Tuesday, January 28, 2014

I hear Music but there's..



HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Okay, am I old? I mean, I'm not old. I worked for Rolling Stone Magazine in the 70's, and yes it was the political unit, not the music unit, but hey, I knew ALL about music. At that time, I swore I would always stay current with the latest "hits" (are they still called that?) But alas, that did not happen.

We just got a new car, and the salesperson said--let me pre-set your radio stations. What stations do you listen to?  I said, uh, well, NPR, whatever that is. And uh, um, well. (Jonathan and don't really listen to the radio, we talk to each other. When I'm driving by myself, I look at it as a time to think in silence. I didn't tell the salesperson that.).

 No problem, she said. Here's your satellite radio. What music programs do you want? Um, I said. Is there a Paul Simon Station?

Then she said--there's a wonderful station with music from the forties.

Ah. Oh dear.

So the other night we were watching the Grammys. Some of it was terrific, even though I'd never heard a lot of the songs before--are they still called songs? Talent is talent, and there was a lot of that there.

Questions I have: Was Pink actually singing while she was doing that act? Was Beyonce actually singing while she was doing that act? Taylor Swift's dress was fabulous, but can she sing without doing that with her hair? How come the men all had on lots of clothes, but the women didn't?

I confess we turned it off to watch Downton Abbey, then turned back at 11 (in time to see the robots and the guy in the hat) because we knew we'd fall asleep in Sherlock and will watch that today.

::Shaking head.::  Something's happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear...  (Please tell me you get that allusion.)

How about you, Reds? Music? Grammys? Radio?

HALLIE EPHRON: Oh, Hank, I am so happy to hear you say this. Pink??? I do know who Beyonce is. Ditto Taylor Swift. But that's how big they have to be to penetrate my consciousness.

Our radio is tuned to 3 NPR stations -- 2 that are mostly talk and news and wonderful weekend game shows (Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!) and the other one is classical music. That is IT. When, in desperation and I need something to listen to, I find a country and western station or even folk. I never know who I'm listening to but I love bopping around in the driver's seat.

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Am I the only Red who listens to Pandora radio? That's how I discover great new stuff. And you can choose any "station" -- so it's Pink for the gym, Tom Waits for brooding, Cole Porter for cooking dinner....

What's great about Pandora is they use an algorithm from songs you like/don't like to play songs from new artists or artists you might not otherwise know. That's how I first heard my current musical obsession, Sara Bariles -- who was at this year's Grammy Awards.

Highly recommend, and if you pay a small fee, you can rid yourself of the commercials.

HANK: Oh, Susan, we have Pandora in the house! We love it. We have Paul Simon station, and Judy Collins station, and Cole Porter station, and one I named Lido Shuffle. And lots more. That'd be good for the car!  Wonder how we could make a "stuff I should know about" station?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I do Spotify when I listen on my computer. My thirteen-year-old recommended it, so either I'm even hipper than you Pandora folks, or I'm hopelessly mired in something only middle-schoolers use. Don't tell anyone, but my playlist is 90% Kings College Choir. 

Our car radio is a real amalgam of stations and styles: NPR, of course, and Ross's sports-talk station ("The Big JAB!") and Youngest's two pop and hip-hop stations. Also WBACH, for my classical music, one country and one oldies. Ross and I don't have Sirius - like you, Hank, we generally prefer to talk to each other or, when I'm alone, to have silence - but we've enjoyed having it in rental cars over the years.


 One trip that stands out in family lore was the time we got upgraded to a very posh SUV (we have to fit five, remember) that not only had some sort of super-Sirius system, it was VOICE ACTIVATED.  Once the teens discovered that, it was all over. One would ask for "urban hip-hip" only to be immediately overruled by another shouting "modern jazz!" Evidently, too many voice commands confused the machine, because when Ross finally got them quieted down and asked Sirius for "Local sports" the machine responded, "Seeking...Detroit Metal Crunk." Then blasting the most godawful stuff you could imagine. We went back to poking its buttons after that.

RHYS: I'm a Pandora fan too--often it's the SPA selection and therefore relaxing when I'm rushing around. But here in Phoenix there is a great radio station called KAHM (as in calm) and they play all soothing background music.  So it's either that or NPR.
On long trips I play selections from my iPhone... Mama Mia or the Beatles when I need to stay awake and can sing along, comedy to make me laugh, or even audio books.

I'm sounding like an old fuddy duddy but pop music for the past ten years or more has left me cold. It's boring, repetitive and I hate the screeching that is now applauded as singing.

