Something To Bitch About

We got 2 notifications in the mail last month about the dogs being due for some tests and vaccinations. They’re due every spring for these. And with the current situation with COVID-19, I decided that we better get on the stick and get it done. You know, because in just about every post-apocalyptic film and television series, there’s one character with a dog to alert them to danger or cybernetic organisms.

I called and they’ve changed how they see patients. I accepted the changes with the ease of a gazelle leaping over a fallen tree. We’ve got to do everything we can, you know?

I made two appointments because our bitches can be a handful. The little one, Lucy, gets very territorial and growls like a 10-pound hound from Hell at the bigger one, CJ, that’s as sweet as honey. So, Lucy got the first appointment at 10:20 A.M. We arrived a few minutes before the appointment. I was instructed to phone the front desk to let them know that we had arrived. 25 minutes later, a young lady came to the car to ask a few preliminary questions. Lucy hasn’t exhibited any issues other than those related to her 18 years upon this planet.

I think she’s going deaf or she’s gotten very choosy about what she hears. Her arthritis is making her apprehensive about using stairs and jumping. The young woman scooped her up out of the car and Lucy’s eyes got wide. She looked at me as if she was saying, “Where in the hell are they taking me?”

I tried to get back to my AC/DC research while I waited, but it didn’t last too long. The same young woman brought Lucy back to the car in about 15 minutes. I rolled down the window and said, “I’m sorry. But that’s not my cat.” She blinked a few times and then realized that I was joking with her.

But Lucy is in overall good health and strong as little horse. The woman handed Lucy to me through the window and hair came off as if I were blowing a dandelion flower’s seeds into the wind.

Lucy didn’t want me out of her sight for the rest of the day. If I went into another room and the door was closed, that little hellhound whined her ass off. She’s sitting at my right foot as I type this right now almost 24 hours later.

A few hours later, Leanne Petty alerted me to a situation near our home. As more news came to light, there was a vehicle chased by police that led to a multi-car crash and a law officer involved shooting. It turned out that this had transpired in front of our grocery store and Thursday Hampton Hellcats drinking establishment. They had shut down the 5-lane street for the investigation.

CJ had an appointment for 4 P.M. Since the street was shut down, I didn’t know what to expect. I left at 3:30 P.M. for a 10-minute trip to the vet’s office. I knew where to turn to avoid the sealed off area, but as expected, there was a long line to speak to the officer where they had the artery shut off two blocks away at Brewer Ave. He had the majority of motorists turning right onto Brewer. My turn to avoid the area was just a few hundred feet away on the left. The officer asked where I was headed, I told him and he said, “Go” and I took off cautiously.

I called to the front desk and they came out to the car within minutes. I went over the preliminary questions with the same young woman from my earlier visit. Since CJ weighs over 50 pounds, she opened up the passenger side back door to take CJ inside. CJ led her around to the driver’s side of the car, sat down, and refused to go any further. I stepped out of the car and CJ got right up. I told the young woman that I’d keep a safe distance to help coax CJ inside. She took right off with the young lady. But when she opened the side door to go inside, CJ sat down and refused to enter. At this point, I was at the end of the building watching. I took a couple of steps towards them and CJ got right up and went inside.

Ten minutes later, she brought CJ back out to the car. The doctor was going to call again with information and questions. CJ is getting a little heavy since someone in this house constantly feeds her things like bread, chips, and other foods high in carbohydrates. But overall, she’s in good shape.

I feel like CJ, a dog that we acquired from a rescue group, thought she was being sent away from us. I don’t know how many hands that she’s passed through in her short amount of years on this planet, but I can’t help but think that she thought her time with us was up. She’s the sweetest dog that I’ve ever met and gets hurt feelings very easily.

When CJ was being brought out, she was pulling that same young lady through the parking lot directly towards the car. She got into the back seat and gave me a dry lick from the bottom of my chin to my temple. She calmed down and took a nap on the way back home.

