Good afternoon. So, it seems this group’s passion for music rivals our passion for Dawgs football. And, since Dawg news is fairly quiet, let’s keep the music theme going just a little longer.

Today though, I’m going to slam this thing into reverse. We’ve pontificated on artists that we formed our musical tastes with and artists we’ve enjoyed so much that we actually spend time and money to go see them actually play the songs we like so much. How about artists that just simply make you say… nope!

The Mount Flushmore of artists that will make you reach for the knob to change the channel every time. My list?

Whitney Houston
Cher
Bette Midler
Garth Brooks

My list may seem a little sexist but, I’m just being honest here. I will not listen to any of these 4. Yeah, Whitney had an amazing vocal range but, her choice of material, producers and sound was just awful. The other 3, just never released anything I ever want to hear. Hearing them is like nails on a chalkboard wrapped in flatulence.

So, who is on your mount?

PS: Please keep this civil, just because someone doesn’t like an artist you like, doesn’t mean it’s a direct attack on you and requires you to white knight for them.

PPS: If you have a suggestion for future time wasters, let me know in the comments.

Go Dawgs!

Good afternoon, how’s your day? Today’s time waster builds off of last week’s “musical” theme. I’ve been a popular music aficionado the majority of my life. My first year of college was at ABAC and I had a weekly 3-hour show on the campus radio station, WABR. Pumping a full 10 watts of power that barely covered the campus! But, it was very fun. When I went to ATL for my final 2 years of college at GA State, I tried to get into the GA State radio station but, alas, I had no success there. So, I went another route and I was a mobile DJ from 1986 up until around 2008. I played everything from birthday parties, reunions, proms, homecomings, wedding receptions (hell I even “ran” a few weddings because they had no one in charge and I’d pretty much learned the flow of a ceremony), bars, clubs, ran karaoke nights at several establishments. Finally packed it in around ’08 when the extra money just wasn’t worth the squeeze anymore. I used to tell people, you’re not paying me to entertain, you’re paying me to haul, setup and breakdown my gear. Playing music is the easy part.

Switching gears a bit, another musical activity I enjoy is seeing live shows. The first concert I ever attended without my parents was February 18, 1983. Me and 3 buddies piled into my Little Blue Vette (Chevette), with a cooler of hunch punch in the hatchback. We drove from Sylvester, to the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center to see Prince, The Time and Vanity 6 on Prince’s 1999 tour, called the Triple-Threat tour. Since then, I attended numerous Prince concerts right up to his very last performance at the Fabulous Fox Theater in 2016. Saw him at what I consider my first ever concert and saw him perform his final concert so, kinda closed that loop.

So, do you still attend live shows? What artists have you seen live the most? Who are you seeing next? My Top 5, by the number of times I have seen them, are represented by the ticket stubs.

What’s your list?

Good afternoon! Well, the college football season is over and we’re into the long, slow offseason. The wait will be as excruciating as waiting for quitting time on a Friday afternoon. So, here’s something to while away some of the afternoon and help you look “busy”. This’ll be an occasional feature during the offseason but, I make no promises it’ll be weekly…

So, I have a theory. It’s my theory. Others may have the same theory. I have not researched my theory because I am lazy. I’d just prefer to expound on it and rely on my own ignorance and not someone else’s.

My theory is, your musical tastes are set during your period of youth from the age of 10-18. It’s a time where you are learning new things nearly every day, adapting to growing up and cementing your tastes in a variety of things, including music. And, in my age, once you turned 16 and got your drivers license, your car became your rolling soundstage where you listened to any and everything you could get your hands on. I’d say I probably spent more time in a vehicle, riding around for necessity or pleasure, between the ages of 16-18 than any other period in my life. And, music was always playing.

So, the period of time I was 10-18 was 1974-1983. The artists that I latched on to then, I still listen to, today. Some of those artists were: KISS, The Commodores, Blondie, The Cars, The Police, The Rolling Stones, Ted Nugent, Van Halen, Prince and The Eagles. Now you might say, well, those are all well known artists that millions like anyway. Yeah, but, when I first started hearing them, some of them were new, just starting out. The Stones? I didn’t really notice them until the “Some Girls” album. Just a product of the age I was born in.

So, what years were your 10-18 years? Who were the artists you picked up on then that you still go back to and listen whenever you can?