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Unexpected Discoveries Are the Best
Have you ever been surprised by a piece of pop culture? It happened to me this week. My wife and I attended a concert on Monday. The names on the bill were Howard Jones, ABC, and Richard Blade. I knew Jones and had already seen him once, decades ago, but hadn’t listened to his music in a while. Driving to downtown Houston, we listened to HoJo’s greatest hits and I discovered I still knew most of the words to his song—and could still play a mean steering wheel keyboard. His set was fantastic, and I especially appreciated his changing up nearly every song, making the live experience something special rather…
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A Literary Palate Cleanser: Do You Have One?
Yesterday on NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast, hosts Stephen Thompson and Nate Chinen discussed some new albums released. It’s a great podcast and one I look forward to listening to every week. At one point, the pair are discussing Marshall Allen’s new debut album—the guy is 100!—and Thompson talks about how approachable Allen’s new album is, comparing it to the music of Juan Garcia Esquivel, which he describes as having a ‘hi-fi, cocktail jazz” feel. Thompson then mentions that Esquivel is music he dips into when he needs a palate cleanser. That got me to thinking: do I have a palate cleanser for reading? The short answer is no, and…
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Listen to Audiobooks at Any Speed You Want
A couple of weeks ago on NPR, I ran across an article entitled “Is there a right way – or wrong way – to listen to an audio book?” and I gave it a read. The article spotlights a TikTok video from Audible where various celebrities discuss their preferred speed of listening to content. What surprised me was the number of folks who think 1x (i.e., normal) speed is the only preferred method. One person even commented “I think people who go real fast are – I don’t want to say psychopath, but…” I have to admit it irritated me. I am an avid listener of audiobooks and podcasts. Of…