HANK: Yeah, and I often agree, Rhys, but what worries me is that's what my mother used to say about the Beatles. Just saying.

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  I put Downton and Sherlock on record and watch the entire Grammy show, which I thought was fabulous. (Although I do agree I'm getting tired of female singers as pole-dancers costumes.  And the Beyonce and Jay-Z opening number was definitely not my fave.  So funny--Rick didn't bat an eye at Beyonce in her skimpy-dominatrix outfit, but later on, when she was wearing the white sort of see-through dress, he kept saying, "Wow, she looks great." Sometimes less is not more, girls.

Because for the last couple of years I've been writing about a character (Andy Monahan) who is a rock guitarist, and is now in a duo with a female singer, I do try to keep up with the music scene.  And although I am not a big fan of hip-hop or heavy metal, there is a lot that I LOVE.  I do like Daft Punk (the robots) by the way--they crack me up.  And I think Lorde is very weird and interesting. And Pharrell Williams, in spite of the weird Lone Ranger hat, is really talented.

At least one of my favorite performances from the Grammys was Miranda Lambert and Billy Joe Armstrong's tribute to the Everly Brothers. Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmkZCSK3YOM

(In case you don't have any idea who they are, Miranda Lambert is a huge country star and is married to Blake Shelton, and Billy Joe Armstrong is the lead singer for Greenday.)

I do listen to Pandora, but also lots of my own CDs or downloads.  Funnily enough, I don't usually listen to music when I drive, because I find it too distracting in our heavy Dallas traffic.

But for those of you who think music has gone to the dogs since 1965, you might want to expand your horizons:-)

HANK: Debs, whoa. You are so hip! Maybe you can do a blog on what we should hear? Our own personal Pandora!  And yeah, I agree The Everly Brothers tribute was not the best--so sad, because they had some amazing songs.

LUCY BURDETTE: Yeah, not only is Debs hip, she's scolding us old farts LOL. I'm with the Paul Simon and NPR fans, plus I love the music on the TV show Nashville. Have bought all the CD's. We listen to that and music by Teddy Thompson and Alison Kraus on the way down to Florida. It's funny, I don't like to listen to the radio much when riding with John, but I like the company when alone.

HANK: Wait, wait, don’t tell me. Reds readers, can you be our Pandoras? (In a radio way, not a “letting all the bad stuff out” way.) What should we be listening to? 

(And because we're all about audio--I'll give the fabulous Macmillan audio version (on CD) of THE WRONG GIRL to one lucky commenter!)

46 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Hank, Rhys, and Susan, for your Left Coast Crime Award nominations!

    Music . . . I am still laughing over Julia’s “Detroit Metal Crunk.”
    I don’t do Pandora, or Spotify --- they’re both on my Nook, but I’m always reading on it, not listening to music. I didn’t watch the Grammy Awards show although I did see the robots at the end because the show ran over and I was waiting for the news to come on . . . .
    So what music do we listen to? Well, in my humble opinion, music, first and foremost, is supposed to consist of lyrics you can actually understand; I have a lot of vinyl records from the mid-1950s that I really enjoy . . . .
    The CD player generally mirrors what we play “on the road.” In the truck, it’s always classical music unless later in the evening when the classical station switches to playing jazz. In my car, if the radio is on it is on NPR; I do have some CDs that I listen to . . . Il Divo, Julie London, Jackie Evancho . . . mostly, the music plays in the car only when I’ve finished playing all the audio books I have . . . .

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  2. Pandora came with my new radio (my old one died), so I downloaded the ap on my iPhone. Apparently I set up a Chris Rice station 10+ years ago, and I don't know how to change it to get more of a mix of artists I like now so maybe I could find someone new.

    I'm sure I could figure it out. It just takes time. And I'm too busy doing other things with my time.

    If you want recommendations for Christian music, I'm your guy. (Jason Gray is awesome! And his new CD comes out just a couple days before my birthday! Happy birthday to me!!!) I've heard of most of the people you're talking about, but I couldn't tell you any songs they've done.

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  3. Yes, Hank, I remember Buffalo Springfield. I was in my own garage band about that time -- and I once interviewed Richie Furay for the L.A. Times.

    I play the old songs on iTunes now and then. Lost interest in pop music when rap got so big and my kids played nothing else around the house. Still love The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and my favorite, Steely Dan.

    From The Stones: "What a drag it is getting old."



