I remember it well.
Hopping in my burgundy two-door Datsun – moon-roof opened, the early summer breeze gently blowing the high bangs of my overly bleached hair – and racing (figuratively, of course, Mom, I always drove within the speed limit in my teens) to the record store to make the music of Led Zeppelin, The Cure or Talking Heads my own. I would get home and listen intently to each album track while digesting every passionate word and heart-fluttering photo in the liner notes, grab a bag of Doritos and then repeat. Remember? Now, some decades later, between fulfilling Ta Da Lists, shuttling the kids to Jiu Jitsu, ice ballet and Afro-Brazilian drum lessons, keeping up with the ever-flowing stream of tweets and status updates (new year’s resolution: follow and like less) and removing that old layer of polish from your toenails, who has time to peruse the record store (do they even exist anymore? sniff, sniff) much less lay on the floor and breathe in every beat? Diana Miller, that’s who. I’m not sure if she drives a Japanese import to music retail outposts or reposes on a pile carpet in front of two 4-foot speakers duct taped together, however, she certainly takes time to listen to music. She actually admits to listening to everything. Better yet, the former music talent guru for Last Call with Carson Daly shares her euphonious findings on her aptly named I Listen to Everything blog and makes digital playlists for everyone to easily borrow and perhaps even inconspicuously pass off to friends as their own personal synthesis of the latest from Florence + The Machine, Broken Bells and The Black Keys. Sure, I Listen To Everything isn’t the only playlist player out there on the web. Pandora is great for dinner parties and burning guilty calories the next day to highly-analyzed music from a collective of bands similar to the one you know you love to shake your assets to. But sometimes you just want to go old school (ie. high school in the 80s) and switch from a music genome project to hand-picked, real person-listened to songs. Plus Diana is literally on the pulse of what’s ahead in music and will make sure you personally get your fix of the latest MP3’s – she’ll send you an email with a download of a really great favorite new song she’s come across the moment she hears it. You haven’t had this much fun sharing music since that die-hard Ski Trip ‘87 Peach Schnapps Mix tape in high school.
© Jennifer Dowd
thelemoncake.com 