Mixed

I'm thinking of mixed CDs this evening, through an odd little confluence of events. I honestly can't recall the last time I put together a mix CD. I have piles of blank CD, but people just don't use them anymore. You don't use them to play music on because everyone has an MP3 player of some kind. You don't use them to store data on hardly anymore, because every is using jump drives or back up hard drives. So the little blank CDROMs have kind of fallen by the wayside.

Point #1 came when I finally began to melt down against Raven Rock. It happens. Normally I can use Raven Rock for background noise for those times I'm driving around in the truck. I'm not actually listening for good music...let's not expect miracles here. However, I am kind of hoping for not offensive music.

That hasn't happened the last few weeks. Whether it's the hideous dance music they play at lunch time, the God awful and staggeringly depressing "What would do?" song by City High, which was a hit ages ago but they keep playing it all the time or an ad from Baffin Deli that is so dumb I want to go and either punch someone from Raven Rock for producing it or someone at the Deli for approving it.

gasp

All right, I can breathe again now. So yes, done with Raven Rock. Ordinarily I'd fume, vent and hope for a change in taste at the radio station. Cathy, apparently tired of the venting, suggested I put together a mix CD. Which is not a bad idea at all. I could bring the iPod in the truck, but I'm always afraid I'll leave it there and that'll be the last of it. If that iPod dies or is stolen I'll be very sad. It'll take days, if not longer, to rebuild the library. I have 7,600 songs on the bloody thing.

So yes, a mix CD was rattling around my head last night when I sat down to watch "Fringe". And there, in the intro, is a waitress talking to Peter. She puts together mixed CDs for people based on "reading their aura" and offers to make one for him. She does, but let's just say she doesn't meet a happy fate.

("Fringe", as I keep saying, has just been knocking it out of the park since it came back from break. It's a little too late to jump on this season, but I really do recommend buying it on DVD, or getting a season pass from iTunes or something. It is, no kidding, the best network show running right now).

Anyway, at the end of the episode, Peter does get his mixed CD and promptly put it in a, no kidding, Discman. Way to keep up with technology there, Peter.

The song Peter listens to is the brilliant "Is there a ghost?" by Band of Horses, which nails the mood so well it's kind of scary. So that pretty much confirmed I need to put together a mixed CD.

(Another aside, I don't know who decides to put the music on certain shows, but "Fringe", "Chuck" and "House" consistently have some of the best. For example, whoever decided to use Nina Simone's "Feelin' good" on Chuck the other week deserves a pay raise.)

Now it's just the matter of figuring out which songs to put on it. The Band of Horses song is pretty well a given. I bought a small ton of music this week and there were actually a bunch of albums I wanted. New ones from Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers and Josh Ritter made this a very good week. So I'll put something together over the weekend. Whatever I end up with, I'll put the track list up on the blog for your amusement.

Last Five
All from "Together" by The New Pornographers