CJ and I arrived back home to find something WONDERFUL awaiting us which will be covered in the next podcast that I hope to have out over the weekend.

Also, in that podcast, I will reveal the winners from the last Turtle Taste Test gathering from a few weeks ago. We did a Ranch dressing test this time. I'll also reveal the winners from previous Turtle Taste Tests. And I’ll give an update on my home-quarantine sanity project involving the rock band AC/DC.

You can find the podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Breaker, YouTube (once they’re rendered to MP4), and just about anywhere you can get podcasts.

A New Year A New Tradition

I hope your holidays were fantastic and law enforcement free like ours. We started out the year with a tradition that I’m hoping takes hold in our home.

There was a time when Jamie and I cohabitated in King, NC. I would usually get out of bed before Jamie and the boys. Most of the time I would turn on some music and start preparing a late breakfast type meal. The music was just loud enough to tickle sleeping ears awake so the nose would be alerted to eggs and bacon frying in the kitchen. I would usually assemble a sandwich of eggs, bacon, and cheese on toasted bread.

Most of the time, these breakfast Sunday mornings were on special NASCAR race days like the Daytona 500, Martinsville, Talladega, Bristol, Darlington, Watkins Glen, and Sonoma. And the non-NASCAR related Sundays were because the Washington Redskins game was being broadcast on the local television station. So, these breakfast Sundays were usually because I was excited about the events that were to take place that day. And I was trying to spread the cheer by making everyone hot, delicious late breakfast foods.

It wasn’t uncommon that beer started flowing as soon as I waddled into the kitchen. Especially on race days. 100% flow on Watkins Glen and Sonoma race days! I LOVE the road courses!

A breakfast tradition began in our current home in Clemmons decades ago with my father-in-law and his buddy Bait. They would all gather at 7am for the communal reading of the newspaper and the general discussions of current events.

This tradition continued to where my father-in-law lives now. His place is maybe 200 yards away from what we refer to as “The Big House”. We moved into the Big House back in May of 2016.

Bait usually arrives first around 7am and everyone else just kinda filters in. I’ll slap on some clothes and show up. My brother-in-law Andy will eventually get out of bed to join us. The newspaper tradition has been dropped and the cast of characters have changed over the years. Hell, I resisted going for a long time because it just felt too damn early for me. I keep the same sleep schedule as my wife and 2 days without an alarm clock seems very appealing. But I eventually dragged myself out of bed for breakfast with the Hampton Hellcats.

I like the Hampton Hellcats breakfast mornings. I like the discussions. I like the camaraderie that it promotes. It’s usually the same cast of characters every Sunday morning… Jim, Bait, Andy, Randy, and myself. There’s also the usual cast of guest Hellcats like Tom, Matthew, Sam, Jamie, Rick, Bobbie, and Connie.

So, I thought that I would try it at the Big House with my family. But it would be a monthly event that takes place on the first Sunday of the month.

The plan: I get home from the Hampton Hellcats breakfast between 8:30 and 9. I turn on some music just light enough to tickle the ears awake and loud enough that I can hear while cooking. NO TV until Noon! Take a seat at the dining room table. Talk. Eat. Be social.

Of course, the ONLY person that pushed back immediately with an exasperated sigh… The MIL. It was like telling a child that they were to take the worst tasting cough medicine whether they had a cough or not. This one-day once a month event was going to ruin her life. I’m sure that if she were in good physical condition, she would have flopped onto the floor to wail like an animal caught in a beartrap. It was humorous and yet annoying.

It goes a little something LIKE THIS.

At first, I thought it was her inability to turn on a television.

She is the Creature of the Black Lagoon of habits. If you disturb her routine, things can get ugly. She gets mopey or it fuels an anger that will manifest in some ridiculous way.

I have tried reviving the Sunday morning late breakfast on race days before… turning on some music and just loud enough. And believe it or not, the MIL would plop right down in her usual spot, turn on the TV, and start watching some of her usual choice of programming.

