40 Days of BadKitten

Let's start out with the fact that, for the most part, radio is dead.  And I weep softly for the radio of yore.  I was raised in a household with a lot (and I mean a lot of music).  My dad had a kick ass stereo and he played it really loud (still does actually).  And his taste in music was really eclectic (still is actually).  On any given day we could be listening to The Elephant's Memory or The Student Prince or Japanese Folk Songs or Slim Whitman or Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald. 

And I inherited that gene from Pop.  There are about 9,000 songs on my iPod of all different genres.  But, at some point, they just stop.

Because radio died. 

And if you are of my generation, that's where you learned about new music.  We had WLIR.  We had Scott Munie (I actually have a playlist on my iPod called Bless Me Scott Munie for I Have Sinned to keep all of my really embarrassing songs together.  Hello?  The Night Chicago Died?  Oh the shame.)

So I've suffered from new music withdrawal. 

A few years ago, I was at a family party and walked outside where the valet parkers were hanging out while they waited for us all to leave.  I think that's probably a pretty boring job--rush rush rush when everyone arrives, sit around for hours while everyone is inside have a good time, rush rush rush when everyone leaves--so they were playing some music.  As soon as I walked up they apologized for the noise and turned off their player.  I said don't worry about--I like Eminem.  And they looked at me like I had 10 heads.  We ended up having a really great conversation about music and agreed that the next time I came out, they would have a list of 5 bands that they thought were great and I would give them a list of 5 albums that they had probably never heard of that they had to check out.  The only rule--don't second guess what you think the other person would like, just share what you think is terrific.

And the list they gave me was great.  It's actually still hanging on my fridge.  So I started asking young people, on a regular basis, what they thought was great music right now and checking it out.  I feel like I'm creating my own personal network of Music Directors. 

At knitting group last week, I was talking to BadKitten and we started talking about music.  So of course, I asked her to make me a list.  I made her a CD of great songs from my day which, naturally, I forgot to bring last Thursday.

She showed up with a list for me on pretty blue paper written in pencil (I love pencils) and pink magic marker of, are you ready, 40 SONGS!!!

That's right, 40 SONGS!!!!!

So we are going to add a little feature to the blog for the next 40 days (I'll also be posting them on facebook) called 40 Days of BadKitten. 

And in the spirit of all things good, she started me out with a bonus track.

So I give you "Prelude 12/21" and "Miss Murder" by AFI (there's a little note on the list that says they're sort of connected).  Enjoy.





Sorry about the ad at the beginning of Miss Murder.  It's only a few seconds long.