Just Juxtaposing

Don’t mind me, I’m just over here juxtaposing my music.  What?  You never juxtaposed your music?  What about your clothes?  Or maybe your interior design?  Didn’t you know juxtaposing is the new black?  Oh wait, that’s orange isn’t it?  It’s hard to keep up.

The dictionary defines juxtapose thusly:

jux·ta·pose

verb \ˈjək-stə-ˌpōz\

: to place (different things) together in order to create an interesting effect or to show how they are the same or different

jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing

There I was, just standing on the train this morning rocking out to AC/DC.  If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be enjoying AC/DC I’d have called a psychiatrist for you.  For the longest time I didn’t even know I was hearing AC/DC on the radio … and LOVING them!  JD started my education in music appreciation by grilling me about songs as they came over the radio.  Who was singing?  What was the song?  Was it a band or a solo performer?  Like that.  I’m still abysmal at identifying a lot of them, but I can almost always get Steve Miller, Tom Petty and Ozzy.

But back to my morning – AC/DC are blasting away on Up to My Neck in You, a song I’ve heard only a handful of times but love already.

I’m not full-out dancing but anyone watching can tell I’m enjoying the music, beating time on my umbrella handle, on the pole I’m using for support, tapping my foot.  Hell, if it hadn’t been so crowded I might have danced a bit!  No, I’m lying; I’d never dance in public – well not on the train anyway.  Take me to a club and give me a beer or three and I’d be all over that dance floor.  😉

We’re still outside the station a ways when AC/DC ends and the next song begins.  Thanks to shuffle, the very next song is Wrapped Up In You by Garth Brooks.

Two completely different types of music, but both express the same feelings, the same emotion.  The language of music includes dialects that are 180 degrees apart.  For so long I listened only to what I was familiar or comfortable with.  Now that I’ve learned how much richer it is to have a wide-ranging, variety of music in my library, I’ve become a music explorer.  When someone posts about a band or singer they like I make a note to check them out.  When I hear an especially haunting track played during a favorite television program, I go looking for it.  For example, I absolutely adore The Vespers!  I never would have known about them except I watched the series Longmire before it was surprisingly cancelled (do NOT get me started on that!).  The Vespers’ song Lawdy was featured during an intense scene and it was absolutely beautiful!

What dialects do you listen to?  Do you actively seek new artists?  Who are your favorites?

“About” Inspiration

Yesterday I visited a bunch of blogs I’d never read before and while I wanted to post about that, including links and remarks my work day got a bit … um, shall we say challenging.  Yes, that sounds so much better than fucked up, which is what it really was.  With a secretary out I counted myself fortunate to have the time to do any browsing at all.  They do pay me to work after all damn it.  (I listed the blogs below along with links to their home pages in case you want to check them out.)

In any case, I managed to comment on four or five and I plan to go back and visit them again.  Inspiring today’s post is Gelatinous.  I don’t even remember which post I originally read but I was curious about the blogger so I went to the About page where I found this:

Bio: I have been a poet since fourth grade, a mother since 1990, and I love words more than just about anything. I’d put them first in front of coffee and chocolate, but the last two items help me write the words so it’s truly a symbiotic relationship. If I was stranded on a desert island I’d hope to have my Bible and my copy of A Tale of Two Cities. I will always stand by the Chicago Cubs in good times and bad. The bad seasons require more coffee and chocolate to cope. See above.

I loved her description of coffee, chocolate and writing being a symbiotic relationship.  In my case it’s more coffee and writing, but then I’m not a big fan of chocolate (don’t stone me!).

The inspiration though was her inclusion of what she wanted to have if she was on a desert island.  I included a response to that in my comment but I wanted to explore that further.

Finding myself on a desert island would be wonderful – no, that doesn’t quite say it.  Marvelous!  Not there yet.  Welcome – yeah, that’s it.  Think about it – if my basic needs were met (food, shelter, private potty) and I was all alone?  How awesome would that be?!  For awhile anyway.

I’d want music; lots and lots of music.  I’m not overly picky but I’d want multiple types so I could mix it up, and it would have to be all older stuff.  Next I’d need notebooks and pens – tons of both.  Not literally tons – there’d be no beach left!  My time would be spent rising when I felt like it; eating a leisurely breakfast to the Rolling Stones; walking the beach with the Beach Boys; scribbling for hours and hours and then delving into older notebooks to review what was written.  A stack of books from my To Read list wouldn’t be out of order either.  Biographies, suspense novels, humor, chick lit, classics, unknown authors – you name it, I’ll give it a try!

No alarm clock!  No commute!  No family responsibilities!  No cleaning up cat hurl (ack)!  I could so handle that.  For about a week maybe, then I’d probably start pulling my hair out.  Of course we all know the solution to that don’t we?  I just need to add the Internet to my desert island wish list!

Two of Gelatinous’ posts that I visited today were excellent reads; check them out if you have a moment.  Autumn Dance and He said, She said.

* * *

These are the other three blogs where I remember commenting yesterday.  I enjoyed them all and even made a point of saving some of the information I gleaned while there.

All I Breathe

Cooking with a Wallflower

Madamsabi’s Blog – Apparently I wrote this one down incorrectly and I couldn’t figure out how to find it again :(.