Respond to tell us a bit about yourself and your interests, just to let us know you've stopped by in our neighborhood.74 responses total.
Firstest! I'm a perpetual (and perpetually vague) student: right now at the U of M studying philosophy, formerly a music major at the U of Chicago, and god only knows where and what in the future. Like many in this conference, my musical interests are all over the map, but I lean towards the more clever breeds of rock: prog, the quirkier end of 'alternative,' psychedelic, folk-rock, and so on. I do a lot of folk dance these days (mostly morris, some Scottish country dance and contra), so more and more folk dance tunes are creeping onto my shelf. Once upon a time, I played classical piano pretty well. I can still thump out a few tunes, and I've taken to playing the mandolin and harmonica badly. An Arabic lute (or 'ud, for purists) is sitting on my shelf, gathering dust; I got it in Morocco a month ago, and it baffles me utterly.
It's probably my fault that this keeps looking like The Folk Music Conference. The signal event of my musical life was discovering the British electric-folk band Steeleye Span in 1975; that one random encounter has sent me off on a lifetime journey through the folk music of England, Ireland and Scotland. In more recent years I've circled back through various American traditional and trad-influenced music, and most recently I've been wallowing in contemporary folk/roots stuff from all over Europe. If you're familiar with the UK magazine "Folk Roots" or "Froots," well, that's where my brainwashing is done. Other interests: rock before 1990, with a focus on "classic rock" from the 1967-1975 period, and then some of the "punk/new-wave"/ early college rock stuff from 1977-early 1980s; jazz before the late 1960s, focusing on Ellington, the Ellington revivalists, and "modern" jazz; random classical music, sticking pretty close to the Bach/Mozart/ Beethoven mainstream. Finally: dating, and then marrying, an opera singer (Leslie/arabella, who contributes to Grex infrequently) has led to a significant interest in opera. I've been a host of the music conference on Grex for ten years. I was pretty idle for a few of the early years, but over the last five years I've been pretty activist about trying to recruit new people to join our discussions.
I'm a recruit of Ken's. I also was discovered by Steeleye Span == err, discovered THEM! -- in 1975/76. Unfortunately, I didn't follow up on that until thr mid- to late-80s, when I first read a Charles de Lint book and heard about the groups then extant in British/Celtic music. But I tried my damndest to make up for lost time, to the point where my husband has thrown up his hands in despair at my musical habits. More later, when I'm able to type again (see bummed item in summer '01 agora for details, IF you're interested in that tale of woe).
I love many types of music. Acoustic folk/country-folk/singer-songwriter stuff is my favorite. I sing that kind of music, and have a backup band The Usual Suspects. For the past 18 months I've also been singing harmony vocals for one of my favorite performers, Melanie. I run a concert series in Ann Arbor called the Green Wood Coffee House Series, and in the process I've gotten to meet and sing with many other of my favorites. We always need more volunteers; it's not much work and it means you get to attend the shows for free. Please let me know if you are interested. and are in the Ann Arbor area!
I like a variety of styles of music, but folk is generally not among them. But I'm into all sorts of things I'm not motivated to list here, and I play a few instruments as well. These days I'm working to get enough guitar together for a passable garage band.
Hi, I'm Tim Ryan. I have long liked the music that I found on the
radio. The stations that where once called "Top 40". Even when it really
was the Top 30. The radio relationship strained when it became "Top 12".
I discovered Folk Music three times. Once as a kid in summer camp (
camp counselors could sing with just a guitar, tunes I had not heard
before). Again in college, as I played it on my college radio station
show. Finally, the recent run, rediscovering it as a result of finding
the singers at Science Fiction conventions--they play this thing called
"Filk", it is a variant of Folk and many folk music tunes are heard,
along with the originals, the paradies, and the pastiches(?sp?).
I became a listener and fan of The Dr. Demento show (fun music
for fun people) early on. Later, merging the two fandoms, I became
a participant of The Dr. Demento show by sending the doctor my
field recorded filk tapes (he has played near a dozen), introducing
others (I picked up the monicer "Filk Pusher"), and also letting
him know of a number of Folk artists, by sending in tapes, and getting
them played. My work in getting Dr. Demento to a science fiction
convention (ConClave, 1995, Lansing, Michigan) as a Guest of Honor
has lead to SF cons being his #1 place to be paid to visit, with
university music series about his only other public appearance venue.
