The musical baton

Ernie passes the baton to me, and asks:

• what is my total volume of music


• what is the last CD I bought


• what song is playing right now


• what five songs do I listen to a lot because they are special to me

• five people I’m passing the musical baton to

Like Ernie, music is inextricably woven into my memories; I hear a song and I can instantly recall a significant event when that song was playing, or when I saw the group in concert.

I played a variety of instruments through childhood (first guitar, then piano, later the clarinet and bass clarinet), marched in a band from junior high through sophomore year of high school, and played in a jazz band until my senior year of high school. Later, I was a DJ through college and law school, and often used my broadcasts as a way of playing out my own Nick Hornby-like “best” groups of songs.

The first group I saw in concert was Huey Lewis and the News (cut me some slack, I was 14) at the Worcester Centrum; the next show I’m due to go to is Elvis Costello and EmmyLou Harris at Ravinia. My favorite live performer ever is by far Tina Schlieske (at the time she was fronting for Tina & the B-Sides, she now plays solo, and joy – has a new solo CD coming out this fall) — other favorites were Live, The Samples, Living Colour, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. And last December’s Paul Curreri show was pretty memorable.

Sadly, as I’ve grown a bit older and found my priorities have changed (kids’ clothing tends to come ahead of the latest import CD) I haven’t had as much opportunity to discover new artists or listen to as much music as I’d like. When I listen to the radio, it’s almost always tuned to NPR. And until I can easily sync podcasts to my Treo, I just won’t have an easy way of listening to all the podcast goodness out there on the net.

Nevertheless, I can answer Ernie’s questions, and doing so is a kind of fun snapshot of where I’m at right now. Though the answers haven’t changed much over the past ten years, I expect the memories will deepen, the context may change, and before long my kids will once again start the engine of music acquisition in the Klau household…

• what is my total volume of music: Best measure of this is my iTunes library, which currently contains 2,595 songs (492 artists, 275 albums)


• what is the last CD I bought: Paul Curreri, Spirit of the Staircase


• what song is playing right now: Freedom Cry, by Deep Forest (iTunes party shuffle pick)
  
• what five songs do I listen to a lot because they are special to me:
  
  
  
  • Somewhere Down the Crazy River, Robbie Robertson
  
  
  • Drag Some Revelating, Paul Curreri
  
  
  • Walk on the Ocean, Toad the Wet Sprocket
  
  
  • Messenger, Joanne Shenandoah
  
  




• This is Your Life, The Call


• five people I’m passing the musical baton to:
  
• Fred Faulkner


• Matt Gross


• Nicco Mele


• Jake Parrillo

• Mike Marusin