Music

My tastes in contemporary music, with a few early 1980s exceptions, are mostly from the Progressive Rock genre:

Yes, Focus, early Genesis (with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett), Triumvirat, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Mystery, Asia, Druid  and of course, Renaissance.

I'm also a fan of the Marshall Tucker Band, the Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels, 1970s-80s Country and Cajun Zydeco music, accordions, washboards, fiddle and all...

Some say the latter is an acquired taste, but having spent a lot of time in New Orleans, I've had a lot of exposure to it and have a few favorites, like Fontenot and Buckwheat Zydeco as well as great club bands such as one I was partial to years ago called Mamou.

Then there are some fellow old folks, at least two of whom are unfortunately deceased; Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Peter, Paul and Mary...

... and I've downloaded some Bach, Handel and Mozart, three of my favorite Classical composers, though I'm having trouble trying to get a Corelli download I want.

Life's tough, what can I say?

Having lost a phone recently, I've been  downloading a lot of replacement music into my new Motorola, which Metro PCS gave me a generous upgrade on, the new one also coming equipped with 16 gigs of storage space, most of which is already filled with downloaded music, and I haven't yet added an SD card.

I have no qualms about downloading free, since virtually every album is one I've previously purchased in more than one form: vinyl, then cassette, then CD and most through venues like defunct Yahoo! Music.

I haven't yet found any music newer than the mid 1980s that has appealed to me in the slightest.

When I was in my preadolescent years, I was exposed to quite a bit of live opera as well, but the only one I can say that I came away enjoying, for the songs, orchestration and the story, was Carmen.

Even then, the only version I'd really want to own is a filmed BBC version, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in which the awesome Maria Ewing sings Carmen. So far, I've been unable to find it, and then mostly in pieces on YouTube, and the volume of the video is somewhat lower than I'd like.

Since I tend to do a lot of traveling and a lot of getting around wherever I happen to be, my phone is a combination communications tool, office, internet access/ reference library, filing cabinet, entertainment center and work space all rolled into one, and I'm still learning how to use everything I need to, being as I am...

...an analog man in a digital world.