Posted By KJ / 14th January 2011
Routines. They’re hard to break but once broken, then you don’t really miss the old way. Or at least I don’t. Of course your results may vary.
My morning routine of late was to fire up the computer first thing, get a cup of coffee and sit down for a long read. I’d open up iTunes and put on KCUR for the news, not really paying attention to any of it, but it was good background noise whilst I woke up and tried not to drool my coffee all over the laptop.
One day, I didn’t turn on KCUR and you know what? I found that I didn’t miss the news. Seems as if it was nothing but foreclosure notices, stupid political infighting news and more budgetary downfalls for pretty much everyone, everywhere.
I did find it comforting, I think, as background noise. It was there you know? Not really in the forefront but there. A solid something to wake up to/with.
And with this break I’ve pretty much broken all ties with broadcast media.
In the car there’s no reason any longer to even have the radio on. With the various iPhone apps you can listen to music until it runs out of your ears, drips all over the new seat covers that you just got at Target and puddle on the floor in a mishmash of tunes.
KEXP from Seattle happens to be my current favorite. They play a really eclectic mix from Johnny Cash to A Tribe Called Quest, they’re all over the place but in a really, really good way. There’s also Indie 103 from Los Angeles. Not quite as good as KEXP, I think due to the quality of the DJ’s really. Seems as if the jocks on Indie 103 like to think they’re still terrestrial and on air. They do tend to run off at the mouth a bit more than the people at KEXP. Also the music mix on Indie 103 is really not quite as eclectic. Not as mixed up, still decent though, especially on Saturday morning for Retrograde.
Alas, thanks KCUR for the good times but people move on, you know? Nothing personal and I’m sure that you’ll find a new listener in Blue Springs. There has to be at least one other person out there who will listen. Good luck, really.
Note: on second read this hasn’t been the strongest post in the history of everness. Well, we can’t hit every pitch out of the park then can we? Every now and again a slap single over the 2nd baseman’s head will suffice. This is very definitely one of those times.
Posted By kage / 9th June 2010
I kind of dig traveling. Who doesn’t right? Well, maybe some of you homebody’s who would miss the Dukes of Hazard reruns for your nightly dose of culture. For those of us who have moved past the General Lee, the world is at the very least an interesting place. With that in mind here’s a quick list of places I want to go and some that you and your mother probably couldn’t drag me to.
Places That I Want To Visit
1. Paris – I’ve been there. I want to go back. Long a dream of mine, my parents surprised my wife and I with a trip about 10 years ago. Three or four days in London and the same for Paris. London was great and it was a city I had always wanted to visit. Paris on the other hand was beyond great. Paris was without a doubt the trip that was the highlight of my life to that point. Marriages and births not withstanding. Paris was foreign, Paris was not foreign, it was culture, life, modern, new, old, fantastic. It was Paris. I want to live there.
2. Amsterdam – Not for the pot. Seriously. Amsterdam seems to me to be a place, like Paris only more so. With Paris I could understand and read the language, just not speak it very well. Amsterdam? Who in the hell can understand Dutch? Maybe some other Dutch I guess, so yeah there’s that but not me. And I love that. Also very cool art and history and beer. So there’s that.
3. Germany – Pretty much anywhere in Germany. The countryside? Sure. The cities? Of course. My favorite artists and cars generally come from Germany. Not to mention some fine beers.
4 – 6. San Francisco, Portland, Seattle – I’d like to do a west coast tour. Especially Portland and Seattle. Seems to me that the cities are cool. Not just in a weather kind of way, but in a hep way. Kansas City has fucking barbecue. The rest of the world has culture. Seattle and Portland seem to represent everything that Kansas City isn’t.
7-9. Montreal and Toronto – Europe without going to Europe. Of course this is all based on nothing that I can speak of in a concrete manner, but still…
Some places that I don’t want to visit
Mexico – I’d prefer not to get caught up in a drug war and chopped up, put in a barrel and dumped in a ditch. I can probably do that in some parts of Kansas City.
Pretty much anywhere in South America except for Chile and Bolivia. Of course I don’t know but seems like they have some fairly cosmoplitan cities. The rest of the countries have drug wars. I’ll pass.
The southern United States (and I’m from Texas) – Recently the south seems to have lost it’s collective mind. Apparently to live in the south means that you have to become a hyper religous, intolerant, badly educated, George Bush loving ass. Missouri is only marginally better. Marginally.
Utah – The south only with more white people.
