Not just any old Monday for me this week folks, nay – this Monday marks the 1st day of single-digit pre-baby waiting. Nine days to go, nine measly days… incredible. A weekend filled with a few last-minute baby-related tasks: installing the carseat in Sharaun’s car, putting together the baby swing, and getting Sharaun’s hospital bag ready to go when the contractions finally come. When the contractions finally come… wow.
I don’t know what it is, maybe a sign of musical maturity – but lately I’ve been wanting to listen to nothing but blues. I’ve been on a rash downloading streak, grabbing byte after byte and building a pile of gigs in my blues directory (all legally purchased music, of course). I always enjoyed the blues, had always been aware of it’s influence on rock music, and was an instant fan of blues-based rock acts like the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin. But, despite all that, I never really was a hard-core roots blues fan. Lately though, I’ve been immersing myself in the scratchy acetates of Furry Lewis, Son Seals, Blind Boy Fuller, Mississippi John Hurt, and a myriad of other amazing blue pioneers. I just can’t seem to get enough – the music makes me feel anything but blue. It spreads a smile across my face, and makes me somehow feel connected to the beginnings of rock and roll. Some of this stuff, being nearly 90 years old, is completely amazing and engaging, like being musically transported back to another time.
The past few days in Northern California have been simply outstanding. 70 degrees and sunny, with the air clear enough to see the Sierras stretch from the edge of my left eye all the way to the edge of my right. Friday was so gorgeous, in fact, that I decided to play work-hooky and pull a “working from home.” Unfortunately, I had meetings to call into most of the afternoon – but even sitting on meetings was ten times as good in the ground-level, breeze-thru-open-windows, blues-on-the-speakers comfort of home. I keep thinking about my upcoming time off in a week or so – sitting at home with the windows open and sun shining, holding my new daughter. I’m anticipating spending hours just looking down at her tiny face and drinking in her baby-skin-smell. Damn, I am straight homo.
Everyone’s on about Songbird lately and, I must admit, it does look pretty dang cool. An open-source music app, not unlike iTunes, built on the FireFox browser engine but with some pretty cool twist. Songbird treats webpages containing MP3s as playlists, and even has the ability to auto-download songs from your favorite canon of MP3 blogs. I grabbed it for the home PC, and plan on pointing it to me regular rotation of music sites to see what happens. Who knows, maybe they’ll build in iPod support some day and this thing will be a working iTunes alternative. A guy can only dream.
Before I go, I wanted to pass on my congratulations on to the now two-bigger family of sounds familiar reader maygsters – who gave birth to twin boys this weekend. You guys beat us by just about a week, way to go. Can’t wait to get all the babes together for a puke ‘n’ poop party.
Later peoples.
Also written on this day...
- don't make 'em like they used to - 2019
- a nice way to start the day - 2008
- cold and far from home - 2007