Category: Longform
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My musical evolution
I was thinking of the history of my music listening habits and thought it would be a fun thing to share. Maybe it will catch on, and I will get to read about the evolution of other folks musical listening habits, so here we go.
My oldest musical memory is having an old Fisher Price record player. The albums I remember having are a 45 of the “Dukes of Hazard” theme by Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel “Glass Houses” album, and Kiss “Destroyer”. I’m guessing I was around eight years old at the time based on when the albums were released. Other than that, I have no recollection of a specific musical taste.
Moving on to a couple of years later; I received my first cassette tapes. If I recollect, it was John Cougar “American Fool” (I sang Jack and Diane all the time in the shower..lol), Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and Styx “Killroy was Here”. I think not much longer after that I got a Huey Lewis tape. In the end, I didn’t have a specific musical taste yet, it was fairly eclectic I think.
Maybe A year later I hit the Michael Jackson phase, I was maybe eleven? I had my “Thriller” tape and added the earlier “Off the Wall”. I also started collecting the Jackson Fives albums. Not only that, but I had the red leather jacket with the studded shoulders and would sit in front of the mirror trying to replicate the Billy Jean dance routine from the 25th Motown Anniversary special. Maybe within a year after, I discovered break dancing and was listening to Herbie Hancock and the “Beat Street” and “Breakin” soundtracks. Also, oddly enough, during this time, I was really a fan of Air Supply.
Between Michael Jackson phase and maybe seventh grade things stayed the same and I mainly listened to what was modern pop music back then. In eighth grade, I started to form a little more of my own taste. I was listening to more rock, things like Cinderella, Van Halen, Def Lepard, and the like. And then I learned of the Cult, I believe it was my brother who first played “Electric” for me. I was blown away and was an immediate superfan and started my lean into what back then was alternative, new wave, or punk.
Come freshman year of high school, U2 took over my life. “The Joshua Tree” tour was my first major concert I attended. I was also listening to INXS, Midnight Oil, Depeche Mode, Skinny Puppy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the like. At this time I also discovered Metallica, a favorite till this day. By sophomore year it was leaning more punk with Minor Threat, The Misfits, The Dead Kennedys, and others. I will note here that at this point in my life that the idea of pop music, classic rock, and country made me ill, and they were obviously awful. By the beginning of Junior year, there was Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Janes Addiction, and Fugazi many other artists from Discord Records.
Then something interesting happened to me between junior and senior year. I went on a trip with a family friend and schoolmate to California. We were gone a couple months and lived in his Vanagon. He was much more hippy than punk and when we stopped in some odd mall in Iowa, he bought a Grateful Dead tape. I had never listened to them, but assumed they sucked, because they weren’t punk or metal. We listened to that tape all day every day for weeks, and I loved it, and suddenly I realized I was super closed-minded about things and started getting into classic/hippy rock. I understand classic rock today is Metallica and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, makes me so sad to think about it…lol.
At this time I also really started listening to Bob Marley and this magnified my love for Bad Brains a punk band I was listening to for a year or so already. Around this time I believe I started listening to Soul Asylum a lot and Uncle Tupelo which is still one of my favorite bands and my introduction to what I would later learn is called Alt Country or Americana.
Between this time and say, when I was twenty-one, I was listening to all kinds of stuff and at this time, around 1994 I joined the Army. I was stationed in Georgia, and it was my first real introduction to country music which I bashed on for most of my young life, and similarly to my ignorance of the Grateful Dead, I realized I like a lot of this country Music. Heck, some of the Dead’s songs were just old country songs and I didn’t know it. At the same time, I entered my Ska phase. I listened to Goldfinger, No Doubt, The Specials, The Toasters, Skankin Pickle, Sublime, and the great Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
Now, I have gone through a lot of musical phases at this point. In the next decade I had spent time in Korea and Germany and have favorite songs from those cultures, and I have no idea what they say, but the music is catchy, and I feel it is transcendent. If I learned anything from my extreme punk days, you don’t necessarily need to understand what the hell they are saying. Later I married my wife who hails from Ethiopia and I have fallen in love with many of their artists, check out Teddy Afro.
As we come upon today, I’m in my early fifties. If I had to claim a favorite genre, I would probably say country or americana. As far as country music goes, I lean towards Texas country or what they call Red Dirt music. At the same time, I could listen to anything. Andrea Boccelli is always on in the house, his voice is so relaxing to just in the background throughout the day. Andy Grammer is one of my favorites, he is so refreshing, he is like the Ted Lasso of music, everything is inspirational and making me smile. You’ll also catch me listening to anything from Phill Collins to Jelly Roll, or maybe Pantera or Rage Against the Machine. Or maybe I will be with my daughters jamming to Katy Perry or Meghan Trainor in the car.
I feel I have evolved to be pretty open to listening to anything. I listen to much of what I listened to in my youth, though some I cannot handle, or just don’t enjoy anymore. And my kids are constantly introducing me to new stuff. Music is just such a wonderful thing to share with everyone and I have enjoyed my evolution. I would love to hear about yours.