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  4. I love Pandora! Mostly I listen to The Smiths or The Cure stations, but I also have a John Philip Sousa station for those days when you just need the sound of a marching band blasting through your laptop.

    On the radio-radio, I listen to NPR and the college station, so I can remain somewhat intelligent about current music and come to know about bands like The Killers, Blue October, Keane, and Snow Patrol. So I bought their CDs, and my husband's response was, who still buys CDs? Sigh.

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  5. The satellite radio in the car is set to HITS ONE. Mainly so that I can stay "hip" on the newest songs.

    But my music listening is probably more eclectic than most. I go from country to opera, with stops at pop, r&b, americana and broadway. LOL.

    The Grammys were a hit and miss thing. Lorde was excellent (and I really love her album). Pink was her usual entertaining self (and no, like most of the singers on these award shows, I am pretty sure Pink was not singing live).

    I was disappointed in Miranda Lambert (who I am a fan of) in The Everly Brothers tribute. Billie Joe and Norah Jones did a whole album of Everly Bros songs (Foreverly) and it is excellent, but I guess Norah was not available.

    Daft Punk was just crazy and entertaining. I really would like to know who is under those helmets. Elvis?

    Apropos of nothing, might I suggest the new Rosanne Cash album (are they still called that), The River and the Thread. Def one of the best albums of the year (but then, it is only January). ;)

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  6. Oh, gee, I don't know what to say! It's been so long since I've deliberately listened to a particular radio station for the MUSIC and not for news or weather. I don't spend much time in the car anymore. At home it has become very difficult to get the FM stations that I like. The one remaining one I could always get seems to be hiding from my radio for the last couple of months.

    With not having my TV hooked up anymore, I don't watch ANY programming, much less awards shows. I rely on all of YOU to tell me what's going on!

    I used to commute a long distance to a job that had me on the road all over the state even when I wasn't driving to and from the office. At that time, I had my favorites and knew what I could find on my car radio in which part of the state. Now I work only a few minutes from home and there isn't time to listen to much. Overall, I prefer NPR stations for music and news, and one AM station from NY for more local reporting of news and weather. I'm in CT but find that CBS Radio covers CT better than some local CT stations.

    And, yeah, I'm still stuck in the sixties!

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  7. I just got a new car (okay,a 2004 Civic) WITH A CD PLAYER! I'm in heaven. The old one (1996 Civic) had a cassette player, but the speakers were pretty much shot.

    The radio is always on CBC1, sometimes CBC2.

    My chosen music is pretty much folkie, from the glory days thereof up to current keepers of the faith, with folk roots.

    And, oh dear, this morning there's a Pete-shaped hole in the world. But it's filled with music.

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  8. Oh, JAck, you always know. xo

    Happy Birthday, dear Mark!

    ANd we just got Satellite radio for teh car as you kow..and now are trying to figure out how to use it.

    But for the first time I get to play my iphone playlist on teh car speakers..very exciting.

    Jonathan keeps saying--what group is that? (The band fun) What song is that? (Baba O'Riley) Until I get to Emmylou Harris, those he knows!

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  9. I agree with you, Kristopher, about the new Roseanne Cash record/album/CD. It is terrific, and I will be shocked if it's not on the "best of" lists for 2014.

    I only listen to the radio in the car if I'm alone or we're on a road trip and want to pass the time singing, in which case we pop in a CD to suit out mood.

    MPBN (the local NPR affiliate) is my go-to place, but during baseball season in the evenings I listen to Sox games. Listening to baseball on the radio takes me back to my youth as quickly as that Buffalo Springfield song. (Thanks for the memory, Hank.)

    I didn't watch the Grammys, and feel somewhat out of touch with popular music, except Mumford & Sons and Adele, who won last year, I think.

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  10. << Something's happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear... (Please tell me you get that allusion.) >>

    Hank, I forgot to say that I instantly recognized what you were talking about. I sometimes find myself saying that to myself!

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  11. Forgot to mention, I also thought that the mass wedding while Macklemore sang Same Love was extremely touching.

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  12. ANd it's funny, too, how we think--oh, I've never heard of that song. Then when we DO hear it--we realize--oh! THAT one. (Like: Get Lucky.)

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  13. This is the first Grammy show I've watched in a long time. I loved it. I am not a fan of some of the music, but I love that this show was a meld of old and new, country and rap - just embracing diversity of styles in such a way that made me feel hopeful.

    One of my faves was the guitar "duel" with Keith Uran and Gary Clarke, Jr. Wow.

    I think Lorde is fantastic (I was not familiar with her). A bit odd, but interesting and amazingly talented.

