tunes

An iPod.  That's what Andrew got me for Christmas and its been so much fun loading it up with all my old favorites and new stuff.  We have an iPod docking station in our kitchen and I've been listening to my tunes while cooking or just hanging.  And man, is it good to be back into music again. 

Its not often I'm in my car alone.  So when I'm driving the boys around, I'm  usually hearing dialogue from one of the bazillions of kids movies we own.  I've never figured out how to get the headphones to work in the car for them.  And then, horror of horrors, a kids CD got stuck in my player several months ago and I didn't even have the option to listen to anything else but the radio. Which, lets be honest, 95% of the time, just plain sucks.  The kids band guys are friends of ours and as far as kids music goes, they are awesome.  But when I'm alone in my car, I don't want to hear music about the 50 states or brushing my teeth.

So, a whole, blank iPod to fill up with 1,000 songs of my choosing.  Wow.  Music has always played such a huge part in my life, and I knew filling it would be an on-going task.  First, I raided Andrew's iTunes catalogue.  He has similar musical tastes to mine (great, if I do say so myself) so that gave me quite a bit to start out.  Vampire Weekend, Kings of Leon, Death Cab for Cutie, Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Iron and Wine, The Shins...  Then it was onto our basement CD rack that holds the soundtracks of our high school and college years.  Hundreds of CD's down there and I spent a good three days scouring the racks to download some old favorites by U2, Pixies, Janes Addiction, The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, Cowboy Junkies, Beastie Boys and the occassional Booty Jams.  Then the beyond-the-college-years... Dave Matthews Band, David Gray, Interpol, Coldplay...   Then my brother turned me onto Phoenix, and Peter, Bjorn and John.  Good stuff.  Good, good stuff.

I love how music can take you to a completely different place.  It can set a mood, calm your soul and bring on a memory.  It can make you dance, make you cry, and fill your heart.

I recently reunited on Facebook with an old friend from high school (isn't FB great for that), to discover we have a common passion for similar music and for writing.  I don't think we even knew it back in high school.  We've been sharing band recommendations back and forth, and then I found her blog, and its great and smart and inspiring.  So happy to find you again, Ruth!

Here's to old friends, new music, and the 543 spots left on my iPod for some good tunes.