Cheers!
Apple, the UK, doubling down on Syncthing
With this article that came out with the UK’s current demands of Apple, it has me thinking.
UK security officials “demanded that Apple create a backdoor allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud,” the report said.
According to other reports, part of the specific demand is, if Apple does give in, they are not allowed to tell users. Also, this is across borders, they do not want access to just UK citizens, but the worlds.
With that, I feel it’s time for me to really double down on Syncthing. I’ve already been using it as a makeshift cloud. I have a machine that’s sole purpose is to run Syncthing, and it backs up all the major folders on my PC. The iPhone also has an app called Möbius Sync which lets me use Syncthing with my iPhone. Note, that Android has a native Syncthing app which may be enough to switch to Android if this all comes to fruition.
I also wonder, if the requirement is not to tell users if you comply, what are other companies doing? Is the Microsoft OneDrive Vault already backdoored? Who knows. But this is very concerning. The UK is a pretty large market and I don’t think Apple would just pull out of it with all their cloud services. They don’t have the proverbial balls to do such a thing. I guess I will just have to wait and see. But I will be doubling down on Syncthing use and really learning to make it as smooth of an operation as it can get.
If you have an old machine sitting around the house doing nothing, it’s a pretty easy to set up once you wrap your head around how everything works. Give it a go.
From Pika to MicroBlog
I did it. After some contemplation, I have moved my blog from Pika back to MicroBlog. This is actually the first time I didn’t just nuke everything and start over, I moved all the posts over. I do have to redo the pages, but the posts were the really hard part.
The main thing that inspired the move is Matt Langford’s new theme Bayou. For years, I wanted to easily separate blog posts from microposts (or tweets). A couple times I have done it, but it needed a lot of jumping through hoops to make it halfway workable. This is now solved with Bayou. There are a few other tweaks I need to make, but I’m pretty much open for business here.
Note the RSS links on the homepage. You can choose to follow full blog posts, microposts, or both. I know I personally am not a fan of getting an active tweeters pile of posts in my RSS reader.
Either way, the move is complete. Catch you all later.
Cheers!
Dare I even consider... Microsoft?
For some reason, today, I have been pondering a return to Microsoft Products. I mean, I’ve been running Windows for some time now. I’m not sure if that is going to end anytime soon for that matter. Things like Linux have lost their luster for me. I like Apple devices, but I think Macs are a rip off. Microsoft/Windows is like that “jack of all trades”.
I’ve been paying for Office365 for years and don’t even use OneDrive, mainly because it’s a Microsoft Product; Instead I jump around from pCloud, Mega, Proton Drive, and various others. None that I am completely happy with in the end. At least OneDrive is seamless with my OS, and if I use it, Windows will stop nagging me to. It’s pretty much cross-platform also.
I jump around note-taking products regularly also; none completely satisfy me. OneNote again integrates well with my OS and is cross-platform pretty much. It’s not the best, but if I’m going to be dissatisfied, it may as well not cost me extra.
Outlook mail, now that is another thing.. I don’t think I will ever use it as my main mail service, I love “Hey!”, but I can use it for may alternate junk address instead of paying for SimpleLogin. Why the hell not, I already have it. It makes me wonder why I keep paying extra for things I already have a solution for.
I’ve been using Apple Reminders for my to-do lists for groceries and such. It is 100% not cross-platform, I can only use it on my iPhone or the iCloud web interface, which blows! In comes Microsoft To-do, possibly? It’s cross-platform and pretty much provides the same functionality. Again, why am I forcing myself to use apps that make my life more difficult.
And there are other things, like being able to access my desktop from my phone, which is pretty cool, though I don’t know if I would ever need to use it. I already use all the office apps, let’s not kid ourselves saying the alternatives are better or that anyone else will ever take that market share anytime soon.
Maybe it’s because I’m old, and I’m sick of fighting with things. I don’t really know, and as the title states, I’m considering, not doing. It does sound like the right course at this point, though. I will ponder it further while I wait from the replies of the masses telling me how evil Microsoft is and how they are selling all my info. I’m pretty cynical these days, and I’m pretty sure everyone is selling our info if they can. It’s just assumed at this point. Let loose with the explanations of my insanity. I am awaiting.
Cheers!
InCoWriMo
Why have I not heard of this until today? InCoWriMo or International Correspondence Writing Month sounds to be right up my alley. I love writing letters and there seem to be so few willing to get one, or want to respond to one at least. This is a whole group of folks who want to do just that.
It seems the idea is just to try to send out a letter every day of the month of February. They also do an address exchange every year for those looking for folks to correspond with. It really seems like a hoot, at least to me.
I’m late on it this year, not officially in the mix or anything. But I’m going to try to send as much snail mail out as I can this month in the spirit of things. I have a bunch of nice writing paper just sitting and waiting to be used. I will have to run and pick up some stamps.
