#220 What I Was Listening To ... 40 Years Ago: August 1972 Playlist, Part 1 of 2
The difference between a good song and a great song is complicated. However, when you really think about the idea, it all comes down to two things: riff and memory. If the song has a killer riff or two, chances are that you are going to love it, no matter what and no matter who the artist is. And if a powerful memory is somehow melded to this song, then a merely good song has now become a great one. At least, that's how it works with me.
So, for me, great songs and great memories are very often paired. My wife finds it odd that I can remember certain aspects of my life with uncanny precision. What she doesn't know is that I am able to do this through matching a great song with a great memory.
I can very often remember precisely what song was playing at a given time in my life if the memory is right. Conversely, depending upon the song, I can call up thousands of different memories from my youth. It's just the way my mind works. This is not at all surprising to me given that I have spent almost my entire life listening to music almost daily. Music seems to be the one constant in my life, though the music is always changing.
Other than the obvious choices of Christmas and one's birthday, Halloween has got to be every kid's Third Favorite Holiday. After all, a holiday that celebrates getting the bejesus scared out of you - and candy? Who doesn't love that!? Halloween is, of course, one of the Lesser Holidays and I know judges that roll their eyes whenever I bring it up in court. "It's not a real holiday", I've heard from judges too many times to count. Uh-huh. Tell that to any kid who is not yet a teenager. While I understand that judges simply do not want to have to micro-manage the logistics of Halloween between warring parents, I also understand that judges (the really good ones) never lose touch with their inner child - and they know damned well that Halloween is a Very Big Deal to almost all children.
It's Hell Night!
Back on August 25, 2012, I passed a milestone. I was unaware of it until later in the evening: I have been an attorney for twenty years. Hard to believe it's been that long already. Of course, when I take the time to sit down and think back to how it all began, and all of the jobs I've had - both good and bad - it very quickly adds up to twenty years.
Call me a cynic (and, indeed, I know you will!), but when one lives this far inland - and several meters above a small floodplain (the Mourning Kill flows through my property), it's hard for me to take seriously all of the alarmist "run for the hills" chatter about Hurricane Sandy. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know: better safe than sorry. Sure, sure, I get it. Look, we vacationed through Hurricane Irene last year, on the ocean shoreline in Maine, and let me tell you that I have a newfound respect for the unfathomable power of nature. I am now fully aware of what a hurricane sounds like and how terrifying its winds can be. And, yes, I'm grateful that I was not a resident of Vermont or the Schoharie Valley during the terrible time of Irene. I suspect it's the once bitten, twice shy mentality of hurricanes.
August, since my early childhood, has always been the month of the year when I call a time out and take a much-deserved vacation. Hopefully to somewhere exotic or - at the very least - on the ocean. And, of course, this year was no different. However, this year, we opted to leave the country altogether and fly to Ireland for almost two weeks. Very nice.
As you may have been able to tell, I'm also a HUGE fan of Britpop and post-Britpop, like say ... the Arctic Monkeys, Ash, Bloc Party, Blur, the Boo Radleys, Coldplay, Echobelly, Elastica, Franz Ferdinand, the Fratellis, Gene, James, the Kaiser Chiefs, Keane, the Kooks, Lush, Oasis, the Ocean Colour Scene, Pulp, Radiohead, Ride, Snow Patrol, Spacehog, the Stereophonics, Suede, Supergrass, Travis, and the Verve. So, if it's British, smart-assy, and with a lot of hooks - it'll be listed here sooner or later. You can count on it.
Yes, I know, I know, I'm slacking off here. However, personal and professional obligations have forced me to cease almost all blog posts for the past three months. So, in the hopes of getting back into the swing of things, I figured I'd post some of the oldest matters first and just get them out of the way before moving on to more recent matters.
