Wandering Minnesota

It seems fitting that with the events of the past week that it popped into my head just how meaningful "It's the end of the world as we know it" by aging Georgia rockers R.E.M. truly is. I remember receiving R.E.M.'s "Monster" disc as a gift. It marked my very first CD and it came along with a smallish stereo sporting a CD player. While that CD player is relegated to a shelf in a corner of my parents' basement, the CD lives on in my immense collection of physical CDs.

I remember wanting that particular disc solely because of the hit "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" and I was not disappointed. It wasn't until a few years later as I expanded all horizons of my life that I discovered more of R.E.M.'s tunes and immediately became enamored with "It's the end of the world..." because it had two important elements to me at that time -- an upbeat tempo and a message. While I still love the tempo, I appreciate its message far more. It's a message of hope and being able to look into what seem to be the darkest times and find hope. I hope that things continue on a positive note and progress towards improvement because the status quo never leads forward to greater things.

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On the local front, alternative station Drive 105 has actually started spinning "Fidelity" by Moscow-born New York songstress Regina Spektor. It's just a month or two after I first saw the video in the early morning rotation on the curiously anti-music VH1 but props to Drive 105 for taking a chance on a new artist to gain wide recognition as well as adding something that isn't a rock song and by a woman to boot! Just when the local airwaves fail to impress me for so long, they go and redeem themselves. While Drive 105 still fails to play anything beyond one Fiona Apple tune, I'll forgive them for now for playing Spektor.

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FREE TUNE!
I spoke earlier about my love for tunes with two basic characteristics -- an upbeat tempo and a message. Fathers of punk rock, The Ramones, are never at a loss when it comes to an upbeat tempo but many of the tunes in their catalog are missing that message. As I explored the breath of their catalog of tunes this week, it was brought to my attention that there was definitely one in particular that stood out above the rest. As I heard "Something to Believe In" I instantly knew that this was the song they had written with not only a tempo noticeably different from the rest of their catalog but that they had stuffed a message, albeit a basic one, into both the tune and its title.

Word has it that we're due for up to a foot of snow this weekend. That means I might actually drag my stingy self to the video store on my commute home for some good viewing for the supposedly snowy weekend. Although with the weather as of late here in the frozen north known as Minnesota, I'll believe the forecast when I'm shoveling the 12 inches of snow!