If by chance you want me to babble to you with a pen and ink instead of on here, feel free to visit my contact page and include a mailing address, and I’ll write something to you. If you know I have no clue who you are, go ahead and maybe add some things of interest or even how your week or day has been, so I have something to start with. Oh, and a warning, my penmanship stinks.
Cheers!
AI spares bugs life!
So, I don’t use ChatGPT for anything serious these days, but today I discovered this guy crawling on one my dog Hazel’s prize turds.
I uploaded the picture into Copilot, and it initially said an Assassin bug. So then I started searching and found nothing matching. So then I searched Assassin bug larvae and bingo it showed up.
Come to find out, with further questions to ChatGPT it was a Wheel Bug larvae, and they are cold killers of other pesty insects and invasive species. They are said to have a very painful bite, but are non-aggressive.
With this information I spared said bugs life and separated him from the turd that did need to leave the yard. Copilot is now this bugs hero.
Note, the title is purely click bait; because, why the hell not!
I’m getting rounder
As the sun burns brighter each day I notice what could only be a beach ball appearing behind the profile of my shadow, or is that just me? Well yes it is me.
This winter, I have gotten a bit more rotund, and I’m not happy about it. Being in my 50s, the weight comes much easier than it leaves. So drastic change is warranted I feel. I think I’m going to try to drop sugar. Yes, you heard me, no more sweet stuff. I may very well fail at this by tomorrow, but I’ll give it a go.
Hot drinks are my biggest problem. I drink coffee or tea all day long, and I like it sweet. I’m going to have to condition myself to black coffee and water. Oh, the misery, but it must be done.
Wish me luck!
Germany and Cowboys
Chris Ledoux came on my radio while I was driving this morning and of all things it brought me back to Germany. Germany you may say, hell Chris Ledoux is a person most likely many that would read this have not heard of. Nonetheless, Chris Ledoux and Germany do have a link in my lifetime.
It was around 2001 not long after September 11th. I was currently serving in the Illinois National Guard and trying to get back on active duty. To our surprise, while everyone else was going to Afghanistan, we were sent to Germany. Basically to reinforce the European bases since the units on them were the ones sent to Afghanistan.
At this time, I was in my peak country music phase, and Chris Ledoux was an artist shared with me by one of my buddies. Chris was a real cowboy, and a musician. I still knew little about him, but he had some great songs about riding horses, the rodeo, and cowboy life. I really loved that "Cowboy" dream I guess. Needless to say, I brought a ton of Chris Ledoux music with me to Germany. Mini-Disk players were the big thing at the time, and I loaded some minidiscs with Chris's whole darn discography. I listened to them constantly while deployed there.
I spent a lot of time daydreaming about being a cowboy and rodeoing. Mind you, I was already in my early thirties, and I was born and raised in the Chicago area; cowboy was not in my future. But the daydream of it all, the romantic picture of the lonely cowboy on the range; it really seemed to comfort me while away from home.
At one point during the time in Germany, there was even a rodeo, yes, a rodeo in Germany. The US Army rodeo team was there and to my ignorant surprise, there were German Cowboys. Little did I know the culture spread as far as to have Europeans willingly getting on the back of an unhappy bull.
Myself and a few other guys were actually put on security for the event. We had M16s with no ammo, and instructions of "If an animal gets loose, try to get him back in the arena". Like we were going to point our unloaded weapons at a thousand pound bull and say "bang!bang!" if he got out, with the hope he would come to his senses and return back to the arena. Luckily, it never did happen.
It was a fun tour, with some good memories, stuff I hadn't thought of for a bit, until Chris Ledoux came on this morning. We had a lot of good times and Germany was such a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people. I would love to go back again someday.
Well that is enough of memory lane this morning.
Cheers!
My new social media plan...
Building off my last post, I’ve been thinking more and more about the social media madness, and with a little inspiration from Kevin Quirk, I’m going to try something new.
I will be the first to say I’m weak and pathetic when it comes to resisting the doom scroll. Nonetheless, I am going to try to just pay attention to only notifications on all the social media places (god, there are so many). I will do my best not to doom scroll and instead rely on my RSS feed and said notifications.
For those who really want to say anything, I still am standing by my email is the best theory, and you can always drop me a message here. On a side note, I really need to work on building up my address book.
Either way, happy Sunday folks, enjoy the rest of your day.
Doh!
Yes, another title with no real meaning. I am seriously thinking of stopping half of my use of social media. “Half?” you may say. Yes, after getting myself in an iffy discussion today, I think my commenting days are over.
That is right, I think I am going to stop replying to social media posts. I will of course reply to comments on my own posts, but I realize now that unwelcome engagement is usually bad engagement.
Of course, ideally, the reply by email trend will continue, with me corresponding with others or they with me, to have friendly discussions about whatever the topic may be.
Cheers!