Fat Boy Deluxe

So people that know me, especially from back in the day, know that I love music. I’ve got a pretty large CD collection, something around 1000+ albums. I’m not picky in the fact that I can find something in probably most genres that that suits my listening pleasures. My CD buying habit had been compared to the addictive nature of heroin. Putting me in the middle of a CD store at one time was like putting a loaded needle in my veins for me and just telling me to push… Back then I don’t think there was a time I didn’t walk into a CD shop and come out with less than $100 of music. Kristin is fond of the story where I hit up the CD store at the beginning of a walk in Baltimore and dropped enough for 15 albums. Her and her father felt that was out of control, but hey, if that floats your boat…I think they bought 5 albums total. About 2 hours later on the walk back we walked right by the shop again, only I was kicking myself for not picking up a few things that I really wanted, but figured I didn’t really “need”. So 20 minutes later and 15 albums later we walk out of the shop again. This was at least at my peak and it never got any worse, just better. Once I was aware of my problem I backed off a bit, slowly weening myself. The secret…don’t go into the CD shop, period. I’ve been back to shops a couple of times since I made this decision and it’s still hard. It’s been a few years and I still get anxious when I enter. There’s just something about the packaging, the art, the “album” that I love. I was never a big downloader of music as I prefered the complete package. Now with all the DRM crap, I’m no safer buying a CD than I am downloading the music from iTunes. But that’s a whole other issue for another day…

Anyway, what got me thinking about this is how with my iPod I usually listen by just going to “Shuffle Songs”. Occaisionally I have a real hankering for something, and in that case I usually just do random on that particular artist or album. This morning was one of those times. I had a song that I just had to hear that had been running through my head all night. So as I started working this morning I made sure to start off with The Jon Spencers Blues Explosion. This isn’t your typical B.B. King type of blues. This is raw guitars, pounding drums, and bassless blues. Their only album I own is Orange and it’s incredibly powerful. They have the talent to bring you the blues, yet the energy of a alcohol fueled bar fight. I’m not saying it makes you aggressive, but you would have a hard time listening to Greyhound and not moving, at least following along with your head. Click on the album art below to take a listen.

DT