I am currently planning on Doing It Myself, and get into the
fan based internet radio arena.
(Do we need some more items?)
I'm Meg. I pretty much listen to lots of different things, including contemporary folk, celtic, top 40, a little pop, deffinately classic rock, a little alternative, quite a bit of hair metal, and a few other things besides.
My name's Mickey, and I wandered in here a little over a year ago, thanks to Twila (and I suppose, indirectly, Ken). I live in Austin, Texas, where one of my favourite activities is hearing live music performed in an alternate setting, like a restaurant. Truthfully, I don't support local artists as much as I did when I first moved here a decade ago, but that has more to do with my music *buying* habits as with a disinterest in the Austin music scene. I enjoy many different styles of music. For the sake of nostalgia, I still listen to New Wave artists from the 1980s, and I still have a aural soft-spot for female vocalists/singer-songwriters, like Kate Bush and Jane Siberry, to name just two of my long-time favourites. When the Internet came into my life in 1995, I "discovered" the ecto mailing list, and thus a slew of other amazing artists began to fill up my CD racks. It's interesting to note that after 3 years of reading about Happy Rhodes, it was Twila that sent me the first two Happy Rhodes' songs I'd ever heard. Another large influence in the type of music with which I'm currently obsessed would be the two vacations I made to Western Europe in the latter part of the 1980s. The first was a rushed backpacking trip around Spain, where a serendipitous delay in a little Mediterranean village introduced me to the Spanish folk combo called La Musgana (with a tilde over the 'n'). That seed seemed to lie dormant for many years, and only quite recently have I rediscovered the acoustic folk of Iberia, focussing most intently on the Celtic-flavoured music of Asturias and Galicia. The other chance encounter also happened in Spain, when I met a busker who played Roy Harper for me. It was not the most direct route to British folk-rock, I suppose, but along the way I found many artists that are still important to me, like Dick Gaughan, Ralph McTell, Christy Moore, Pete Moreton, among others. I guess I've rambled long enough. It's really nice being here; I've learned much about lots of different types of music.
I'm a former Ann Arborite now living in the Seattle area. My tastes are unpredictable and not necessarily entirely rational but I'm generally a sucker for anything with an interesting rhythm.
I'm finally here after Ken invited me via e-mail. My musical tastes vary with my moods and tend to be moderating with age. I have two bands that I enjoy above others. Metallica and The Eagles. I can't really call myself a fan... I would NEVER attend a Metallica concert... too loud. I had tickets to the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over, but the concert was in Kansas City and got rescheduled to a work night as opposed to weekend. It would not have mattered to a true fan. I sold my tickets to my boss at face value. I enjoy occassional classical, although I have very little knowledge of composers or classical music as a whole. I enjoy jazz, although fusion style jazz does not often appeal to me. Country music is an occasional guilty pleasure. My wife has CDs with compiled disco music on them and she has some techno/dance stuff. I do *not* listen to them.
Hi Terence, welcome to the conference! If you want to start a rock music item, the command is "enter" :)
First off: I am Peter, or, as I'm known on the Web, Makevery, Carbyne, Dayus X Makina, and too many others to list! secondly: My main musical interest is CATS! Anything to do with that gloooorious musical by THE Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, I go for it! Soundtracks, T- shirts, programs, ticket stubs, postcards, puzzles, you name it, I want it! finally: My musical interests aren't limitede to CATS; I also like Weird Al Yankovic, Linkin Park, Lit, Electrasy, Powerman 5000, and waaay too many other musical groups/types to remember! Excepting, of course those :puke, gag, retch, hurl: "boy bands" and all the other prepackaged pop garbage clutterin the airwaves (such as *NSuck (*NSync), Backstab Bums (Backstreet Boys), and all the rest)!
Is Andrew Lloyd Webber *any* less commercial than *NSync or Backstreet Boys?
Hi, I am John. New to grex, new to this discussion group. Interesting collection of tastes and characters. Not into folk much although there is some 60's/70's american folk somewhere in the rack. Dig classic rock, and the new metal. Linkin Park, Staind, etc..... I think I'll read on.
