaper.

What would I wash windows with?

Beverage: Grape Pomegranate Juice

Deb

It's about perspective.

I was listening to WCDB on the way home from work last night. Brian O'Keefe was delivering the news. The Cubs lost but the White Sox won so there was a discussion of whether the glass was half-full or half-empty. Mr. O'Keefe had a very interesting take on that discussion.

"I don't see it as half-full or half-empty. It's about the size of your glass."

That is quite profound. I hadn't looked at things from that perspective. But, it ties in with what I contemplated earlier.

It really isn't about whether the glass is full or empty. It's about your perception of it. You could have all the things in the world and still be woefully unhappy because you perceive your cup as empty. 8 ounces of tea overflows a 6 ounce cup and doesn't fill a 16 ounce glass.

Learning to be content. That's what it's about. Learning to see that what I have is enough for what I need. It's about seeing that the cup I have is full. Occasionally, it won't be. That's just how life is. But it is full most of the time and I am learning to be happy with that.

Beverage: China Black tea

Deb

Happy Music

Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.

--William Congreve

Such a familiar quotation, but it's true. What you are listening to says a great deal about who you are.

Everyone knows I listen to jazz. My parents listened to singers who have been given the moniker "crooners"; Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Bing Crosby. They grew up in the 1950's, when the solo jazz artist was in his prime. Swing's time had passed with the end of World War II. People listened to music. I remember my father, who couldn't carry a tune in a dump truck, singing all these jazz standards to the cows as he milked them. It doesn't seem at all a stretch to be a jazz lover now. "Lady What-ga"? Rap? Isn't that another term for knocking on something, like a door?

I fire up my iMac, turn on iTunes and let the music flow. I have a little over 5 days worth of music. In true collector form, there a number of tunes for which I have 4 or 5 versions, my favorite jazz standard, "April in Paris", is an example. My iTunes play list probably consists of 70% jazz in some form and the rest in classical, pop, celtic, folk, Christmas, movie music and other eclectic categories.

When I'm contemplative, there is nothing like Copeland, Mussorgsky, Grieg or Joshua Bell. I don't usually have music playing when I read because I find myself pulled towards interaction with the music when I have chosen interaction with the printed word. When I play World of Warcraft, the games sounds and musical snippets get repetitive, so I'll turn on my iTunes, set the sort for some category and let it go. In the summer, if I'm sitting on the deck, I'll some times crank up the volume on the computer, which sits right by the window, and pump Ella and Louis and Frank and Dizzy out into the atmosphere. The Beach Boys can't be beat for driving around Chicago with the top down on a July Sunday.

As I'm cleaning my house in preparation for a visit from my daughter, I've had 'happy' music on. Generally, this consists of peppy jazz, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman with some Glenn Miller thrown in for good measure. But I also include my favorite Scottish band, Old Blind Dogs, in the category of 'happy' music. The skirl of the pipes, the bouzouki, the fiddle make a nice counterpoint to buffing windows, dusting pictures and door frames and sorting and shredding mountains of papers.

I was listening to WDCB, College of DuPage. Last night, I turned on the radio before going to bed, just to unwind. They were running promos of upcoming programs and this music came out of my radio in response to a promo for "Mountain Stage". It was peppy. It was bouncy. It was happy. Who is this? Pine Leaf Boys. Never heard of them.

So, this morning, I did some research. Oh man. I will have to find a way to get one of their CDs. I could play this music a lot. Give them a listen. Go to the "Media" tab and click on the videos. This is infectious music. I see they were at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, the venue where Carole and I saw a lot of Old Blind Dogs. I couldn't afford to attend a concert there right now, but Chicago has a lot of free festivals during the summer. Maybe they will turn up on the venue for one of them. I'm thinking, like OBD, listening to them live is much more of an experience.

Tonight, I work on the living room. Maybe some Nat King Cole?

Beverage: China Black Tea

Deb

Monochromatic Suburban Music

In shopping yesterday, I wanted to get a couple of jazz albums. They have had airplay on WDCB 90.9 FM. Granted, WDCB is a public station and is located in a suburban Chicago junior college campus, but the albums in question should have a wider fan base as they are current. It's not like I'm looking to replace my Fred Astaire cassette tape, although that would be a nice idea, replace all my jazz cassettes with CDs of the same album.

Does anyone even say "album" anymore or does that seriously date me?

Anyway, the mall where I was at only had one store selling any kind of music, f.y.e. I walked in and could not find the jazz CD's. They were way in the back corner. There were only two sections for jazz. It could be worse. I could prefer blues. There was only one section for that.

I was looking for Eliane Elias' Bossa Nova Stories and Patti Austin's For Ella. How hard can this be?

