There is a point your musical collection becomes unwieldy. Especially when you don’t know what you got in your collection or you become indifferent about exploring new music. There is still one basic fact about your collection: you can only play one piece of music at one time. The more you have, the more likelihood music you have may become buried. That is one advantage of having a small collection: you usually are aware of the music you have. I usually give every piece of music one playing. Sometimes that works against you when the music did not catch your attention at that point. You may not have been in the mood to hear the LP or CD or whatever format the music is in. In my case I kept expanding my tastes so the music I became aware of grew. It still comes back to the realization you can only play one piece of music at one time. That is always a limiting factor to your collection.
Tags: CD, exploring new music, LP, music, unwieldy music collections, your limits of collecting music
Posted in balance, knowledge&learning, music, time, wisdom |
‘Songs To Aging Children Come’ This is the title and a line from an early Joni Mitchell song I heard in the late sixties. In the song she says in beautiful language and this is a paraphrase: there is all this beauty around and don’t you see it. I do. And she ends the song saying: ‘songs to aging children come. This is one’. Back then and now I identified with the song. Another line was ‘people hurry by so quickly, don’t they hear the melodies…’
I saw all this beauty around me as a young adult and others were not seeing it. I could not understand that. Even today. I starting writing back then to the present to record this marvelous world before me and slow down my pace so I could capture this beauty. Then she ends the song: ‘Songs to aging children come. This is one.’ I had to grow up and still be child-like so I understood her song perfectly. I was not all alone.
Tags: 1960's, being child-like, growing up, Joni Mitchell, marvelous world, music, seeing beauty around me, sense of wonder, slow down my pace, songs, writing
Posted in balance, beauty, children, death, knowledge&learning, life, mental health, music, time, wisdom, writing, your job/mission/profession |
I don’t want more things to come into my house, that is cluttered enough; although we have made much progress. I am as responsible as my wife for more things coming into my house. There is always another book or another piece of music to purchase. When both of us go, someone will have a massive job to clear the house. I mentioned this to my wife and she did not seem concerned about this. We have made much progress in decluttering our house. It seems a losing battle. I really have to determine (in our will) what truly is important. To me it is my journals and poems. I don’t know what things my wife wants to bequeath if anything. Right now we have a menagerie (seven cats and four dogs) but they are starting to get up in age, particularly, the cats, where the youngest one is nine years old. I am sure my wife would want them to go to a good home if any animals were left when both of us are gone. You never know how much time you have. And death may come suddenly. You never know.
Tags: books, cats, clear the house, cluttered house, death and things, dogs, four dogs, journals, music, my wife, our inheritance, pets, poems, seven cats, Where would the pets go if both of us die?, you never know
Posted in animals, balance, death, God, life, local, marriage, music, pets, relationships, seasons, time, wisdom |
‘With whom I can be what I want to be.’ This is a line from a song of a Ian Anderson album (“Benefit”–Jethro Tull). I understood this line perfectly. It is important what friends you surround yourself with: they can either bring you up or down. It is critical, also, whom you choose as your mate. He/she can help you be what you ought to be or get in the way. I could not do all the writing I do had it not been for my wife’s support. I would not have my web site (siggyscafe.com) or blog (siggyscafe.com/Blog) if it was not for her. No one can completely fulfill your needs but it is important to be around others as much as you can who support your most important endeavors. Another words, who let you be who you want to be. You will be happier in the long run.
Tags: "Benefit" album by Jethro Tull, be what I want to be, blog, fulfill your needs, fulfilling your mission, Ian Anderson, music, my wife, support from your mate, web site, writing, your friends, your mate
Posted in balance, life, local, love, marriage, mental health, relationships, time, your job/mission/profession |
I don’t know why having order of your possessions is so important. And of course your mate has a different idea what that means. We still have several hundred cassettes I don’t want or am not too interested in. I am happy they are hidden from sight in the garage. My wife considers them still valuable. To be fair to her we have gotten rid of some but cassettes are really dinosaurs. Almost no one wants them any longer. I have to admit I still use my cassette deck. Most of the time to play collections of music I put together. Someone I know has all his music stored somewhere on a hard drive. And he is not the only one. LP’s are also dinosaurs. They stopped making them in 1987 although vinyl is making a comeback. I still have, maybe, two thousand stored in my living room. As neatly and unobtrusively as I can.
Our living room has become neater. There used to be piles of papers and our books on the bookcases were doubled up–no longer so I don’t want to complain too much about this room. We have made progress in making it neater. Every couple’s idea of order is different. Some houses are less cluttered and some even look so clean you can eat off the floor. Cleanliness and order are two different discussions. They are not exactly the same thing. And cleanliness is, also, another issue you have to work out between couples. As order, usually each partner has a different idea what is acceptable. Somehow you have to find the middle ground.
Tags: bookcases, books, cassettes, cleanliness and order, clutter and order, collecting casettes and LP's, couples, LP's, making order in the house, music, my wife, the importance of order and cleanliness in the houseworking, vinyl records, your possessions
Posted in balance, beauty, knowledge&learning, life, local, marriage, music, relationships, time |
I have been depressed for awhile. I know my depression is an indicator. I know my age has something to do with it: I will not live another 64 years. I wonder what I will leave behind. I certainly can’t take my things with me–my music, my journals, my poems. I can’t take anything with me. So what is there? What is my purpose of living? It is not the accumulation of my things. From dust you come and from dust you shall return. I do hope I leave the world a better place, that some people might mourn me. And have good memories of me. The thing about the world it goes on. Every day someone dies, someone is born. I am trying to figure out my purpose in the time I have left. Not that my death is imminent but who knows? No one can really help me on my journey. Somehow I have to figure out what I have to do which will give me meaning so I can climb out of my depression. There is (???are) no easy answers.
