Last week the Anti-Shenry, Sherry, and I were reminiscing about the first cds we ever owned. If I remember correctly, Anti-Shen's first cd was Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, a timeless classic that truly reflects the debonair stylings of the Anti-Shenry. (Do not be fooled by his smooth tastes, for he is still the Anti-Shenry.) Sherry's first was Green Day's Dookie, the punk-pop primogenitor that is much like Sherry herself: rebellious and catchy. And my first cd was The Moody Blues' In Search of the Lost Chord, a psychedelic hippy tribute to contemplation of the ultimate reality… OM.

It was the summer of 1991 (I think). I didn't even have a cd player at the time, instead I was spending an excessive amount of time locked up with my dad's old albums: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Buffalo Springfield, The Moody Blues, and other assorted flower-power Woodstockian kindred. I remember perusing the used cds at Twist & Shout and pulling out In Search of the Lost Chord. I was appalled that somebody would actually get rid of such a groovy cd (damn, that felt awkward and that's why I don't use groovy). The cd was a classic from a bygone area when the music was as organic as the drugs, and the cover art was as important as the vinyl itself. Obviously, In Search of the Lost Chord holds a special place in my soul by virtue of first album status, so I might be a bit biased when I proclaim the album to have the best cover art ever. A decaying skull faces a gray fetus, and between them an old man sits in meditation. The ascension of the man's mind and spirit is illustrated by a series of ghostly images rising from his body, and rising above the decaying gray-greens and dirt-browns that dominate the lower half of the album cover. The spirit emerges above the title --which is the division line between earthly and heavenly-- as a bodiless entity upon a blue field of sky. The mixtures of orange spirit and blue sky swirl together as a vibrant and pure sunrise. Beautiful and frightening all at once.

At any rate I bought the cd, and it was good.

As the A-Shen, Sherry, and I discussed our first cd, A-Shen said something that I've been dwelling on lately. He mentioned that after he cracked open Kind of Blue, he listened to it for weeks on end before he purchased another cd.

Word. I listened to my Bloody Mues for a long, long time. Then Christmas came and I received Led Zeppelin II and IV and listened to those over and over and over again. Eventually I scraped together enough dough for another cd, though at this point my memory becomes less distinct. I think it was Jimi's Axis: Bold as Love packaged in an old cardboard long box (and I still have that long box hidden away somewhere). I listened to Axis until I could flawlessly air-guitar every solo. And so went the cycle. Back in the day, I used to savor each and every cd. I used to play those things until the laser burned a hole through 'em and the lyrics were permanently inscribed on the underside of my skull.

These days, it ain't the same. I'm not giving cds the time or attention that they deserve; therefore, I don't know every track on some of my more recent purchases. I have to slur lyrics because I don't know them yet, and I have to skip around cds to find particular songs because I don't know the track number off the top of my head. It's sad. I suppose the problem is two-fold, lack of free time and saturation of media.

I don't have the free time these days that I used to in high school and college. I'm a working stiff with a pseudo-job. I'm a husband and a father. I'm a home-owner. If, at this stage of my life, I had never listened to Pink Floyd or Yes and someone lent me one of those cds I'd return it half-listened and all-unimpressed. Those are groups that require attention and thought to fully appreciate. When can I find 60-minutes of uninterrupted free time to crank up the stereo and crank out an album? Maybe in 2016 when Lori's off at college.

Exacerbating my lack of time is the modern saturation of music. I can download mp3s faster than a motherfuck. I can borrow, rip, and burn a limitless selection of free music from friends and libraries. Plus, I can buy more cds because I make more money (of course this is offset quite a bit by having more expenses). Music is so much easier to come by these days that I often find myself lost in an endless forest of musical selection. All those trees and only one little axe.

I'm done with this musical gorge-fest of excess. From now on I'm taking the music one cd at a time and one download at a time. …Of course… as I type this my computer is ripping Jay-Z's The Blueprint, the second Jay-Z album I've ripped in the last week… and I haven't even listened to Hard Knock Life, the one I ripped on Friday.

Whatever. I say one thing as I do the opposite.
...and so it was written, shenry at 12/07/2004 01:57:00 PM.
...and so it was appended with .