Gyration

The chart above is bogus because it does not include DANCE, ELECTRO, BASS N DRUMS, DUB, EXPERIMENTAL, METAL, CLASSICAL, OPERA, THE MUSICS OF ALL SOCIETIES, NOVELTY, BLUEGRASS, AND WHATEVER THE FUCK KANYE WEST IS.

The first 45RPM record I ever purchased was Elvis Presley's Little Sister b/w Return To Sender. My first album was Surfin' USA by The Beach Boys.

My first concert was Ike and Tina Turner and James Brown and the Famous Flames at a small auditorium in Tampa. Since I was a little white kid, I had to sit in the balcony. The word awesome is over-used, but it applies to that show, that night. It changed my life forever.

Favorite records of the past year include the new albums from Anna Calvi, Joe Pug, Kanye West, Nellie McKay, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Melody Gardot, deadmau5, Cee Lo Green, Robyn, Budos Band, Vijay Iyer, Ty Segall and The Black Crowes.

Artists whose work (live and recorded) I love are as diverse as this list: Louis Armstrong, Link Wray, Kate Wolf, Eric Dolphy, Mozart, Raekwon, Jerry Lee Lewis, Yo Yo Ma, Terry Riley, Howlin' Wolf, Devo, Spoon, Fred Neil, Tangerine Dream, Gil Scott-Heron, Beethoven, Brian Eno, Mos Def, Chuck Prophet, The Ramones, Billie Holiday, Robert Fripp, Miles Davis, Radiohead, North Mississippi Allstars, Anais Mitchell, Thelonious Monk, Tom Rush, Citay, Todd Snider, Jim Dickinson, Panama Red, Muddy Waters, Fats Navarro, David Guetta, Mahler, Fatboy Slim, Motorhead, Rancid, Etta James, The Last Poets, The Hold Steady, Billy Joe Shaver, Joni Mitchell, Bjork, The Velvet Underground, Paul Horn, Fang Island, Shirley Horn, Pig In A Can, RL Burnside, Richard Johnston, Ray Wylie Hubbard, etcetera, etcetera.

Genre means nothing if the music is art. If music is just the soundtrack to your lifestyle, you may be missing something.

What is it?

Listen to anything that you don't really understand, and try to appreciate it. If you still don't get it, TURN IT UP. Try to appreciate art. If all you do is "consume" music product, you deserve more.

In this art space, the dimensions are not height, width and depth. They are already layered, since there are obviously at least two levels of dimension here -- the dimensions of sound and the dimensions of song.

And if you figured out that I stole that last line from Rod Serling, good on you. You are excused from class. You clearly don't need any advice from me. Besides, the older I get, the less I know. Or did I just forget?

No. Here's the important thing. Thank you for being a friend -- let me know, via shout, what your top tunes and albums are right now.