I would give in to her passive-aggressive BS and just switch off the music. The old dog has her habits. There was no reason to start a fight. Just prepare her sandwich and pray the bread was properly choke worthy.

Her latest and thrilling TV viewing habit is watching people shop on YouTube. Yes. People shopping in stores from Dollar Tree to Macy’s and that’s what she’s watching. And those videos have thousands of views! WHY?!

I gave warning of the new monthly breakfast plan 2 months before it became a reality. NO TV until Noon. I had originally planned on cranking up this tradition in December, but I thought that the new year would be a better starting point.

So, to further pacify the 73-year-old toddler in the house I decided to kick things off musically with the Chris Stapleton Radio feature on Spotify. It’s really a playlist instead of an actual randomness of related artists. And that seemed to calm her down a bit. She’s not the most adventurous woman when it comes to music. She’s ALWAYS complaining that the Big House Mix playlist on Spotify never plays anything that she likes. Yet at some point you’ll see her bopping along to some melody that she seems to be enjoying. Go figure.

Oddly, almost every time she verbalizes the “never plays anything that I like” complaint… She’ll then step out of the room or into the house to freshen her drink or powder her nose and MISS one of her favorite songs in the world by one of her many “men” like Stapleton or Lionel Richie. It has become a regular moment that should be acknowledged by every witness immediately downing of the rest of their alcoholic beverage.

But she managed to live through the new tradition Matthew has coined Second Breakfast Sunday. Or SBS for short.

After two full plays of the Chris Stapleton Radio playlist, I went seamlessly into the Big House Mix. It more or less went unnoticed as we air-fried tots, fries, jalapeno poppers, and buffalo chicken bites. And the MIL has set the bar that may never be reached again! She went 2 hours and 36 minutes past Noon without turning on the television.

We had a great time with our guests Bait and Bobby. I think their presence made the MIL a little more social than usual. But as soon as everyone stepped outside to “look at something”, the MIL in comical fashion went straight to her spot to flop down and turn on the TV.

I just closed the game room door and when everyone came back from looking at whatever it was, the MIL rejoined us. Only a few minutes had elapsed, but the Creature of the Habit Lagoon was loosed for a quick TV fix!

Radio Side Eye

I have worked in, out, and around radio for most of my adult life. But did you realize that I really don’t listen to the radio?

As a child in single digits, I started with a small transistor radio that I kept with me constantly. I listened to the top 40 AM stations. Then I listened to the AOR format back in the 70s and early 80s. And when that format went away, I lost just about all interest in radio. But a high school buddy got me hooked on listening to some morning guys on WKEW when he drove us to school in the mornings. The only thing we had on the Greensboro dial in the way of funny morning shows was on the country station. And most of the music they played drove me up the wall. Back then, Alabama would have me shooting the radio like Elvis shot TVs, but now I’m rather accepting of them. Who knew that would eventually change for me?

Anyways, I still listen to a local morning show. And I’ve been lucky enough to have worked with them as a producer. I started listening to them on “Day One” as most of their listeners say on the air. These days I only listen when I’m on the way to pick up a truck for a transfer to Wake Forest. After that or during a “best of”, I’m listening to one of my carefully cultivated playlists on Spotify. That is, if I have an auxiliary input available in the truck or van. If I don’t, I’m tuning in That Station 95.7 out of Raleigh as soon as I get to the 40/85 split in Hillsborough.

That Station is something I could actually find myself listening to. Give it a shot by listening online to see what I’m talking about.

One of the biggest reasons that I can’t stand listening to the radio is the lack of creativity. No one seems to put any work into it anymore. The jocks just tell us for the 5,316th time that we’re about to hear or have heard Aerosmith as if we have never heard the song for the same amount of times in our lives. For sake of all that’s holy about Gibson guitars, give us a nugget of information about the band or the song that we may not know. Just don’t go “Here’s Aerosmith on Tired Radio” or “Tired Radio with Aerosmith”. Jeez!