Hi, John, welcome...
Hi, I'm Anna... I'm an ex-music major, used to play horn and still have a thing for horn music... love the Independence Day soundtrack... those horn players were kick-@$$. These days I work in Community Music School, where we sing short songs to small children, emphasizing 5-1 on all modes except locrian. So most of the songs that get stuck in my head are 8 bars long. I used to be a swing dance fanatic, until I started seeing swing videos on MTV and lots and lots of people got into swing... Anna's ignorant questions: What is morris dancing and Scottish Country Dancing? I've done the contra dancing thing once. I have no opposition to house/techno/dance. I have come to have an appreciation for dance music, and its in another category than other music... I use that logic to excuse its repetitiveness and all that. Like how its really hard to swing to "In the Mood". Anyhow, l8r
Scottish Country Dancing is a Scottish court dance form from the 18th century. It combined ballet and rough country dances in Scotland to create a ballroom form of dance. All of its steps and patterns are precise (even if vigorous). Of all the "folk dance" forms, it probably requires the most training. I know this because I was a Scottish Country dancer until I ruined the ligaments in my feet doing it (at over age 30.....). I was in several exhibition groups, and taught it for some years in a group in Ann Arbor. While I was gaining skill, I also took ballet lessons to gain better agility and control.
I second Rane's remarks about Scottish Country Dance, including the ruined ligaments in the feet. Mine are still intact, but I kept pulling them, which is part of why I don't do much Scottish anymore. Morris is a performance dance from central England, usually for groups of four to eight people. Some of its roots seem to be in English social dances, and there are people who also see traces of old fertility rituals in it. It's a showy dance, with lots of leaping and dramatic arm motions. Usually, you emphasize these by dancing with bells on your legs, ribbons on your arms, and handkerchiefs in your hands. The music is very much British and not Celtic -- nice solid drinking songs and tunes for the accordion, with the occasional sea shanty. Morris was a rural tradition, so it didn't get written down until it had almost died out. Every few decades since the dances were first written down, there's been another big Morris revival, and the tradition changes each time it's revived. In the early 1900's, it was associated with the women's suffrage movement and with some of the weirder `progresive' trends in education. These days, Morris dancers are likely to be ex-hippies, sci-fi fans, or people who use the words `queer' and `kinky' in conversation without trying to insult anyone. Go figure.
I'm Chris, I work in the music field as a Recording engineer, but that hasn't ruined my love of music. I'm interested in a wide variety of musics, from hard rock to bluegrass, jazz to noise and just about everything in between in one form or another.....you know, I like *good* music ;-)
Hey guys-- I'm back. Ken recruited me here about hmmm.. I guess it's been four or five years, now. I've contributed a lot to old versions of the forum while I attempted to pursue a music degree. I did graduate from Central with a degree that was rather pseudo-music; teaching did not work out as planned as I was running out of time to complete a standard major, and teaching in the general classroom (not music) was disastrous. Too long to explain here. It's easier to explain my personality than it is to explain my tastes in music. I'm very much a starry-eyed, idealistic dreamer, and I sometimes feel like a cygnet amongst so many ducks, with the occasional goose passing by to share some comradeship. (Swans and geese are somewhat alike, as some of you may know.) Therefore, what I've been listening to lately has been in that thread, which includes New Age, New Romantic, ambient, classical guitar interpretations, funk, old-school and funk-fused hip-hop, etc. For those of you who know instruments often bespeak something of the personalities of their players, I share that I played a lot of brass in school-- mostly tuba. I adored brass ensembles but found band painful. I found myself much more comfortable when I began my guitar studies, and I favor classical and fingerpicking folk styles, respectively. It was much easier to fit in with the guitarists-- most all are very laid back, easy going, and quite accepting of anyone regardless of their skill level, which was wonderful since I strugged at the bottom of the guitar ensemble. I remember the last concert I did with them wistfully; I remember pinching myself because it didn't feel at all like what I had come to expect a concert performance to be. I felt freer, and that I was truly sharing of myself.
btw, you said you were in the Seattle area, mcnally? that's not that far away from here =)
re #21: I'm back in Michigan at the moment, but yes, I live in the Seattle suburbs these days..
which Seattle suburb (as you know, I'll recognize the name)?
Bellevue.
