Friday, September 11, 2009

TamFM.

What radio station would have served up Ministry, the Sex Pistols, Linkin Park, and Concrete Blonde, back-to-back-to-back (and commercial free!) on my run to and from the grocery store?

The best thing about my iPod is that I like every album in there well enough to have actually paid money for it. That's a pretty good filter, right there. Worst case scenario, it's a track for which I'm just not in the mood, and a click of the skip button lets me try my random luck again. How did I suffer with a mere six-disc changer before this?

There's a little record shop near my crib that has big bins of $4.99 CD's out front in "Buy 1, Get 1 Free!" bins. Now I'm filling in holes and even replacing stuff that I previously only had on cassette; I haven't had such audio bliss in the car since I made my first mix tape...

21 comments:

NattyBumpo said...

Your mix sounds a bit like mine at work. It's called "Loud Proud and Off My Medication" Featuring the dulcet tones of Megadeth, Jimmy Buffet, The Who and Spinal Tap just to name a few... Keeps me less likely to blow a gasket when someone tells me they spilled their morning coffee on their keyboard and then ran it under the sink in the bathroom to clean it.

Alan said...

Welcome to the 21st century, Tam. Glad you could join us. :)

Top of the Chain said...

Tam,

You're such a luddite. ;)

Tam said...

No, it's just that my life doesn't particularly revolve around music. Or communications.

When one's primary entertainment comes from books, one doesn't quite have the same fascination other people have with gizmos like iPods, cell phones, and home entertainment systems.

Remember, I lived without a TV for almost six years, and still hardly ever watch it. The DSS dish could get hit by a tree, and I might not notice for a couple days. I mostly only listen to music when driving or mowing the lawn.

A luddite is opposed to technology or uncomfortable with it. Me? I like technology, I just don't use as much of it as some people...

Anonymous said...

I suppose I'm fortunate in having found a couple of stations on Sirius that work well for me, and if they have a bad hair day, then the CD changer in my car plays MP3s too. Mazda even has a factory iPod dock, but its a bit of a kludge and not really any better than any of the aftermarket products.

But I digress. Keep in mind I'm the one who wants an old-school PS3 so I can play my SACD copy of "Brothers In Arms" in all its awesomeness.

Jim

the pistolero said...

I suppose I'm fortunate in having found a couple of stations on Sirius that work well for me
Yep, me too. Well, more than a couple, but I'm not gonna quibble. Between Sirius and my iPod, I wouldn't care to listen to terrestrial radio ever again. And the first has been great for discovering new music to put on the second. ;-) BTW, Tam, I never thought I'd hear an industrial/thrash cover of "Roadhouse Blues," but Ministry pulled that one off quite nicely.

Anonymous said...

Loving your selection of music - I've got Slayer, Rancid, Motorhead, Rush, Van Halen, Jethro Tull and Allan Holdsworth among hundreds of others - Just the stuff I want to hear, no having to sit through stuff I hate. The heavier stuff is great for the gym.

Steve Skubinna said...

Ah, I see you've finally discovered NPR.

Butch_S said...

Thanks to your roomie, I'm currently listening to a 70 year old synth that sounds like something Captain Nemo would play.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear others are in the same mode I am in. I listen to a lot of good music. I am constantly cleaning up holes in my cd collection and getting new music. I find that the XM is great to learn the names of tunes I want and then I order the albums from Amazon. Just last month, I put in a $700 order for a whole bunch of odd ones, but the music is great. Everything from the rasberries to motels and a lot of territory in between.

Tam said...

"Ah, I see you've finally discovered NPR."

No, I just don't listen to the radio. My internal dialogue (...and I do mean "dia-" and not "mono-") keeps me amused.

Anonymous said...

Pffft, you love NPR, especially when NPR tells us what the Great Leader is doing (or having for breakfast) . . . 24 hours a day.

Shootin' Buddy

theirritablearchitect said...

Ministry and Sex Pistols I get, but Linkin Park? How old are you, 16? :)

BryanP said...

Our musical tastes differ more than a bit, but yeah, I get it. Occasionally my ipod will try to give me musical whiplash. After a particularly bad case of it one day I went back and noted the oddball mix of consecutive randomness:

Walla Walla by The Offspring
Brighid's Blessing Celtic piece recorded by some guy I've never heard of from a sampler album)
Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson
In The Gravel Yard by Doyle Lawson
In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt
Mexican Moon Concrete Blonde
Lorraine's Waltz another violin piece done by someone I've never heard of from yet another sampler Celtic sampler
Missionary Man by The Eurythmics
Crazy by Patsy Cline

Cemetery's Gun Blob said...

DSS Dish??

Heck, I still got rabbit ears! But I should toss 'em since they don't work with Hi Def broadcasting.

Adrian K said...

If you finish your book, I'd be paying you money so that you could buy more CDs...

atlharp said...

Indeed, I have been using a Sansa Sandisk 8GB and love it. I am still on the straight through the album kick. Lots of Sabbath lately, and a good amount Judas Priest to boot.

Anonymous said...

Concrete Blonde! Johnette Napolitano, one of rocks truly great voices.

Randy said...

I find that one of the perks of having satellite TV is having XM channels. I rotate among Deep Tracks, Classic Rewind and Classic Vinyl. I don't spend enough time in the truck listening to music to justify the expense of activating the XM radio that came with it.

Lynx217 said...

They always have the sat radio on at work and most of the time it's crap playing so by the time I get home the only thing I want playing is SILENCE! But I have a pda that doubles for an ipod, and I got to tell you, when you are the dj, there's no better radio station ever!

the pistolero said...

They always have the sat radio on at work and most of the time it's crap playing
They must have the wrong channel playing. ;-) I hear good stuff all the time on the channels Randy mentioned, and other channels too. (Did you know that Free recorded other songs besides "All Right Now"? Damn good ones, too!) The Boneyard is also a favorite of mine. In fact, that's what I am listening to as I type this.
"I used to love her, but I had to kill her..."