“That was the Supremes…” no effin’ kidding? I’ve only known that for my whole life since the song is as old as I am. Give me something like when it reached number one or when it first entered the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ya know, that information can be found with a quick little search on something most of us are familiar with. It’s called the Internet, gramps.

Another thing that bugs me is the tidbits of pop culture information that has nothing to do with the song that played or is about to play. I don’t mind information that could be useful, but I don’t care about what some reality buffoon or athlete has done UNLESS they’re making a joke. Groan or guffaw, just go for it!

Radio is boring and predictable and downright annoying. I honestly don’t understand how people can listen to the same old stuff over and over.

I worked for a guy that liked to say things like “When I turn the faucet, I expect water. When I turn on classic rock, I expect classic rock.” I suppose that I can see that with a certain demographic out there, possibly the brain dead that enjoys hearing the same 400 songs over and over and over again. But toss in some unexpected tunes from time to time. I just can’t get excited about hearing “Black Water”, “Communication Breakdown”, or “Freebird” ever again. Drop in Saga’s “On The Loose” and boom! You’ve got my attention and it makes me want to listen for other forgotten ditties you might bounce off my eardrums.

I’ve embraced streaming. I’m sticking with it. And if radio, as a whole, doesn’t start swimming in the sea of creativity, it will perish. Advertising revenue sure isn’t what it used to be. Of course, that’s just my opinion. If you disagree, leave a comment. I’m open to differing opinions when it comes to just about anything.

I’ll leave you with the highest praise that I’ve ever gotten in the radio business…

Swimming With The Current

I noticed a friend posted on social media about releasing new music. He alerted his friends about a new single being available soon where folks purchase or steal music. He meant stream, but he decided to leave it.

I get that. Artists aren’t being paid properly for the music they produce and supply to the masses for streaming consumption. As someone that thought the original Napster was the equivalent of robbing a bank, I totally get that. It costs money to produce music if you want studio quality.

The streaming music industry is woefully behind when it comes to paying the artists. I have sympathy for those artists… No one hires a painter only to pay them a small fraction for their work.

But I feel there is a catch-22 as big as the Hoover Dam with streaming… Live original music is dying a slow death. And I admit that I just don’t really care about going to live shows anymore. I will list my reasons.

1. The start times are too late for my old mandom ass. I simply don’t abide by the same schedule as I did 10 years ago.
2. It can be a hassle. Parking for most venues are limited and rare to find on the cheap (free). If I were to go to the Ramkat in Winston, that would be a major pain in my ass. That’s exactly why I only went to 3 shows at the Ziggy’s in downtown WS.
3. I have gotten older and fatter. Standing on concrete for 4 hours just isn’t for me anymore. And I certainly do not want to pay more for the VIP treatment to just place my ass on a chair from time to time.
4. Ticket prices have gotten a little out of hand in my opinion. Local artists are a little different, but 1, 2, and 3.
5. Most of the shows that I want to attend are at least 30 to 45 minutes or more away. That also pertains to the number 1 reason. I no longer want to drive home in the wee hours of the morning.

Do I miss going to live shows?

Yes. That’s the short of it.

The big ol’ Hoover Dam… Streaming.

Streaming is a simple way for others to find out about an artist’s music. We pay $15 a month to Spotify for their family plan. Instead of paying from $10 to $15 or more per new CD or digital download, I gladly throw my money at Spotify. I’m not risking my money for a purchase of one CD/DL when I can stream it for the same price or just a little more. PLUS, I’ll have access to hundreds of thousands of other releases by the same number of artists at NO RISK. For me, that’s the perfect situation. Sure, I have a handful of artists that I will gladly spend my money on for a hard CD copy of their latest release. But over the decades of acquiring music, I’m running out of room to house them. So, streaming really cuts down on that. And my wife definitely appreciates that even though she wants to get my vinyl collection back out and running for listening pleasure. Personally, I don’t get the whole vinyl thing being hip again. Sure, I miss the crackles and pops of the vinyl but I have fully embraced the ease of the MP3 player and now streaming. And the ability to switch to just about ANY artist is amazing to me.