Well, maybe I should have looked to replace a couple of my Ella Fitzgerald tapes because everything they had would be considered either smooth jazz (gag) or born before 1935. The clerks were busy with customers so I was able to sneak out. I didn't want them to offer to order something because I don't want to have to drive all the way up to Woodfield Mall to get music.

The Pop/Rock section was huge. It was such a disappointment not to have any selection to even browse. I might wander over to the Border's here in Wheaton as they tend to have a larger selection of jazz versus Pop/Rock.

I remembered a store at Oakbrook Mall. It was nothing but jazz and classical music, about 2/3rds jazz and 1/3rd classical. At Christmas, I would take a note pad and write down my top 10 wants. There were always people in the store, but it closed after about 3 years. There was another one tucked away in a corner that was heavy into jazz but they lasted only 18 months.

It just seems the music offering in the suburbs is strictly what's featured on the top 40 radio stations. Shortly after Carole and I heard Old Blind Dogs on a public radio station in Iowa, we were able to go to Tower Records and buy their CD's The World's Room and Fit?. We ordered the rest of their available CD's through Amazon.uk. Now, I order them off the band's web site. But, if I were looking for something I heard on "Blarney on the Air" on WDBC on Monday nights, I'd be really hard pressed to find it through traditional outlets. There's a celtic music store in Villa Park, which is a 15 minute drive east, assuming I can remember where they are when I get there.

Maybe it's just my age and my curmudgeonlyness. I think it does a disservice to people when they aren't exposed to a wide variety of music. I was extremely lucky in having a father who loved early Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and the like. My mother has this wonderful collection of 78's with jazz music from the late 1950's. These are songs you don't hear, not even on WDBC which play all jazz (except 'smooth', whatever that is) so has millions of songs available from the early days of jazz through today, as witnessed by the two CD's I linked above. Jazz is still very alive with performers recreating the standards and writing new and interesting material. Having this available to the consumer expands the fan base.

There's a reason Eliane Elias and Diana Krall pose seductively on the covers of their CD's. They know people will pick it up based on the cover alone.

The urge to possess these CDs has passed. I thought I would reward myself with some music and that was not to be. I did get something else not of the chocolate persuasion. I have Halloween M&M's with peanuts on top of the fridge so my chocolate needs are satisfied for now.

Maybe at the end of the month, I'll check on music. It's not like I don't have any music. If I played everything stored on my mac, it would take, currently, 5 and a half days to get through and I haven't uploaded ALL my jazz CDs to the Mac. Carole has more than me, I believe.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to do some writing to the dulcet tones of Artie Shaw's Greatest Hits.

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb

If I give you money, will you just shut up?

Fall is my favorite season. I love the smell of the air on those warm days that remind us of summer. I love the colors of the trees. I love the crunch of leaves on pavement. I love to scuffle those leaves and send them flying. I love the cool windy days which are a harbinger of the crisp autumn of November with a promise of snow. I love pumpkins and squash and a zillion varieties of apples in baskets at the farmer's market. I love the smell of freshly harvested cornfields and seeing the combines working into the night on those clear autumn nights when the stars go on forever into the sky.

I hate pledge drives.

If there is one thing fall is known for it's pledge drives. Everyone calls seeking money. Everyone interrupts their programming to remind you to give, give, give. Go away.

I say this because my favorite radio station, WDCB 90.9 fm, is in the first days of a pledge drive. I awaken to AP Radio News, local news and then a jazz song followed by 10 minutes of, essentially, give or we'll hold Miles Davis hostage. They think they are cute, laughing on air about the lack of phones ringing. WDCB says they need $239,000 from the public and, after one day, they had raised $6,000 of that. "We'll be on the air until we get it, folks." Oh please.

Don't get me wrong. I completely and fully understand why they have to shill for funds. Grants make up only part of their operating budget. Even a college station must turn to listeners to make up the rest of what they need to operate. In today's economic climate, grant money has dwindled and it's just plain tough to make the ends meet. While many of the on-air personalities, particularly the ones who have a once a week gig, are volunteer, there is maintenance and staff for phones and music to purchase and licenses to renew. I know all that and I understand why they have to ask for money. It can't be any fun for the DJ's either, to turn over 65% of their air time to Jeff who then practically begs people to send in "any amount you can spare".

It's the end of the month and I have bills to pay and a car to fix. I really want to send them some money just as a show of support. I'm not sure the budget will stretch that far. But even if I do, I'll still have to listen to Jeff until the $239,000 is pledged. I just want some Ella, some Louie, some Frank, some Gene, some Houston, some Benny. I don't want another 10 minutes of why.

Now where did I put that Al Hirt CD?

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb