WSPC'S SESSION NOTES AUGUST 2017

FROM THE DJ'S STUDIO DESK:
Contrary to what I am certain is the consensus, Summer is not my favorite of the four seasons. In fact, it is my least favorite of them all.

For me, if temperatures were somewhere in the more than comfortable mid-70's with gracious breezes and low  humidity, I would love Summer to the point where it would possibly be my favorite season of them all. but, alas it is not, for the rising temperatures combined with the excessive humidity just makes me feel like I am a different person entirely.

Even so, there are aspects to Summer that go beyond the meteorological that stick closely to my soul, ensuring that these months out of the year are unlike any others and therefore, a necessity as I travel through the season cycle.

Despite the speed of the years as an adult compared to the miles upon miles of road ahead during childhood, there is this languid quality to Summer that I have always enjoyed. And certainly, people are generally much happier being warmer, hotter and just being outdoors period when compared to the Winter. There's just something about Summer during which, and unlike other seasons, when the days and nights can feel as if you are "listening 2 the grass grow," as Prince once sang.

Perhaps that is why I tend to listen to music like longer, more expansive songs and sometimes sounds that feel more rustic to a degree, like 1970's Neil Young or Traffic for instance. Songs that feel like long hot Summer days with school long in the rearview mirror and those seemingly endless adventures still on the horizon.

Yet, oddly enough, the emotions that speak to me the greatest are the ones that are more bittersweet, more...oh, I would guess, autumnal. 

These are not necessarily the ones that arrive at Summer's end, those seasonal notes that send those first signals that Fall is on the way or that the new school year will soon be in session. I am thinking slightly more about the times that inexplicably signal any sort of life changes to come--the cycle of endings and beginnings, often simultaneous. It is a feeling that is nearly inexplicable but you know it when you feel it and often times, I feel the need to find the right music that can capture whatever elusive emotions that I am feeling. Maybe it is giving some sort of voice to what ever is inside. Maybe it is giving an emotion a sound. But, believe me, when I hear it, I just KNOW!

Todd Rundgren's "Something/Anything?" (released February 1, 1972) is precisely such an album as it was the one I first heard at the age of 18 in 1987 during the Summer between the end of high school and the beginning of college and my life in Madison, WI.

In fact, just this week, I found myself compelled to reach for Badfinger's "Straight Up" (released December 13, 1971--and incidentally produced by Todd Rundgren) and the precise second those lonely piano chords for the opening track "Take It All" began to flow through the speakers, I KNEW that I had hit upon just what I needed to carry me through these final weeks of the Summer season, with so much uncertainty for the Fall, a reality that is only mirroring the uncertainty of the state of the world right now.

I guess this posting is again all about how music can assist us in unquestionably infinite ways. Should we ever need it, music will always be here for us to help get us through the seasons or through life experiences more joyous or arduous regardless of the season.

Music has never let me down and I don't believe that it ever could. Keep listening. Keep listening. Keep listening even more and eve harder for we can't let music down.

And as always...PLAY LOUD!!!!!!!