    LOVED Kacey (cannot remember her last name, but she wore cowgirl boots that light up. Cool!).

    Madonna apparently has an injury which is causing her to use a cane, which just stunned me for some reason. I guess I think of her as being a bit indestructible.

    Seeing Willie, Kris, Merle and Blake together made me cry a little bit, for a lot of reasons.

    If the Grammy show wanted to highlight a "power couple" I would have preferred seeing Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. But, that's just me. I think they're both extraordinarily talented.

    Steven Tyler belting out that Smokey Robinson song just blew me away. That was a moment, but sadly, I was distracted from the song by the fact that Mr. Tyler's zipper seemed to be unzipped. I was irritated by that. Not that Steven Tyler apparently was having zipper problems (is that a costume malfunction?), but that it happened during THAT song. Motown is still my all-time favorite music, and always will be. Followed by country. I love country music so much - but not Taylor Swift. I'm sorry. The girl's in need of much to much attention, and the head banging, hair tossing thing is old now. She's not country. Kacey in the cool light up boots - now she's country.

    LOVED seeing Chicago, but they didn't need the interloper who reminds me of a cheesy lounge singer. (JUST my opinion).

    I watched the show and chuckled to myself, remembering my dad saying "that's not music!" when I would listen to stuff like The Rolling Stones. Some things never change.

    The weddings also made me cry. Buckets.

    I'm glad I watched.

    The new Rosanne Cash album? The woman is such a poet. It's incredible.

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  14. Oops, I think I confused you. My birthday isn't until the beginning of March, but Jason Gray's new CD comes out that first week of March. That's what happens when I type in a hurry because I'm trying to start watching an episode of Intelligence. (And don't bother if you haven't started. That was my last episode of the show.)

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  15. I should be ashamed of myself for posting another comment after rambling on for so long in my last one!

    My favorite CD ever is one Donald Barley gave me for my birthday last year. It's one he recorded of some of his favorite songs. Acappella (how do you spell that??). It's something I've been begging him to do for years and it is wonderful.

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  16. Ooh, Kaye, I want that album with Billie Joe and Norah singing the Everly Brothers. As in today. Target has a Grammy winner album, too, but I
    might rather pick and choose from downloads.

    Everybody here downloads music, right??????? Come on, you guys, it's the 21st century! I do still buy CDs, mostly for the cover art and the liner notes. And vinyl is back, did you know that? Rick and I still have most of ours, but our turntable (Rick used to rep audio equipment so it's a very good one) doesn't fit in our current entertainment cabinet. Boo.

    Adding Roseanne Cash to the list.

    So, come on, readers, get the REDS up to date!

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  17. Sorry, Reds. I'm no help on this one. In the car I listen to audiobooks . . . on cassettes!

    Kathy/Kaitlyn

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  18. Has anyone given credit yet to the title of today's post which is, course, from a classic Irving Berlin tune.

    --Marjorie of Connecticut

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  19. I'm afraid I missed the really big shew. I was watching PBS. Since I moved back to Houston I've been out of touch musically. I don't spend that much time in the car so just have an oldies station on. I need one that mixes in new songs. My husband has Sirius and tortures me with old time radio programs. The detective ones are godawful. I think they're all sedated to sound so cool and emotionless.
    I want a station like I listened to back in the late 60s. They didn't specialize in a particular type of music. they played folk, country (Skip a Rope), rock, acid rock, orchestral (Paul Mauriat's Love is Blue, Hugo Montenegro, etc. Anyway, a really nice up to date mix. I just got some CDs, courtesy of the local PBS station, which are 50s and 60s folk and folk rock. I heard Ruby Don't Take Your love to Town and thought Jeez. Frank was in Vietnam when that one came out. Eve of Destruction came on and it was memories of taking my older brother to college in Austin for his freshman year.And so on and so on.

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  20. I am all about audio books all the time! When my husband drives, we listen to NPR, but I got him into my audio book on our recent trip ("The Gathering" by Anne Enright.

    My sons-in-law are wonderful at introducing me to music -- one has an incredible collection of vinyl and plays records all the time. The other uses Pandora.

    I like silence in the house (my husband has the tv on in a different room), but I don't mind music if someone puts it on.

    Of course, NPR.

