My Charity Lost Out to Desire
Confession time. Lately I’ve been having to spend more time on the road, in my car, dashing around to meetings, to the printers, to different events, etc, etc. My car, bless it’s big ol’ heart is not equipped with your finer high-end stereo products. My car was born way before the new VW Beetle was even a twinkle in the designers eye and it sure didn’t come ipod ready as part of its standard package. Nope. My choices are much more duo-tone. You basically got your AM and then you got your FM and that really completes the package. So the simple equation is, more driving around time means that more and more of my listening choices are being dictated by other people or companies; most of which is so intolerable and excruciatingly depressing that I’m convinced the musical stewardship of these stations is the work of aliens, mice, or worse yet, gearhead politicians that seek to drive us into complacency and bitter alcoholism.

Now, having said all that, my horrible confession is. . . that I really enjoy the new Smooth Jazz station here in town. Which mean that either I’ve lost and the politicians have me exactly where they want me or there are deeply embedded radical messages coming forth from David Sanborn’s saxophone that awaken my inner revolution. Damn, that’s a stretch. I know. But I have to believe something. Me listening to a smooth jazz station and enjoying it is the equivalent of me considering for one heartbeat that Schwarzenegger might actually make a good governor of California. The more likely explanation for appreciating the pleasant sounds of Richard Elliot is the competition that’s barking from the other stations. Sure, if I’m lucky and in the car at the right time, I can hit up a little Democracy Now on Fresh Air Radio. Although the signal is pretty bad. And I do enjoy a good CCR, Boston, Stix, or Neil Young double shot every now and again on the classic rock station. I’ll stay locked on a station for a minute if they’re playing a Foo Fighters tune. Catch a little Justin Timberlake or some Missy E, on another station and it’s all good. But generally all the Clear Channel stations are horribly inconsistent and way to commercial heavy. Unfortunately the local college radio station isn’t much better. They may have much better musical taste and they sure come correct with ample diversity, but for a man like me on the move and in the car, they play all the wrong songs at all the wrong times. I’m a huge fan of Low and I enjoy the entire spectrum of the icelandic minimalist movement. But that stuff is way better, at say one in the moring after I’ve downed a fifth or two. It’s just not good music for Tuesday at 1pm, when the sun is out and your cruising. Why does this happen? Why do they play such music at the oddest times? As a recovering college DJ in my own time, I can tell you the answer. It all stems form the fact that the ‘college kid’ keeps odd hours that are usually contrary to the working mans schedule. And when stuck in a windowless DJ booth, it’s always midnight. Thus bands like Low always seem appropriate and bands like Burning Airlines never seem to make the light of day.

So take all that and my attention span for listing to MPR for more than five minutes and you’ve basically got my reasoning for keeping the dial locked on the Smooth Jazz station. Clear Channel owned to boot.
Joe Sample, Grover Washington Jr., Euge Groove (great name), I’ll take ’em all. Just like the old days at the dentist. Lean back and listen to the sound as the drill pierces the enamel and sparks a nerve.