Atlanta radio

I am in the car quite a bit and I have been listening to Atlanta radio for a few weeks now. I am driving our leased Mitsubishi Lancer. We had no choice in the matter, so we got what we got. A cherry red Lancer. Georgie seems to like it, and I have grown quite fond of it as well. I think it has two cylinders and when you give it some gas, it rattles and shakes like an old sewing machine. I think I might call it "Flame", like the Moped in the Jim Stafford song "Cowpatty". That is a great song, and if you haven't heard it you've missed a good laugh. Anyway, Flame (the car) gets about 100 miles to the gallon and I don't mind telling you, it turns some heads.

Lancer: one that lances, an instrument which is used to slice, cut, dice, chop or hack. Dr. Stevens eyed the festering boil and asked the scrub nurse for a #6 Mitsubishi Lancer.

Anyway, back to the music on the radio. OK, I get it, REM is from Georgia, but do I have to hear "It's the end of the world" so many times? And what is this fascination with The Red Hot Chili Peppers? And man do they love The Counting Crows, and The Black Crowes. Any band with the word "crow" in it. Thankfully, I have only heard 'Mr. Jones' once so I haven't had to consider offing myself. Actually, to my surprise, I have grown to like the C. Crows. Maybe it is true what my friend Bruce once said about some bands. If you strap yourself down and force yourself to listen to something that at first sounds awful, it sometimes actually grows on you. That seems to have happened to me with the Crows. Not that they are awful. Maybe I should try that with the Kings of Leon. Jesus. How can something so annoying be so popular?

Dave Matthews is also on heavy rotation here but this is OK. He has a new release and it sounds great. And too much Pearl Jam! Not even discussing if it is good or not, "Jeremy" is just an unpleasant experience and not one that should be repeated weekly.

I have found the rock station, the alt rock station, the pop station, the R and B station. Gudrun favours the pop station. I like a lot of what they play too, but I get confused by the Kelly Clarkson- Pink continuum. When Kelly tries to be rockin' and rough then it sounds like Pink to me. The reverse is true when Pink shows her sensitive side. 'Big Girls Don't Cry' by Fergie was one of my guilty pleasures during our first few weeks here. Another guilty pleasure was, "If today was your last day" by Nickelback.

It is not all bad but there is an absence of "foreign" music on any of the stations. Very little British music. Except Coldplay. And that's how I know they are gay. They listen to Coldplay. I actually miss Canadian music. I heard Blue Rodeo once here and almost fell off my chair. A little Bruce Cockburn, perhaps? I'd even settle for Tom Cochrane (just not the song that dare not speak its name).

Soon after I wrote the above, I would enter a dark period where I listened only to sports talk radio. I didn't know how bad it had got until I found myself actually caring about the NCAA basketball tournament. This was my wake-up call, my rock bottom. I am happy to report that I am back listening to music, taking it one day at a time. There are a lot of new songs out now so it is good.

I now actually appreciate the one station I listen to most of the time. Dave FM. They have a great program called, "Acoustic Sunrise" on Sunday mornings. It is great to hear the stripped down versions of songs. Pearl jam has a new album and I love the songs I have heard. They seemed to have eased back on RHCP and REM, and Kings of Leon seem to be on the fade. Thank god.