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  21. Thanks for the reminder: I need to get out and get this year's Grammy nomination compilation CD. It's a time capsule of the year's best, more or less. BTW, "the kids" call what we call songs "tunes" or "jams." At least, they did the last time I checked. :)

    Anyway, Rod and I are huge fans of P!nk's. (Yes, that's how she spells her name.) We were bummed to learn her Mohegan Sun concert was on a weeknight. Her "tunes" are catchy, plus her lyrics are often about being positive in an uncertain world. However, you might be happier with the non-explicit versions of her songs. ;)

    If you saw her Grammy performance Sunday, then you've heard excerpts of her most recent hits "Try" and "Just Another Reason." Two of my favorites of her older songs are "Perfect" and "Raise Your Glass" (beware of the explicit version if your ears are tender), as well as the ballad "Glitter in the Air."

    As a matter of fact, I'm going to pop over to my Windows Media and get a P!nk positivity pump-up now. :)

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  22. Thank you, Joan!

    Just realized my son's annual Valentine's Day dance is coming up (I'm a chaperone) and it's where I hear all the new music: Hot Chelle Rae, fun., Katy Perry, Tao Cruz, will.i.am, the Script.... It's pretty good dance stuff, but I've been given strict orders NOT to dance. ("Mom, stop! You're embarrassing me!"

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  23. If anyone cares, in the kiddo's set, Justin Bieber is SO OVE, Selena Gomez is still cool, everyone loves Katy Perry, and everyone LOVES the soundtrack to Disney's Frozen....

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  24. Yes, Susan D, there is a Pete-sized hole in the universe today.. (Did you get that expression from me? It's what I always say..hmm)

    You know I grew up in Chicago in the early fifties, and my Dad was the music critic for the CHicago Daily News. So our lives were filled with Pete Seeger and the Weavers and Harry Belafonte.

    And my husband's kids are very proud of being the only ones among their pals who were taught union organizing songs when they were kids!

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  25. SO OVE! Finally. (Although sad about being SO OVE at age-whatever-he-is.)

    ANd yes, absolutely Pat D. SO many songs have memories attached. Some friends of ours were ki8lled ina car accident (LONG ago) and Chad & Jeremy's "Summer Song" came on the radio as my mom told me about it. I think of Carolyn and Jerry everytime I hear that song.

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  26. THANK YOU! Joan E! We are so excited about the nominations! FLOATING!

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  27. Hank, I think you mis-read Deborah's comment about the Everly Brothers tribute. (Or I did)
    "At least one of my favorite performances from the Grammys was Miranda Lambert and Billy Joe Armstrong's tribute to the Everly Brothers." Note, "one of my favorites", not "one of my least favorites"

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  28. Kaye Barley - Kacey Musgrove? I've heard a couple of hers, catchy.

    I absolutely cannot listen to talk radio in the car. I've tried. But then I hear something I disagree with and, next thing you know, I'm arguing with the radio, not paying attention to traffic, and, well, when you're trying to merge on the Parkway at rush hour, bad things happen.

    I switch around from country, to classic rock (70s), to classical, to contemporary Christian (this mostly when my husband is in the car). Not in the car, I have my iPhone. And too bad I missed the Keith Urban guitar duel. He's amazing. THAT I would have tuned in to see. Oh, and Sirius has a Bruce Springsteen channel I tune to sometimes.

    I've tried Pandora, but no matter what I choose, I hear the same five songs three times in two hours. Bah.

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  29. Ladies, I'm the same age you are (I get Hank's reference) but ya gotta keep up. Big fan of Macklemore here!

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  30. Diane Russom HarrisonJanuary 28, 2014 at 1:32 PM

    Julia, what you heard was probably actually Detroit Metal CRUMP. I have Sirius in my car tuned to The Pulse. I have Spotify on my computer and the artists I listen to are Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, The Script, O.A.R., Fun, P!nk, Sara Barielles, Adele, The Fray, One Republic, Jason Mraz, JT, Robin Thicke, Lady GaGa, Matt Nathanson, Scissor Sister, Pitbull, Train, Enrique Iglesias etc.
    I dance during the day for exercise when I can't get out!

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  31. Yes, P!nk was singing live on the Grammy's. I saw her in concert last fall, awesome!!! She is against lip syncing, says it is wrong. In concert she does all those acrobatics and more with syncing.

    I don't have a car so no radio for me.

    I do keep up at bit on new music, mostly through what younger friends post on FB. I think the oldest stuff on my iTunes playlist is from the 70's, with the newest stuff being P!nk, Lorde etc.

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  32. I'm a big Pandora fan. I have one station customized for writing music, another for island tunes so when I'm working on a McKenna novel (set in Hawaii) "I'm in the mood." On the writing station, I finally found some of the very cool techno-tango music that's been used a few times on DWTS and has been cropping up in the local Starbies. Very cool stuff.

