BetweentheBookends

A Blog about Connecticut libraries and librarians

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Making Mixes

This post could also be called "The Wonder of iTunes" but, much as I do think their software is truly wonderful, I refuse to plug the proprietary Apple, in the title at least. I've been madly making mixes as part two of my personal holiday gift giving guide (books coming in first,) so how trite did I feel when I picked up the NY Times Arts & Leisure section last Sunday, only to see a baggy-jeans-clad baby boomer rockin' with earbuds on the front page? The headline was worse--"Uncool but True: the AARP Demographic Leads the Music Market."
The truth is that most of us who came of age in the Sixties love music, and there was a lot of great music produced back in the day. If you never converted your vinyl collection to CDs, you can still buy (or copy from your friends' and the local library) most all of it on iTunes, (except The Beatles, whose entire opus is owned by Michael Jackson!) If books are the gift-giving trifecta (easy to wrap, inexpensive, and readily available) music is the perfecta (easy to wrap, inexpensive, and for those of us with iPods, readily available.) Not that there aren't other ways to make a mix, although it is too bad that Microsoft's most recent would-be iPod-killer, the Zune, also depends on a proprietary music source, and last.fm, a great music site (Thank you Deb Zulick) allegedly has a way to download, (scrobbling?) which I have yet to understand. You could also just buy CDs, also easy to wrap, inexpensive, and readily available, but there is nothing better (or cheaper) than a good mix made just for you, or for someone else whose musical taste you appreciate.
My friend Dave's mix, now in a four-CD boxed set produced locally by yours truly, is the best. If you were a sweaty palmed sixteen year-old the last time you heard Roy Orbison crying, this one's for you. The old standards are all here--Dylan, the Byrds, Tom Petty, The Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Dire Straits, Jackson Browne, and Dave's favorite, Cheap Trick. Remember The Raspberries' one hit wonder, "Go All the Way", "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd, or Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper"? Add a little Blondie, Annie Lennox, Stevie Nicks, 10,000 Maniacs, and even Elvis, and you'll hear life pulsing through those ear buds, or better yet, from your car stereo, because this is great driving music.
Being a fan of Top Forties Pop from almost any era, I created my own boxed set, "Some Songs Since", and there have been some good ones. Most of my list, unlike Dave's, is pure Emo, but I know what I like--old and new Pop from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, Oasis, Goo Goo Dolls, The Killers, Keane, Three Doors Down, Nickelback, Hoobastank, the Fray, and Liz Phair. Who can resist Sting's "Fields of Gold", "One", sung by Mary J. Blige with U2, the Smashing Pumpkin's "1979," and, on the top of any chick's list, Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"? I also include, from the twenty-first century, Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars", Howie Day's "Collide", Anna Nalick's "Breathe", and Five for Fighting's "The Riddle". So many bands, so little space on those CD-Rs! The Scissor Sisters' "Filthy/Gorgeous" is the music to get you ready to go out, and Foo Fighters' "Best of You" and Alicia Keye's "If I Ain't Got You" will both nourish broken hearts. You won't find any Country, except for the Dixie Chicks, on my list, (Listen to Imus for that!) nor Rod Stewart, except for the obligatory "Maggie May", and the only rap is the really witty "Gold Digger" by Kanye West and "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado.
They are all there on iTunes for $.99 a click, or better yet, check out the CD's from your local library and download the whole CD to get the songs you want for free, (or buy the songs from your own downloading source of choice, legal or not.) Now mix it up and burn CDs for those friends and family who haven't read the books you bought them last year.