now listening to

Zakir Hussain. My youngest brother is the real world music authority in the family– with the additional advantage that he and I have the same tastes in virtually everything, so that I can simply buy whatever he tells me to buy and never be disappointed. This disc was originally from his library.

It would be an interesting exercise to go through one’s music collection after reaching a certain age (say, 40) and try to do a geological analysis of the different strata. In my case at least, three are probably 4 or 5 rich geological eras of music in my collection, and they can usually be linked to specific people I knew who were great music authorities in an area that was previously unfamiliar to me, and who prompted mass purchases over the course of one or two years.

The first such authority was actually my father, who is a member of the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (no joke) and also a heck of a good singer and bass player. (He went back into the studio a few years ago, and hadn’t lost his touch at all.) It was he who got me listening to a lot of old Stax music: Sam & Dave, Booker T. and the MG’s, etc. That was high school music for me.

My brother’s reign of influence was the early ’90s, when he was actually just finishing up high school himself, but already had a precocious command of world music offerings, as displayed on his excellent University of Iowa radio show, Wig-Wag. In his radio host role he was also able to interview Ravi Shankar, and obtain me a free ticket for Shankar’s incredible concert in Iowa City in spring 1993, still the best live musical show I’ve ever seen. (Unfortunately, Hancher Auditorium where the concert was held has been condemned due to 2008 flood damage– see photo below.)

And then, living with Paul Schafer in Chicago in the late 1990’s was probably the last giant wave of influence on me. He had a huge music collection in a number of different areas, and we also discovered a few new things jointly, such as all that weird Sun country stuff, Chess blues, etc.

By contrast, the classical part of my repertoire, and the techno, all come from individual experimentation.

Mark Fisher deserves credit for getting me interested in Burial, however. I doubt I’ve ever listened to one CD more times in a single year than I did that second Burial disc. I think it averaged two plays per day during 2008. (A lot, considering that the average CD is played only 3 or 4 times, according to a study I once read.)

And now, a sad photo of Hancher Auditorium in the process of being destroyed by the terrible 2008 Iowa flood. Below it, Ravi Shankar, who took music to its highest possible level in Hancher in 1993.