Winter Music

It started last Friday with a spectacularly heavy blizzard, and for all intents it hasn’t really stopped for any significant amount of time; leaving my driveway in need of shoveling more than 4 times within the last 5 days or so. Old Man Winter has finally made his presence known this year in a very decisive fashion. I have a feeling this round of snow is not going to melt away well into March or April as opposed to that freakish mid-October Snow storm we had a couple of months back.....and they say the earth is warming? Then tell me why we are having absurdly early snow storms.

This morning was the first incredibly bitter morning in regards to cold. It was one of those mornings that if you haven’t taken enough time to make your lunch or putter about the apartment, and your hair is still wet from your morning shower....it will totally freeze. Which I might ad, is a great experience while having to shovel your driveway and brush the inches of accumulated snow off of your car at 6:45 in the morning. There was a bright side though. For the most part is was a severely gray morning with the skies foretelling more snow with their heavy monotone billows and the water the color of wet slate. But on the horizon was a strip of riotous color where the clouds had broken and the sunrise was making its presence known. It looked like that strip of sky was on fire....gorgeous thing to catch sight of to balance out the hum-drum atmosphere of cubicle life.

I guess from the sound of things, one would gather that I didn’t really enjoy winter. This is not entirely the case. True, I prefer fall hands down to winter, but for the most part I love the concept and the look of winter, and the way it drives one to sit in front of a fire wrapped in a warm blanket drinking hot chocolate and reading a good book or maybe reveling in a movie marathon. It is more the hardships that winter brings such as driving on slippery roads, shoveling driveways, and cars not starting due to cold that I don’t necessarily appreciate.

At least I was able to prepare for the imminent, if not present, long dark winter evenings. There are a few things one needs to survive these cold, dim evenings that last well into what in most places in the country would be spring. These essential items would include a fireplace, a big quilted blanket, a stock of good books, a selection of quality movies, and of course a plethora of superb music. I have most everything except the fireplace...upstairs apartments aren’t really conducive to fireplaces....or large open flames of any kind really. But what I do have, as of a few weeks ago, is a record player. Now I know what you’re saying, “what is he doing with such an antiquated piece of stereo equipment when he got be head bobbing to his ipod?” But, there is nothing like the unique sound of music coaxed out of a turntable. Not only that but when you find a treasure trove of musical amazingness in your parents’ basement such as I did; it is your duty to find a way to play it, and it just so happens I needed a record player to play all of the Dylan, Beatles, Doors, Joplin, Butterfield Blues Band, The Band, Hendrix, and James Taylor that I had unearthed in my parents cave-like basement. So go dig through your parents’ record collection and find yourself a record player...you will not be disappointed.

Now, on to other topics entirely....nothing to do with the frigid, white world waiting outside the window or door...whichever comes first. I’m pretty sure I’ve written about my love of the small things in life before but this has to do with that so I’m going to write about it again, so deal with it....or not, your choice. I love the small things in life, as I'm sure you’ve gathered; that includes the little things about people....maybe mostly about the little things about people- their idiosyncrasies. Take my boss for instance, whose recent actions are the impetus for this rabbit trail from my winter blathering. The man is his own whole microcosm of idiosyncratia. He’s amazing to watch in action. But his most recent addition to the ever growing list of absurdities is his e-mail tendencies...at least in regards to hi emailing of me. This is his procedure. Wait until the last possible moment that the information that will be contained in the email will be relevant and useful, and then send it off to my in-box (which in regards to time is farther away than the distance between our 2 cubicles, but don’t worry he totally covers that as well), but before I even get the e-mail in my inbox he will proceed to my desk interrupting my already stilted workflow, and tell me that he has e-mailed me and then continue on telling me the entire content of the e-mail. Ok, now that I have vented that complete absurdity so that I am not alone in my awestruckness at the silliness of the entire affair I will move on to wrapping this lengthy diatribe up with my normal media reviews.

Go see “Deja Vu” and “Stranger Than Fiction” in theaters if you get the chance...2 of my favorite flicks to hit theaters since “The Prestige.” As to music, well, heck, I could throw so many names at you that you would be totally overwhelmed and just neglect checking any of them out, so I will leave you with 2. Fesit’s CD “Open Season” which is a remix of some of her previous songs is absolutely astounding and addicting, and anything by Nick Drake, whose music has been around for longer than I have, but who I’ve just discovered.....I can’t explain how good his music and voice and ....and....just go listen to it for goodness’ sakes!!!

End