"Hey can I look at your CD's?" I always hated that question. I tried to convince myself it was just being used as an ice breaker. The question made no sense to me because most of the time it was asked when there was no music playing device in sight. Why must I be judged?
BREAKING NEWS
A coworker has just informed me that President Bush’s playlist for his i-pod has been released to the public. He is rapidly being judged. Caitlin Moran of the London Times noted: "No black artists, no gay artists, no world music, only one woman, no genre less than 25 years old, and no Beatles."
Man, it is amazing that whole life imitating art imitating life thing. Truly amazing because in this scenario, my blog is the art.
I can't help but wonder (thank you Sex and the City) if technology has enabled us to distance ourselves from the music we listen to. When you don't purchase the whole CD, but simply download one song off of the album it seems like much less of a statement.
There are many ways nowadays to listen to music without it being a commitment. Yesterday I created my own radio station through launchcast.com and suprised myself by playing it while at work. Should anyone turn to me and say "Counting Crows...are you kidding" I could simply explain "Yo, not my doing. This thing picks songs it thinks I might like based on my other selections."
When Stan Getz came on this morning, I could see my coworkers gearing up with: “What is this Kenny G shit?” But really it didn’t matter. Stan Getz is what my first boyfriend played while we made out. And as it turns out, I care more about the musical tastes of an ex than those of the people I know now.
Ciara’s “Roll Wit’ It” from the Coach Carter soundtrack just made its way onto my radio sation. I’m not taking questions. Just listening with the self-satisfaction of a parent driving to the oldies.
4 comments:
Ok so clearly I didn't read the blog at all yesterday. So I didn't know that Sarah had already posted something on Bush's i-pod. I feel like an idiot. And what's worse is that now I have to go and erase the 2 page piece I wrote on facelifts.
I think they can work together. Although I do regret the facelift posting since I was also planning to write a memoir about my 'lift. I'm really 59.
We can agree to disagree on some things, but war, civil liberties and the Beatles all just may be too sacred.
I would like to defend the "Hey, can I look at your CD's?" question. And with it, the "Hey, is that your yearbook?" and "Is this your photo album?" questions. These ice-breakers provide strangers with somewhere to start and can open up great veins of conversation or at least words that can fill dull, awkward voids. Of course there are ulterior motives, like checking out what the other person's friends look like (were they pretty girls in high school? did they go to Those Parties? did they hang out with guys?), and therefore making some kind of preemptive judgment call, but really the first and foremost purpose, for me anyway, has been to get comfortable. Let's be honest, you're probably never more interested in someone's yearbook than when you first meet them. If you end up becoming friends, you'll definitely never ask again. Unless you're Anna.
Once on a couchette train from Paris to Florence, a small French boy asked if he could see my CDs. I have never been more proud.
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