Listening to what you are listening to.

I'll start out by saying that I'm feeling a bit tangential.  This may make no sense to anyone but me and I'm not certain as to exactly how the flow will go, but hang out if you'd like.

My husband's life is music.  He eats, he breathes and he sleeps music.  I swear this to you.  He'll go through phases.  He'll watch documentaries and start listening to the bands that his bands say are influences.  No offense to Styx, but I'm glad that particular phase has passed.  :shutter:  His passion (addiction) has taught me something-- listen to what you are listening to.

I've mentioned before that our bed was handcrafted in Amish country.  We ordered it and waited 6 months because Hubs needed it made to accommodate his CD collection that is under our bed.  He has pull-out plastic bins with wheels and trimmed down swimming noodles between the rows of CDs to keep them from all banging into each other.  He cleans them.  He cares for them.

I drive him crazy with mine.  I'm not so tidy and OCD about my CDs.  At all.

He buys CDs as opposed to bypassing and copying because he wants to support the band.  His stand is that the bands aren't making a whole lot of money, but they do make money with merchandise sales.  Not all he purchases are new.  He does purchase some used CDs, but he is supporting a small business with that.  Liner sheets and CD art are romantic to my husband.  He loves the feel of the CD in his hand.  He enjoys reading whatever it is the band wrote and included inside.

My husband is a bit of a rock and roll savant.  He can tell you who produced what, who was in what group, what group morphed into what and so on.  He could be very best friends with Sam Dunn or Eddie Trunk.

At any rate, I've been on a bit of a Pearl Jam and Jack White kick lately.  I've always had a love for Pearl Jam and Hubs has been faithful about supplying me with their CDs when they hit the resale rack at his favorite establishment.

When the Pearl Jam Twenty documentary came out, I got to see it in bits and pieces, but not in full.  I can tell you that I ended up until about midnight watching it last night.  I find that band documentaries always give me a new appreciation for the band.  That's kind of what they are designed to do.  With bands like Pearl Jam, I appreciate the true artist of it all.  They are not making music just to have sound come out of speakers.  They are making music that they like to make and if people should happen to like it, too-- fantastic!

You fall into dreamy artist syndrome.  You have Eddie Vedder who is easy on the eyes anyhow, but the whole creativeness about him just makes him that much more dreamy.  :swoon:  You have people like Neil Peart and Jack White who are, by physical appearance, not that fetching to me. Then you throw into the mix their passion and intellect and my oh my.  You can't help to be enchanted by the depth of all their passion for what they do and how they are attempting not to make canned music that is radio-friendly, but rather things that are a bit chewy to make you think.

My husband's passion is death metal.  It is loud.  It has hair and teeth.  I have to tell you, having watched enough documentaries with him (in whole or in bits) they are truly in the same boat as the people that I enjoy.  Again, my husband is the one who has taught me to stop and listen to what I am listening to.

A few weeks back, I was on a run with The Lumineers.  I had found this delightful live performance and was telling Hubs about it.  Even he sat down and watched it with me.  In the video, The Lumineers are so basic with their instruments and space.  What comes out is so pure.

On my quest for musical knowledge and in-depth research (thanks Hubs!) I found an interview that Conan O'Brien had with Jack White.  I'm busy making my way through it.  Jack White talks all about people singing off tune, then hitting a button and magically everything is fixed.  Just as with photography and screwing around with settings and whatnot.  All of that takes the pureness out and you have doctored two dimensional work on the wall or music that sounds okay on a CD, but the live performance (my husband's take on the whole thing) suffers and sounds like crap since you have a bunch of people who can't play an instrument without the aid of Pro Tools.

Technology is great.  It can make things wonderful.  It can also be a hindrance and a cheat.  Listen to what you are listening to.  Can you really hear it?