The kids today don’t seem to be interested in seeing live music unless it’s a huge artist they’re listening to on streaming services. I’ve seen and heard about the dismal turnouts for club shows. There are just too many distractions for our attention these days. TV is showing signs of a death rattle. Radio is on life support. And streaming is now king. We want what we want when we want it. I will make no apologies for embracing that same philosophy. And besides, with Spotify I’m listening to what I WANT. I choose. Radio is the LAST thing that I want to listen to simply because they refuse to offer anything new or different. They just keep pushing the same ol’ same ol’.

But let’s get back to the “stealing” aspect that pertains to the Hoover Dam catch-22…

An artist wants to be heard. Artists want people at their shows. But people won’t attend shows unless they’re familiar with the music… And don’t get me started on that. I despise hearing “When is it going to play something that I know?” question when friends are sitting around visiting with us. I mean, how do they find out about new music?? Seriously, did you just know “Wagon Wheel” the first time that you heard it??

But that seems to be the herd mentality when it comes to original artists out there making music. Personally, I want to hear what the artist is bringing to the table with their own experiences and the pictures they paint with words and music. I will ALWAYS want to know and learn about new music.

Everyone isn’t like that. So, for the local artists that feel that they’re not getting paid for their work when it comes to streaming… I get it. I totally do. I do think the trade-off comes with the ability of discovering their music through streaming. And maybe, just maybe, those new listeners will show up to the gigs of the local artists. Buy some merch, purchase a couple of adult beverages, and maybe even talk to the local artist.

I urge everyone that streams music to give your local artists some room on your playlists. And if possible, promote their music on social media to spread the word. Spotify has an easy way of doing just that with Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I know that Spotify creates a little sample of the music to try right there in the Facebook news feed.

I have a playlist with artists that make music from North Carolina that I call “Homegrown NC Goodness”. From bluegrass to hard rock to country. There’s something for everyone. Try it if you’re so inclined. You can lift the songs that you like and put them into your own playlists.

The landscape of the music industry has changed over the last 20 years. I used to work for Capitol Records and that joint shut down before the 1990s were in the record books. The labels saw the writing on the wall, but stuck with the same ol’ same ol’ until it was too late. The flood gates are open and the current has become too strong to shut them. Streaming has created a “wild blue yonder” of possibilities for discovery. So, there’s the catch-22. Artists are driven to create. Creating music takes money. But if there’s no Horton to hear the Whos then what is it all worth?

Hopefully, the streaming music industry will find a suitable solution for everyone. The artists, the labels, and the listeners.

My Little Music Trees

Remember the Zune that Microsoft put out some years ago?

I loved my Gretchen II. I took her everywhere. She could hold like 750 albums in a package that was just over the size of a deck of cards. I fully embraced the MP3 player revolution. I LOVED being able to take that many albums with me just about anywhere. And with the Zune music subscription, I could sample anything for like fifteen bucks a month without the risks of plunking down ten dollars on each CD to find that it’s total crap. The subscription was more reward with no risk. I LOVED it!

Then there was the switch to Groove and the ditching of Zune. It totally made my Gretchen II useless. It sent me into a deep dark depression for a few days. I cancelled my subscription to Zune, ah, Groove. I started looking for alternatives.

There was one alternative right before my eyes. It was part of the DirecTV package that we had. So, I tried Pandora. I hated it within the first 30 minutes. It was playing what it wanted to play even though I gave certain songs the “thumbs down”. And it KEPT PLAYING songs by those bands. It was maddening so I ditched it.

Our friend Melissa gave me her daughter’s iPod. I have had my issues with Apple products. Every time that I deal with Apple stuff, I end up with jacked up blood pressure and Yahoo Serious hair. But I NEEDED to hear what I wanted in a random play format without some computer or programmer telling me what I didn’t want to hear.

