Saturday nights he would play these great jazz sides from all these wonderful old musicians. This was late Saturday night, like one and two in the morning. He wasn’t a local guy. I’m not sure where his show was located but they picked it up at Middle Tennessee State. Anyway, I remember this guy went through a Dinah Washington phase. For weeks on end his show played nothing but Dinah Washington records, one after another. I remember him saying there were around 500 of her sides that he was going to play, and he did. And what was so amazing about it was the fact that I never got sick of listening. I mean, what’s greater than hearing a blues record by Dinah Washington being played at two in the morning? Nobody does that anymore, do they? Play one song after another by the same artist, especially not in jazz. Is that even legal?
I knew Dinah Washington’s music. When I was in high school, I ordered a copy of “What a Difference a Day Makes” and when I went to the record store to pick it up, the guy working there said, “Who is this record for, you or your parents? Come on, fess up!” Like I’d be embarrassed if he knew it was for me. So, I knew Dinah Washington, but I didn’t really KNOW her until I heard all of those great sides during my sophomore year of college. I don’t remember who the DJ was but I will be forever grateful. Man, did he open my eyes. And ears!
Having said that, listen out for quite a few more DW songs in the upcoming weeks. I don’t know why I didn’t add these songs long ago. I guess at the beginning I was still trying to figure out where Evening Melancholy was going musically, but now I feel that these tunes would fit right in.
how does one parlay something they love into a full-time gig. Why is it our hobbies are always our hobbies? Why can’t we make a living off of something we feel so passionate about? I know a few people do. Donald Trump seems to enjoy what he does. Accumulation is what he does, right? Buying and building. Getting more and more. I guess that must be nice on some level, but I can’t say I would find it very fulfilling. Steven Spielberg enjoys making movies. Wynton Marsalis enjoys making music. That must be a nice feeling. To know that you can positively touch so many millions of people. I get more enjoyment out of running this little station than I ever have from my real job. I never get to speak to people from places like Serbia and Japan and Brazil at my real job. Here I get to play music that I love and talk to people who love it just as much as I do. I can’t fully explain how great it feels when someone shoots an email my way telling me about how they just heard a song they haven’t heard in forty years and how many memories it brought back. That’s a great feeling! When that happens I feel like I’ve really touched someone. When someone writes to me and suggests a certain artist that I have never heard of before and I check them out and I love them, that’s a great feeling too! It’s all about discovery and rediscovery. The internet has a lot of flaws, but the one wonderful thing about it is that now you can meet and touch people from all over the planet that you never would have met before.
Still, it seems like quite a waste, spending eight to ten hours a day doing what you have to do but not really feeling moved in any way, shape or form. There’s this chorus to a song that says, “All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day, put the pieces back together my way.” I think that’s what most of us want. At least, I know I do.
Okay, the blog has returned yet again and this time I have added software that should eliminate those pesky spammers for good.