Tags: accumulation of things, can't take it with you, climbing out of my depression, death, dust-to-dust, give me meaning, journals, learn about my depression, music, my depression is no accident, no easy answers, poems, purpose in life, purpose of living
Posted in balance, death, God, knowledge&learning, life, love, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom, your job/mission/profession |
All of a sudden I felt old. I was at an open mike of a coffeehouse. A performer did a song of Bob Dylan’s. I no longer remember the title but someone went up to the performer and told him it was great you were doing Dylan’s material and his material was not forgotten. Suddenly I realized the song he did was fifty years old. Dylan wrote one great song after another during that period. The songs were a rallying point for the sixties civil (???) movement. Maybe they will be discovered anew if the climate of our nation changes. Those sixties songs captured a generation. And are there for subsequent generations to discover.
Tags: 1960's, Bob Dylan, coffeehouse, feeling old, music, open mike, relationships, seasons, the sixties civil right movement
Posted in balance, life, music, politics, seasons, time |
It is always about the music. Whenever I loved a group I went deep in their albums. I never collected just to collect. Although sometimes the first album of a group or artist I bought was excellent and subsequent albums never matched up. I do read music reviews. My collection is out of control since I married my second wife. She “discovered” E Bay and went a little crazy for awhile. Now there is music in my house I am not familiar with or have no interest in. Like when she bought the complete set of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I had stopped listening to them after their second album. I am glad she is no longer doing that. I now do have some music I never thought I would ever see again. In my first marriage I had to make room to include some music which meant I had to get rid of some of the “deadwood” in my collection. In my new house I have more room so I can collect more music. There is always an interesting piece of music I have not heard before.
Tags: collecting music, Emerson Lake and Palmer, music, music reviews, my wife, record album
Posted in balance, local, love, marriage, music, time |
Today I am having an afternoon tribute to Jefferson Airplane. They continue to excite me. They were erudite. Their harmonies, vocals and instrumentation were powerful. They wrote great songs. I had the privilege of seeing them in 1970. I went down to the Shore to see them. I knew I would be stranded overnight but I did not care. I never forgot moving into the aisle when they played “Crown of Creation” and all I could do was sit there mouth open awed. It is my favorite song of theirs. It still speaks to me. The song is timeless and is about your struggle to grow and love those around you. Thank you, Paul Kantner. I will continue to listen to this box set I have of them today. My wife is not home so I can pump up the volume. I never tire of them. Their songs were about love, anger and the fight to remain true to yourself despite the forces which tear us apart. I still identify with those struggles they portrayed so powerfully in music and song.
Tags: "Crown of Creation", bands, concert in 1970, harmonies, instrumentation, Jefferson Airplane, music, my wife, Paul Kantner, songs, vocals, writing music, wrote great songs
Posted in beauty, life, local, love, music, relationships, time |
It is a gift my wife does not mind the music I play on the stereo most of the time. Both of our taste in music is eclectic. My first wife had to be out of the house for me to freely play the stereo. So it is only by grace I can do that. She does, though, sometimes ask me to lower the volume.
Tags: eclectic music tastes, music, my wife, only by grace, play the stereo
Posted in local, love, marriage, music, relationships, time |
I am not my diagnosis. I could state it but it does not matter. I am a man who loves all kinds of music, writes poetry, letters and other things. I love nature particularly the birds I attract with all my feeders. I am married to a woman I love who is not quite the same but loves a lot of the same things particularly music from the same era. She is not perfect but close. We both love to read and I have more books in my house that I ever had before. She loves mysteries. I don’t. But our tastes in books and music is very eclectic. Music and books are all over the house. She usually lets me be. I am not as good as her in that regard and sometimes have to learn to be quiet. We have our own space in our house. I love the mountains, the lakes and ocean. So does she. We live on the edge of country. I am all these things and more. I am not my diagnosis I have to state again. That is just an artificial artifact. The doctors need that and my insurance. That is the only purpose of my diagnosis. It is not me.
Tags: bird feeding, bird-watching, birds, books, doctors, eclectic music tastes, edge of country, I am not my diagnosis, insurance, lakes, love music, love to read, marriage, mental health, mountains, music, nature, ocean, poems, write letters, write poetry, writing
Posted in balance, beauty, God, knowledge&learning, life, local, love, marriage, mental health, music, nature, relationships, seasons, time, wisdom |
I was appreciating my MP3 player just now. Two birthdays ago it was a present. She literally spent hours downloading several hundred songs on it. She thought I might use it for the cross country train ride we took then. I really did not appreciate what she did. Until now. The fact is I don’t like listening to my MP3 player through my head phones. Recently we bought a new car that has an auxiliary to the stereo. Now I can enjoy the music she downloaded almost two years ago through the car stereo. She knows my musical tastes and she also has her own preferences. I usually play “DJ” in the house. Now it is her turn.
Tags: birthday present, car stereo, cross country train, DJ, head phones, MP3 player, music, my wife, new car, songs, stereo
Posted in beauty, local, love, marriage, music, relationships, time |