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  33. "all those acrobatics and more withOUT syncing . . ."

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  34. I can't say I'm current on music at all. I didn't watch the Grammy's (though with so many FB friends posting about it I feel like I know what happened). I worked for 4 years for a group of local radio stations. One was supposed to be a Hot Adult Contemporary format (but it wasn't really) but the one I always chose to listen to was the oldies station. I was somewhat distressed when they switched from 50s 60s and 70s to 60s 70s and 80s because it meant the music of my childhood was now considered oldies!
    I do love my Pandora. My stations cover a lot of variations (from Glen Miller to Haley Reinhart). Right now I'm hooked on one I built around Matchbox Twenty. :)

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  35. Diane, we listen to the same singers! Yay!

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  36. I listen to classical at home, on the new digital station attached to our NPR . . . I was so glad they stepped in with that at the ending of the classical station that had been on air MY ENTIRE LIFE! In the car I mostly listen to books on CD, so thanks to all of you who write and to those who read and record.
    Today, though, my mind is full of the gifts from Pete Seeger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE4H0k8TDgw

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  37. I am not with it when it comes to music, in fact, I kind of stalled after I bought Johnny Mathis' Greatest Hits. You've inspired me to turn Spotify on and listen to my daughter's latest choice, Pink's "Just Give Me a Reason". Pretty good! Yikes, now she's singing "True Love". Catchy, but the lyrics would shock my Mom. Okay, I'll keep an open mind.
    BTW, I saw the Everly Brothers in person way back when.

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  38. Haven't tried Pandora yet. I have one foot in Spotify and the other in the satellite radio in the car. I do like Buffalo Springfield!

    Last CD I acquired - Highland Cathedral - Royal Scots Dragoon Guards - Pipes and Drums (my daughter bought it for me in Scotland).

    I try to listen to the radio with my kids - that means country with one and pop/eclectic with the other.

    Alone in the car, though, I listen to audiobooks....

    NGW

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  39. Ditto to the Reds for their nominations...I haven't watched the Grammys in years. Only rap song I can hum is the opening of "Baby Got Back" and that may be inappropriate...I also have the Judy Collins station and an Emmylou Harris station on Pandora. Yesterday I created a "Hollies" station and was transported back to the magical year of 1965...now I understand why my parents didn't know who the Beatles were. What is, after all, the formal name for Pitbull? Mr. Pit? Mr. Bull...so confusing. And Mr. Skrillex is beyond me entirely. Usually I listen to Karen Carpenter.

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  41. Oh, I'm going to make a Hollies station!

    Truly, think about the spare but poetic writing:

    Bus stop
    Wet day
    She's there
    I say
    Please share my umbrella.

    I mean, they don't write 'em that way anymore.

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  42. And Marjorie in Connecticut, THANK YOU. I can always count on you.

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  43. I was out today (dentist) so treated myself to a stop at Target (bad girl) and bought the Grammy 2014 compilation. Love it! So if you want to get a tiny bit hip, that's a good start. The only song I don't like out of 18 tracks is Kendrick Lamar's Swimming Pools. There is a little bit of everything, including country. Love Daft Punk, Love P!nk, love Macklemore, Ed Sheeran... Such fun. And Lilly Dodd, thanks for the clarification. That IS what I said.

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  44. Hank, this is so much fun. Thank you! I have The Wrong Girl on audio. Someone else should have a chance to hear Ilyana Kadushin read it—wonderful!

    I've worked up a few Pandora stations. My favorites are Leonard Cohen, k.d. lang, and the Beatles.

    For times when I need quiet I listen to my favorite radio stations via iTunes—The Jazz Groove or Jazz FM91. Hah! I just noticed the iTunes has a jazz station called the Jonathan Channel. :-)

    I used to listen to oldies on North Shore 104.9 from my computer, but they've recently switched to some terrible universally acceptable? canned programming geared to everyone and no one—very disappointing. I loved their shows and news from home, too. Mostly I think about the people who worked at the station and were there. They made it interesting and local. Where did they go?

    xo

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  45. What can I say? I listen to classical music when I want to hear music. But I'm kind of up on the new artists because I've been getting free issues of People magazine. At least now I know who's who.

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  46. Pandora? Sorry, I'm old school. I still listen to LPs - John Denver, New Christie Minstrels, Beach Boys. Am I dating myself? Guess so.

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