A Musical Experiment Among Friends

Looking for new music to listen to can be as hard as trying to find new friends. Recommending a favorite CD can also be tedious. We all know the feeling. You like a CD for some reason, but you don't know if the other person will like it. Or you go through "phases" and don't want to admit that this week you like Walter Ostanek, but last week was Dean Martin. There is no accounting for musical taste. Or lack thereof. Just like you wouldn't readily recommend one of your "old" friends to a new one. Perhaps that friend has a quirk that you just love, but others find annoying. Kind of like music by Tom Waits. (Do follow that Waits link, it is worth it just for the description of his voice.) Yet when I see the mountain of CDs I own, and peer into cabinets at ancient record albums, I HAVE expanded my music collection over the years. Oh-- I just glanced back at my rack of cassettes. Forgot about them. I have a million cassettes that I won't pitch out either. Many from friends who liked to make compilations of their own favorite songs and give them away. I treasure them, because they are personal.

I decided that rather than "fish" through music web sites looking for something different, or stick with what I know, I'm going to ask my friends. They have come through before. Van Morrison found his way to me, Leonard Cohen, Janis, The Band, Jimmy Buffett, and countless others, through my friends. So today I emailed several of them--- a VERY DIVERSE group, I may add, to help me by telling me their favorite CD. Let's see how it goes. Stay Tuned. I get the feeling this will be quite a list.