Why No Music?? MUSIC PLEASE! ...

As the two pictures of me below, decked out in headphones, illustrate, I love music... I crave music...I need it, in fact. My creativity depends on music. The range of emotions I feel span a wide spectrum and are at times indescribable. I'm at my most creative when I am just sitting still listening to music, with my eyes closed, sometimes. The lyrics paint resplendid pictures for me. After listening, I expound on those images by writing about someone, or someplace. For instance, whenever I listen to Billie Holiday's haunting vocals belt out My Man or Gloomy Sunday, I picture a woman sitting outside at a sidewalk cafe, tears glistening in her eyes, watching her paramour from afar romance another woman 3 tables in front of her. Anxious to rush home and down a lethal mixture of sleeping pills and red wine, now that she has seen what she'd already suspected and knew all along. Or, when I hear Porgy and Bess' Summertime, striking visuals of people fanning themselves during an unbearably humid July... perched against windowsills or sitting on front steps with a glass of something cold to drink, watching kids play at a nearby fire hydrant, appear in my imagination. When I'm at home, I enjoy nothing more than turning on my CD player and jamming out all day. I turn it on upon first walking in the door from work. I listen to music in the morning- (I turn it on as soon as I get out of bed), I listen to it right before I go to sleep, during sleep, on the go... I love it! I don't listen to the radio, ever. I haven't done so in about 4 years! The last time I actually sat and listened to the radio, I was in college... it was around 2000. I find radio disc jockeys and the suits that run radio stations extremely annoying, malevolent, and downright unbearable. This whole idea of a set playlist turns me off. I can channel surf and stop on five different stations and hear the same five or 10 songs playing simultaneaously! Not to mention, the radio personalities themselves are fucktarded and spew nothing but venom and rhetorical nonsense, in those contrived, radioesque voices of theirs. Mix that with 2 cups of bad popular music, you get several servings of bullshit. In any event, my ear is always pressed to the ground. I've developed an insatiable appetite for music via what I've grown up listening to, reading, and learning what people in other parts of the world are enjoying. When I visit my mother, I sift through her collection- (she has an extensive and impressive collection)- to see what I need her to burn for me. My tastes are eclectic and independent of any influence from radio personalities. Fellow blogger and hip hop enthusiast, Brother Omi has comprised a list of his favorite music and has graciously passed the baton on to me, and I too will share some of my favorite tunes. Composing this list was a hard feat. Every CD in my collection has special meaning to me. I am a music (book and movie) snob. I admit my snobbery shamelessly. I make my choices painstakingly. I can spend hours in a record/CD store, pondering my decision before I decide on my purchases. I spend an hour or more browsing the music section of Amazon or Half.com until I finally place my order. It took me forever to decide what to choose for this blog entry, as I flipped through my CD books. This list is just a mere overview... they don't even make up 50% of the faves in my collection. So here goes. I've split the list up in a couple of categories. I implore you, don't fall asleep while you read this, I tried to condense it as best as I could. What's in my CD changer now: Diana Krall: The Look of Love, Lizz Wright: Salt <-(I love, luv LUV this one), Sade: Lover's Rock, The Talented Mr. Ripley Soundtrack (feat. great jazz numbers from Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Dizzy G.), Regina Belle: Lazy Afternoon (luv this one too!), Les Nubiennes (their first release). Music On The Go A mixed CD comprising of music I downloaded off of Morpheus, before the RIAA crackdown and titled: Insomnia. Insomnia feat. songs such as Don't Disturb this groove from The System, Tori Amos' remakes of Enjoy the Silence and Strange Fruit, Tainted Love, The Cure, The Madness, Depeche Mode, and Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up and Firestarter, to name a few songs and artists. I also have Martina Topley-Bird's: Quixotic in my bag as well as a CD sampler mixed by Peanut Butter Wolf and Jazzy Jeff <-(there's some good underground Hip-Hop on there. Some unreleased, some coming out this summer). Old Reliables I couldn't fathom NOT having in my collection: Fiona Apple: Shadow Boxer, The Best of Blondie, Esthero: Breath From Another, Cody Chesnutt: The Headphone Masterpiece, D'Angelo: Voodoo, Fugees: The Score, Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Cesaria Evora, Adam F: Colours, Billie Holiday: The Classic Decade 1935-1945, The Last Poets: Chastisement, Massive Attack: Protection, No Doubt: Tragic Kingdom, The Very Best of Sting and the Police, Caron Wheeler: Uk Blak, A Tribe Called Quest: Beats, Rhythm, & Life, Tricky: Angels With Dirty Faces, Cassandra Wilson: New Moon Daughter, Res: How I Do, Saul Williams: Amethyst Rockstar, Rufus Wainwright: Poses, PM Dawn: Of the Heart, Of the Soul, & Of the Cross, Teena Marie: The Ultimate Collection, Alanis Morrissette: Jagged Little Pill, Sarah McClaughlin: Surfacing, Groove Theory, Jimi Hendrix: The Ultimate Collection, Bass is Base: Memories Of The Soul Shack Survivors, Jamiroquai: Travelling While Moving, Bessie Smith: 1925-1933, Jill Scott: Who is Jill Scott? V.1, The Legacy of Phyllis Hyman. ... Newer and Welcome Additions John Legend: Get Lifted, Van Hunt (my absolute new FAVE), Saul Williams (self-titled), Jill Scott (her latest is impeccable), Putamayo Presents The Best Of World Music: African, City of God Soundtrack, Swingers Soundtrack, Martina Topley-Bird: Quixotic, Diana Krall: The Girl In The Other Room, Mousse T: Right About Now, Jamie Cullum: Twentysomething, Chris Botti: A Thousand Kisses Deep, Best of the Brand New Heavies, Miles and Quincy Live At Montreux, Amel Larrieux: Bravebird. Wish List Bebel Gilberto, Esthero: O.G. Bitch, Esthero: We R in Need of a Musical Revolution, Esthero: Wikked Lil' Girls, Pure Brazil: Caipiranha, Pure Brazil: Samba Soul Groove, Putumayo Presents: Acoustic Brazil, Rahsaan Patterson: Love in Stereo, Rahsaan Patterson: After Hours, Afrika Bambataa: Looking for the perfect Beat-1980-1985, Martin Luther: The Calling, Martin Luther: Rebel Soul Music, Ivana Santilli: Brown<-(I've been trying to get ahold of this one for about a year 1/2), Ivana Santilli: Corduroy Boogie, Aya: Strange Flower, City of God Soundtrack: The Remixes, The Soundtrack to Inch'Allah Dimanche (if one exists), and the soundtrack to Baise Moi (if one exists).