Hey Gang: Over the weekend, while nursing a tired and unshaven boyfriend on the verge of coma with the worst case of the flu I have seen, my CD player died. At my house, the stereo system mystifies me. I usually have to call Al, the self-proclaimed Sound Guy when anything goes wrong. Well, Al-thesoundguy (he s ays it in one breath), pronounced my player dead and off we went to the stereo store.
Al-thesoundguys' sage advice is always, buy cheap -- buy again, so too many dollars later, we are back home with a Cadillac charged with doing the job of a Chevy. This thing is amazing. You can hook a computer keyboard into the front of it and key in the artist name and other information for 400 discs. Handy as hell. So, several hours and even more beers (MGD only, thank you) later, Al-thesoundguy has me all set to go. I can choose to listen to the entire catalogue of an artist (if I have all of 'em), or even what I have of 'em, a theme (lounge music), or listen to a collection of CDs (as categorized) just right for a certain occasion or mood: 1. Rick's Picks 2. Female Vocalists 3. Cocktails 4. Dinner 5. Brad's Picks 6. Latin Music 7. Sex and Romance (not to be missed) 8. Pool and Party Now, my poor NJC friends are saying, where is the JC? Well, Al-thesoundman is a JM fan. I was quite surprised, given his surly and bearded demeanor. But a devoted fan he is. Like me, he is a middle-to-late period guy. Still cringing as he frequently referred to JM as a *cool chick singer,* after our heart-to-heart chat about Joni's output, I left my musical fate in his tobacco-stained/inked, yet keyboard-ready hands. In the Joni Mitchell Artist mode, he left Blue and C&S forward, excluding Mingus and Hits and Misses. The losers were relegated to another lesser system in another part of the house. He even left H in the mix, beyond my protests, given my emotional aversion to that piece of work. Of course, DED (his favorite as well) had a place of prominence - Disc 200. Since then, until I left for San Diego today (Hi Lindsay!) I have been self-endulged with my favorite Joni sounds. Between trips to the bedroom with bowls of healing soups, I have happily and automatically shuffled between 30-odd years of output. It's been serendipitous having a boyfriend racked with fever not saying "shut that off -- she's too depressing!" Over the course of these days, I have learned a deeper appreciation for H. Setting aside age-old emotional aversions. Even the prior stranger to me, TTT, which has lived in the CD rack for years has become a friend. I feel indebted to Al-thesoundguy. He even explained Happiness is the Best Face Lift and parental disapproval in a touching way. He related a story of parental abuse that made any other I've heard irrelevant. Sometimes I take JM for granted -- like she will always be there -- always recording. When one ponders the fact that she is getting older, the state of the music business, and the next may be the last -- reflecting on the amazing output of the last thirty years is just staggering. But look at me -- a travel-torn Coyote -- telling this to the choir. H, for the first time, is staying in my new Cadillac CD player. No regrets, Coyote Rick Casa Alegre Hollywood, California "Only fools are afraid to be burned by fire..."