But the iPod was just a Band-Aid on my problem that brought me more problems like jacked up blood pressure and Serious hair… again.

When the Chigs and I moved to Davidson County, I checked out Spotify. I started with the free version with commercials about every 30 minutes. Even with the commercials, I loved it. I made a couple of playlists right off the bat. I even made one for our wedding that was a month away from the day we moved into our new digs. I saved the free trial week of the non-commercial premium version of Spotify for the week with our wedding day right in the middle. We even used Queen’s version of the wedding march from the ‘Flash Gordon’ soundtrack. But being excited about our big day and the party afterwards, we totally forgot about playing the wedding mix. We just went with the “Big House Mix” where there’s a little something for everyone.

And let me say this about one thing that bugs me… I absolutely HATE when someone gives me the side eye when they hear things on the “Big House Mix” that they don’t like. The MIL is the biggest culprit… “Why doesn’t it play anything that I like?”

Well, ya know… The “Big House Mix” isn’t about just you. Sure, I put most of the music on it. I try to cater to anyone that may come over to our house. My friend Hinzy was totally digging it when he came over with his soon to be wife Karla and her cousin Todd. And it seems that the MIL only wants to listen to old country or Chris “THAT’S MY MAN” Stapleton. The funny thing is when Stapleton or an old country tune plays randomly, she has usually just gone inside for a beverage with A-Rita in its name. It has become a running joke around our house with our usual cast of drinking buddies.

If you don’t dig the current tune, just suck it up because in about 3 to 4 minutes a different song will play. Grrrrrrr

Anyone that follows the “Big House Mix” playlist and comes to our home is welcome to put their favorite songs on that playlist. There are ONLY two rules. No songs with explicit lyrics (songs that aren’t FCC acceptable because some people have children or they just don’t want to hear “the filth”) and no songs over 7 minutes. Bait added one that runs almost 12 minutes, but we left it on there because it’s a jam that’s mostly instrumental that you don’t really notice.

My Spotify playlists have become my own little bonsai tree forest. I cultivate and trim my little trees every day. It’s an obsession. And lately my obsession has been the “Yes Virginia, it WAS a Top 40 Hit” playlist. That little tree of mine is growing and growing. I add to it every day. And when I pull my random CDs for the coming week of listening pleasure in the truck, I add songs to that playlist from the year the albums were released. It gives it a certain randomness. I started adding songs to it from when the charts were first being kept with the best sellers in 1955 and I’m currently deep into 1957. And every week when the new chart comes out from Billboard, I add the new songs. Not all of them get on because I used the clean edits. That’s because I enjoy blasting that playlist around the pool and some guests don’t care for “filth”.

I make it available to anyone that wants to listen to it and I’ve found quite a few people that really enjoy it.

And my other little tree is my “Random Play Exploration” playlist. I add 3 catalog titles and 4 new releases to it every Friday. I keep a notebook that the playlist feeds off. And I use the playlist to add 6 titles from my random CDs for the week and one of those artists gets a bonus album added. Ya know, just in case they have an album on Spotify that I’ve never heard or own. And when I listen to the “Random Play Exploration” playlist, I will delete the songs that I hate and add songs to other playlists. The playlist is capped at 4,000 songs (the others will go on to infinity) so it's totally being refreshed with new stock while the old goes away.

I’ve also gotten into the practice of adding the Top 10 songs and Top 10 albums every Wednesday to the “Random Play Exploration” playlist. I do it to try to stay current. I even add things that I don’t like or know that I won’t like. I don’t want to embrace the old mandom habit of being stuck at a certain place in time and declaring that there’s no good music being made today. I find LOTS of new music being made today that’s excellent. And with the monthly subscription, what’s to lose if I don’t like it?

I just delete and move onto the next song. It’s a win-win situation for me. Spotify allows me to basically use them on my Amazon Fire tablet as my personal MP3 player.

