Shuffle Intro

Most of the time when I’m listening to my iPod, I put on one of my playlists – nearly all of these are just over 15 or just over 30 minutes, so they work well when I’m out walking. Sometimes, though, I decide to put it on “Shuffle” for a change of pace. I’ve always thought it might be fun to document some of these for posterity, so here goes.

Favorite 100 Songs

This is an admittedly imperfect, one-moment-in-time stab at my favorite songs of all time. It was inspired by Dave Marsh’s classic “The Heart Of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Every Made.” For much more information on Marsh’s list, see Lex Jansen’s great web site (another SAS guy).

Although I fully expect to live to a ripe old age, coming up with 1000 songs in order and with commentary felt overly ambitious to me. (Marsh is a professional music writer and critic, after all.) On the other hand, with all the great songs that have come out over the years, cutting down to 100 also presented a challenge. To make it easier, I instituted a one-song-per-performer rule. Once I finish posting the top 100, I’ll probably put up some mini-lists of favorite tunes by some of my favorite artists. I may also do some “honorable mentions” of other songs that didn’t quite make the main list.

 

I started out in November 2013 by putting together a spreadsheet with all of the 2800+ songs I’ve loaded into iTunes, and then did an initial cut, which produced 170 songs. On December 9, I cut the 170 down to 100 (certainly the hardest part), divided the survivors into 10 groups, and then came up with the final numerical order. Don’t take the latter too seriously; I don’t think I could actually argue that I like my #53 song better than the one that is at #67.

Posties Intro

I’m a hopeless newspaper addict – have to have that sports section to read over breakfast, even when on vacation. Consequently, I’ve subscribed to the Washington Post for well over 30 years, pretty much since I moved to the area. While it still has much to offer, especially its coverage of national politics, the years and the Internet have not been kind to newspapers. Unfortunately there are times when the Post reminds me of an old, dear friend with a terminal illness, who is slowly declining without you being able to do anything about it. These entries memorialize some bloopers, blunders, and pet peeves. I don’t go out of my way to find these – they’re just there (mainly due to the apparent lack of attention to copy editing).

Serendipity Intro

These entries exist due to the sorry state of music radio in Washington DC. For whatever reason, since the classic days of WHFS, Washington totally lacks any progressive or AAA (Adult Album Alternative) stations, such as WXPN in Philadelphia, WTMD in Towson MD, WRNR in Annapolis (the spiritual successor to WHFS), and mvyradio (Martha’s Vineyard). At the moment, there’s not even a real Oldies station.

Consequently, it’s not uncommon in the Washington area to wander into a restaurant or other retail establishment and hear in the background a great song that no local radio station would be caught dead playing. I thought it might be interesting to capture these serendipitous moments as blog entries.

Initial Post

As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested.

So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube. 

 

I’ve never been particularly good about coming up with catchy names for things, so at the end of a business meeting this past October (“Blaise Technical Coordinating Committee” for you Westatians reading this), I started a “name the blog” contest. Thanks to Patrick Mayer for submitting the winning entry (along with many, many others). I expect that “rambling” will accurately describe the tone of these entries, along with being a good pun and a nice reference to a great old Nat King Cole song. Patrick’s prize is still TBD.

About me (answering Bart Simpson’s eternal question): 

• sexagenarian
• proud resident of Rockville MD since 1978
• Former Westat vice president (now retired)
• SAS guy
• Flying Dutchman, class of '75
• Split-personality baseball fan (Side 1 and Side 2) (my quandary set to music)

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