Ah, yes, I've been there (as the LDS "Seattle" temple is actually located there) An aunt and an uncle live a short ways away in North Bend.
The temple is about a mile from my house, and I drive up near North Bend on a regular basis to go hiking in the national forest out that way..
Wow. We could meet sometime for a friendly hello, yes?
Yes, if you like. Contact me by e-mail if you wish to arrange.
just a crazy guy with entierly to much time on his hands. Musical tastes are everything: little classicla, rock, metal, punk/ska, pure punk, jazz...et cetra.
Hi Aaron, welcome to the conference. Send me mail if I can help answer any questions you have about the conference and its software.
I had an odd dream last night about music, and I ended up typing the following in when I woke up: I had this dream last night I had this dream last night I was hearing a new Adrian Belew song Or maybe I was recording it Maybe I was recording it It was like a King Crimson track Where he doesn't quite sing, doesn't quite talk And it repeats a lot It repeats a lot It was all about these evangelists on TV Asking for your support Because when I look in the faces of these children I know we are closer than ever We are closer than ever And I'm proud we have spearheading our efforts He really needs no introduction And we do need your support more than ever Because we're so close to our goal We're so close to our goal
I can see they got to you.
Maybe you should send it to him. If nothing else, he'd get a laugh out of it!
Hallo! My name's Ara. I'm a totall anime fanatic and play the Bassoon.
I'm quite...odd... and like to read, write, and draw. I also like to
fence and do archery. (not that anyone wants to know) *sigh* *boo hoo*
AAAAAAAAAAAA! The penguins are attacking! The penguins are attacking!
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
...
(told you I was "odd")
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Just you wait, mynx -- someday, the penguins will come for _you,_ and then you'll understand.
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Hi I'm Adam. I'm 13 and live in the hell that is Florida. I mostly listen to metal unless my mom has control of the radio that particular day. In my spare time I pretend to do homework while deleting a bunch of unneeded files on my computer because I SWEAR I have the slowest/crappiest computer on the face of the earth. Also, when I have the money, I play paintball but my playing time has been cut back since I gotta buy Christmas gifts and junk. Uhhh....I guess thats it...later
What kind of metal do you listen to, Adam? (BTW, I'm Twila, I write a column for the Ann Arbor Current on Folk Music, and I don't listen to metal that much. Though I still have a soft spot for the 1980's metal groups. About the only modern rock group I can identify is Creed, although my son listens to a lot of modern music.)
re 38: if you like metal and have internet access, listen to WCBN online on friday nights/saturday mornings from midnight to 3 am. there is a metal show at that timeslot every week. some of the metal bands played on it recently include asesino, kataklysm, dillinger escape plan, bloodbath, immolation... the web address is www.wcbn.org
im julie. i like indie rock and rock and jazz and blues and gay 80's and all kinds of stuff. techno and whatever. id name a bunch of bands i love but it would take forever. so ill name a few. radiohead, blanche, luna, the doves, stereolab, essex garden, yo la tengo,velvet underground, rolling stones, elf power, faith no more okay im bored already.
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tod inspired me. i have also played oboe, piano and sang. i was a karaokee host for several years too.
Karaoke host. That's an interesting gig, I'd bet. I used to do karaoke to have fun, but also to show folks you didn't need to sing bad and be drunk.
interesting to say the least. heh. that job was a riot. usually, when the drunks got up there id speed up the song really fast. i messed with people. heh. im evil.
LOL and I'd probably laugh more if I could actually see it =)
oh you would laugh. drunk frat guys singing american pie or love shack twice as fast as it should be. "hey this kinda uh...sounds ..i must be drunk i dont remember it being quite this fast...." as they try and keep up with the lyrics on the screen. i could change pitch as well. make songs really high or low. heh.
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That's something I'd have to see, too.
i have a friend who is a singer, and she goes to some karaokee night with a bunch of r and b sistahs and they all just wail. that would drive me out of my fucking mind.
not to mention get real old real fast even if you could stand it.
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I need to see that.
