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G&B: Apologies to Sting

It's been a blast, folks. The Worlds Most Popular Podcast is signing off. Truth to be told, there's not enough hours in the day for ...

Sunday, January 23, 2011

afternoons with gustav

A few weeks ago, I decided that I have to go back to the roots. It was a Sunday. That morning, I decided to listen to 50s and 60s Rock and Motown music. It was a great way to take a break from the daily grind of new music or well, music that has been released in the past 10 years or so or have some type of modern day slang that refers to drugs, sex, and rock'n'roll. The throwback reminded me of when music was pure and innocent and was easy to understand and tap your feet to. In my line of work, I'm bombarded with new music all the time. Label guys sending you albums, CD's, MP3 versions of releases. Sometime it gets way too much. Variety is key. In an average day, I tend to listen to three or four different genre's of music. Most of the time the list includes, Indie Rock, Hip Hop and Jazz. They're just the three types of music I really dig and I guess they're just easily accessible on the good old inter-dweeb. I've been doing this whole throwback weekend for a while now, and I'm starting to look forward to it. Dancing in the morning to The Temptations, Buddy Holly and Elvis while drinking my morning coffee and snacking on some crackers and cheese. Goodtimes. Today, however, I kinda wavered off the path and chose Classical music. A type of music I don't tend to listen to much, but I actually love it. I have some Mozart CD's somewhere. Same with Bach who is my favorite. However, today I chose to listen to some Gustav Holst. A old British composer was was born in the late 1800's and passed in 1934. A friend told me about him a while back when I was visiting him and he was playing the composer in the background while we were sitting down and drinking beer.

The music just got into my soul. Different from the way Hip Hop does or Rock or Jazz. Classical music tends to give me more energy than any other type of music. It makes me feel. I'm attached to other music due to a memory, or a personal connection with the song. Classical, however and I don't have that connection. It just makes me all excited inside and inspired. The way a future emcee would feel if they got to have a concert for one featuring his favorite rapper. It's awesome. Notes I never heard before. The way they make sounds with instruments I never knew made those sounds. Mind-boggling. I'm starting to think that I will need to set aside a day of the week where I bust out some compsers and listen to some classical. I made me feel relaxed, less stressed, free.

Before I end this, let me share this little story. When my sister was pregnant with my first niece, I got a box set of some of the biggest composers. All the regulars were on it. It was a great gift that I would've kept for myself. Anyway, I got it for her so she can listen to it so the baby can hear it. A year ago, we were listening to the same set. She shared with me that ever since Jasmine was born, she has loved classical music. I guess it's true that the babies can hear while they're in there. That Classical music is good for the brain. No matter how small you are and if you're in the mothers' belly. I recommend to you to take a day out of the week and use that day to listen to a new type of music or a type of music you don't really listen to. Maybe you'll learn something and get inspired.

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