So, I am sitting here, pondering what sort of cacophonic concoction I should throw at you all this week, and I get to thinking. I keep offering what to listen to, but I never really go into where to listen. Knowing where to go to hear music is just as important as knowing what to listen to, don’t you think? After all, how would you know what to listen to otherwise?
Not all of us have the well-cultured friend or two that happens to have exactly the type of music that you want to hear at the time. I’m lucky enough to have people in my life, both in my past and in the present, that have done just that. It was Ron Yorgason that introduced me to They Might Be Giants and other alternative music. It also was Ron that started me down the path of the comedic genius that is Monty Python and the sideshow wonders that is novelty music, made popular by the Dr. Demento radio show and others. It was Susan Kulpanowski that tuned me in to the celtic/new age scene when she played The Lady of Shalott by Loreena McKennitt over a long-distance phone call from Michigan to my dorm room in Minnesota. I remember being so caught up in the song that I promptly went out and bought all the Loreena McKennitt cds I could get…regardless of the fact I did not even own a CD player at the time. Present day influences include Shawn Schliepp, a virtual walking encyclopedia of all things musical. It was Shawn that inspired last week’s spotlight on King Missile, so you can thank him for that. Of course, my fellow bkI comrades-in-arms Pat and Ben have their impact on my musical tastes, as well. I am grateful to all of these people and more, for showing me that there is more to life that 80′s New Wave.
I would be remiss in my duties as bkI’s friendly neighborhood musical aficionado if I didn’t provide the same consideration and give you all some guidance to some good music sources. Since calling each reader and playing a song over the phone isn’t the most effective way to go, instead I have some web sources and general knowledge stuff to pass on. These are the places that are usually the inspiration behind the music articles, so feel free to place blame accordingly.
