Saturday, April 11, 2009

Secret Vices

I have been enjoying a new Enya CD. Those harmonious sounds leak out the doors to melt into the night of fireflies and stars, and the lilting beat lifts my spirits. Most of my family and friends would scoff at my choice. Andy's preferance are those very strident Bach harpsichord pieces that tear my ears to shreds and I must go elsewhere and listen to the sounds of the fields and forest. He's entitled to his space as I am to mine.

I listen to classical music as I work, and my preferences are usually quite mainstream. When there is too much of what I think of as 'watery' French romantic, (La Mer and it's ilk), I change to my own music, rock and roll, new age, hip hop, bluegrass. And always I come back to Mozart, and lately Mendelson's piano works.

This is one reason why I love having this room of my own, away from the main house. I can listen to whatever I want, no explanations necessary. Next, I'll sample the new Elvis Perkins album, "Ash Wednesday". No one here to make judgements from past voices.

I came from a family who had made belittlement their watchword. I quickly learned not to express what I really thought. When I came to make my own family I vowed to change this dynamic, and I think we did.

But dregs of it live on of course. I remember a few years ago when I called my daughter on her penchant for swarmy magizines about celebrities. I regret this. Who among us is so pure and "intellectual" we cannot be interested in the mainstream (low life?) take on these people who seem to have a more vivid life than we do? We know it's not so, but we do it anyway. And so, fine!

I am not sure about this new Elvis Perkins album.. Unfortunately, at my great age, I can hear when the singer is off tune, the lyrics mundane. But I rest my case. Never get into a comfortble groove.

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