As I prepared myself to face another mind-numbing day at the salt mines, I had a hankering to listen to “Merry Christmas From the Family” by Robert Earl Keene. It probably had something to do with the fact that I awoke to a winter wonderland this morning, with heavy snow and blustery winds. It certainly felt more like the week after Christmas than the week after Easter. So I said, “hey google, play Merry Christmas From the Family,” which google dutifully did. And then google decided to go on and play about 20 minutes worth of bluegrass and country versions of Christmas songs, as I brushed my teeth and watched the snow fall. All I needed was a yule log.<\/p>\n
Google seems to fixate on one particular genre of music at a time. Left to its own devices (as in, “hey google, play music”), it uses some sort of algorithm based, I guess, on time of day and where I’m at and what I’ve listened to before. Despite the fact that I have a relatively diverse taste in music, it seems to think I want to listen to one specific genre at a time. <\/p>\n
For instance, it often thinks I only want to listen to geezer music (can’t imagine where it gets that idea from). Or because I often listen to what I guess you could call “roots” music, it will decide that all I want to hear is Country and Western music (which, frankly, I do not). Some days it actually does a very good job of picking what I want to listen to, but if it settles in on something annoying (one morning it seemed to think I wanted to listen to what I’m guessing is classified as “urban contemporary” – not sure, really. I’m old and out of the loop on what the kids are listening to these days, which is one reason I’ve been totally uninterested in the Grammy’s for the past 30 or more years), I have to think of a song that fits my mood, and it will kind of take over from there. <\/p>\n
Normally I wouldn’t care for X-mas music, but there was something therapeutic about having it on while watching the snow fall – especially the bluegrass stuff. More snow forecast for tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll ask for James Brown’s “Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto” and see where that takes me.<\/p>\n
Cynthia Nixon is coming to our fair city for a visit today, which our lo-cal paper says is the first for her since she announced her campaign for governor. I’m willing to bet it’s the first for her – ever. No doubt her advisers told her she needed to get up here and kiss some hillbilly ass. I hope she likes snow. And cold. It’s in the 20s here, but the windchill makes it feel like it’s about 10°. <\/p>\n
I’m trying to take a Zen attitude, personally. Though it’s not really working. Not only am I exhausted beyond words by this cold, shitty, snowy weather, but it’s really pissing me off and although I know it’s irrational, I’m taking it personally. <\/p>\n
I mean, enough already, for chissakes. Isn’t Trump bad enough, the weather’s gotta suck, too?<\/p>\n