The thing that I don’t like about the streaming… A lot of musicians don’t make the money they should off the streaming of their music not just on Spotify, but everywhere. I get why they’re upset. It takes a lot of money to craft their songs for listeners. I just don’t buy CDs anymore unless I really want a hard copy of my favorite artists. Again, I hate it for the local musicians around me. And even with my hatred for them not being fairly compensated, I’m going with the convenience of what works for me. I can play any of the millions of songs just about anywhere that I am either with my phone, laptop, or Amazon Fire tablet. Sorry ladies and gents…

I love Spotify and I shameless suggest using the service to just about everyone that I know.

Answered Prayers

If you recall, my Zune MP3 player and software were killed off by Zune – Xbox Music – Groove back in December. It was a trying time for me. I loved having over 4,200 songs available on a device the size of an average smart phone. It was portable and didn’t require WiFi or eat up my data plan. We tailgated together. We traveled together. Gretchen II provided music in the yard and around the house. I grew close to having her always near me.

So my friend Melissa and her daughter donated Maddie’s iPod to me. And of course, I have difficulty with Apple products and the iTunes software can be a major splintery flag pole up the rectum. I have renamed it Gretchen III and she’s working fine for me.

But that did not stop my search for something more to my liking. Something that fits my needs better. I found Spotify when I was adding UFO and Thin Lizzy songs to my friend Cara’s playlist.

It was doing what I wanted and more! It was difficult to contain my giddiness!

So after I got home I started investigating Spotify further. And BOOM!

Spotify was what I was looking for!

For the record, Pandora was a highly irritating experience. It kept playing songs by artists that I was giving the thumbs down to. I mean, what the hell?!

There are new releases on Spotify and so far the majority of my weekly pulls from my compact disc library have been available. I continue my weekly exploration into artists that I’ve been too broke to investigate with the purchase of a compact disc.

Music is just as important as television to me. And losing Gretchen II and her abilities put me into a funk. Gretchen III will remain in service when there’s no WiFi or data available, but I’m digging Spotify.

I listen at work on my phone. And I purchased a Fire tablet from Amazon to use as my “MP3 player”. I just don’t want my phone tied up with my tunes. The constant alerts interrupt the flow of music when you use the Bluetooth.

And Chigger finds the tablet quite usual when I’m not using it to stream Spotify.

I’ve started a good portion of playlists… Random Play Exploration, WEBS (My Rock Radio Station), Top 40 Hits (current and past Billboard Top 40 Singles), Big House Mix (tunes that won’t baffle friends and family at the new house), Xmas Treats (because I listen to Christmas tunes year round even though I don’t care for the holiday), Under The Radar Goodness, No Lyrics Necessary (instrumentals), Experience “Live”, The Non-Conformist Cult Radio (like but not quite like my old college radio show), and Acoustic Organics.

So feel free to look me up by Facebook profile and give any and all of my lists a listen. I’m following a lot of friends and enjoying their playlists too!

My Random Play Exploration will maintain about 5,000 songs, but the rest will be limited to 500. I will constantly be rotating the stock on those shorter playlists.

Since discovering Spotify, I’m enjoying a wide variety of music again. I’m monitoring album and singles charts to keep in touch with what’s currently going on in the world of music. I’m checking out new releases from old and new artists. I’m happy. I’m pleased. My nipples are so hard that you can cut a glass with them.

And best of all… Listening to Spotify is free with the occasional commercial interruptions. The commercials aren’t that big of a deal to me.

My friend Molly from Raleigh insists that I need to upgrade and pay for the premium. I may eventually. I’m saving my free trial for an important date of commercial free music.

So give Eugene B Sims a follow on Spotify and I’ll follow right back.

It appears that I may not be plopping down $350 for an Apple iPod and $15 bucks a month for a subscription to Apple Music. The savings and NOT dealing with Apple software certainly put a smile on my face.