WAY past time for my response to this item, so here goes: I'm a 25-year old British amateur linguist and computer fanatic, and in to all types of music: rock, classical, folk, roots, world, prog rock, classical rock, dance music (in clubs - would you play the Last Post at a Wedding?), heavy metal/rock, new rock, 80s pop. Did I mention rock? Country, blues, *some* slow jazz... this list is (possibly) endless... Stuff I'm NOT into would include: most jazz, big band music, most military music, pre 1960s pop music, the Beatles, Sinatra... Oh, and I'm into the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, too. Oh, and hip hop. Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably think of some other stuff, too. <Long Pause> Like Opera...
I'm sure jazz can be an acquired taste-- it's a very particular thing.
my name is cody. I've played saxaphone and guitar. My favorite band of all time is Linkin Parkm, though i also like audioslave, eminem, 50 cent, disturbed, and alot of others that would take too long to name
thank gawd.
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How are you coming up with a specific age, Sapna?
perhaps he is older but retarded in some way?
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Well, I'm probably here much earlier, but I'll do this again, 'cause it's been so damn long. Hi! I'm Meg. At this point I'm listening mostly to Folk, although still a lot of classic rock, some jazz, some pop, some 80s metal, etc. I pretty much only go to Folk concerts these days, though, and when I lived in Ann Arbor I was hitting the Ark a few times a month. Don't get there as much now, but it looks like we'll be there a bit soonn. :)
Hi, im trustnon and I like the sort of ska punk bands but as long as its rock and not manufactured im ok with it, I not that much into folk though
Do you only like ska punk or do you like other kinds of ska as well? I'm a big fan of original (60s) Jamaican ska.
It Mek!
Simmer down, rude boy..
/dreader dan dred!
rougher than rough, tougher than tough, strong like lion, we are iron..
Hi Im Nick and I like metal of all kinds one of my favourite bands would be cradle of filth (Are very musicaly talented for a black metal band) and I am from New Zealand and am 17.
(are very musically...etc...for a black matal band) nice...you're pretty literate, for a cracker.
re #70: "Black metal" refers to the musical style, rather than the race of the musicians, but thanks for playing..
really? new on on me!
Hi Nick! There was a fad for New Zealand bands in the late 1980s which I was quite fond of -- the Able Tasmans were probably my favorites, along with The Verlaines and maybe Look Blue Go Purple. Ah, I wonder what box those CDs disappeared into?
Hello,
My name is snarf (no reference to the Thundercats). I am not sure i
like any particular singer or genre. However when i do like something
i'll listen to it endlessly for months on end incurring the wrath of
friends and family *grin*.
My tastes, have, i think changed a little with age.
I used to, as a kid, love listening to the Sound of Music, My Fair Lady,
Caterina Valente, Jim Reeves, Nat King Cole, The Seekers, Kenny Rogers, John
Denver, Xavier Cugat - slow stuff - oldies - sad violin music.
In college a friend had a Andrew Loyd Weber tape! Sarah Brightman!
Technicolour dreamcoat! Don't tell me on a sunday! Wow!
a Luna - but then again - i don't like most of her other songs as much. I
totally freaked out on Tino Rossi's J'Attendrai and would listen to it for days
on end; yet now i can barely tolerate it.
Right now i listen to a lot of Edith Piaf, Tino Rossi, Katherine Jenkins
(though i find her voice a bit squeaky), Disney - Stuff (Aladdin, Lion King,
Cinderella), South Pacific (Younger than springtime), Bond (Korabushka - sad
violin), Leonard Cohen - Dance Me to the End of Love and Emma Shapplin.
It's hard for me to classify my taste in music and i often have a hard time
finding nice stuff. I download music via P2P apps. Most of it i just delete
because i dislike it. In a album i may find 1 song which i really like. I
generally wind up buying that album though i hardly ever listen to music on
CD's - generally preferring mp3's.
I think that the main reason i don't go back to stuff that i've heard before is
because i've heard it so many times before.
This isn't a list of all the stuff that i really like. I listen to a lot of
Dean Martin some Nancy Sinatra, Grease soundtracks, Fiddler on the roof,
Arianna Savalle - Bella Terra, Godfather - violin, Egotrip etc etc..
Kristin Chenowith!
Most people hate/dislike my kind of music(friends/family). So if anyone on grex
actually WoW's out on any of my suggestions as in - listening to it endlessly -
then let me know - since it's likely we have similar tastes in music!!You have several choices: