Music sucks. (Or...is it me?)

Sometimes Google Play gives music for free.  Recently, I've been pondering about what I was given...what I deleted, what I kept...and what, if anything, it says about:
music that has been considered commercially successful...
my personal tastes (versus that of the "masses")...
choices made by artists, and music companies...
the music I have been exposed to, and prefer, causing me to be jaded...

I consider myself to be VERY eclectic.  I like things for the reasons I do, whatever those reasons are.

After downloading and listening to as much as I could tolerate, I deleted albums from:  Sia, Jason Derulo, and Cole Swindell.

I kept:
Brad Paisley ("Moonshine in the Trunk" album)...
Michael Jackson ("Thriller"...I don't love every song, but I do respect the album)...
Foo Fighters ("Saint Cecilia" EP)...
"The Very Best of Grateful Dead" (I like some of their songs)...
"Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits" (I like some)...
and Elvis Presley ("30 #1 Hits"...some of them are fair).

The Electric Light Orchestra are one of the few musical acts I admit to being a favorite of mine.  When I learned of the plans to release the latest album, I expected to pay for it.  After hearing it (courtesy of National Public Radio) before it was available for sale, I intended to purchase the "Bonus Track Version" of the album.  After it became available for sale...I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger.  Maybe it's because I don't have any disposable income.  It may be because there's only one song I (now) would consider purchasing...IF it were on sale at a discount.  After giving it much consideration, I know there are very few songs I would spend money for at all...

I could be a stingy person.  It could be me being very frugal.  It could be that the way things have been, and are...I don't feel the urgency and need to pay for the product.  I've been known to hover over a jukebox and review every offering before putting money into the machine...or, walking away.  It might be easier for me to put that money into an open instrument case of a street performer...

The Power of the Invisible Sun, book

(This is the second of three posts regarding a package I received from a public relations agency that contained promotional material for projects they represent.)

"The Power of the Invisible Sun " is a book by Bobby Sager that contains...

"...photographs taken in Afghanistan, Rwanda, Pakistan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, from September 11, 2001 until early 2009 depict refugees, orphans, child soldiers, and just plain kids living with conflict, disaster, and displacement..."

"All of Bobby's proceeds from THE POWER OF THE INVISIBLE SUN go towards the HOPE IS A GAME-CHANGER PROJECT which puts indestructible soccer balls into the hands of kids in the most difficult places around the world. These balls are a lasting symbol of hope. A light no matter how small—the power of the invisible sun.

"While a soccer ball may seem a small thing to most, an indestructible soccer ball can mean so much more to a kid in really messed up places. Surviving the dirt roads and lots scattered with glass and debris they're so often kicked around on, each ball will come to represent an incredible and elevated sense of durability, longevity, possibility, hope. Put simply, these balls won’t let them down – and are the entry point to learning critical life skills through play – discipline, teamwork, citizenship, knowing how to give constructive feedback, and being a supportive friend."

Private Views, book reveiw

(This is the first post of three regarding a package I received from a public relations agency that contained promotional material for projects they represent.)

The name of the book is "Private Views"...

"In the early 1980s, photographer Barbara Crane embarked on a photographic project shot during Chicago's various summer festivals. Armed with a Super Speed Graphic camera and Polaroid film, Crane waded in close to the revelers and focused on capturing the details of clothing and hairstyles, but most important, gesture. The images are tightly cropped and terrifically alive, viscerally bringing us into the crush of people eating, drinking, and enjoying the crowd dynamic—an incredible inventory of private gestures performed in public spaces."

Crane is professor emeritus of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. And represented by: Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago; Higher Pictures, New York; and Galerie François Paviot, Paris.

The first thing I noticed about the book is how regal it appears due to the binding and texture of the cover...it feels as if a fine nettish material has been embedded on to, and into, it. It's a great looking "coffeetable" book.

Halfway through the book, the first picture that caused me to pause and contemplate it, is one of a man using his forearm crutches. He is framed from his chest to his knees. I immediately began to wonder about the subject:

who is he?

why is he using crutches?

was it due to an accident?

does he have some disease?

how old is he?

After enjoying the aforementioned picture, I slowed my browsing. The next one I paused for is of two people...being show from their chest to their waists...warmly and affectionately holding each other around their waists. (It caused me to be reminded of how I would embrace my ex-wife. It's a good memory, and something I greatly enjoyed doing...which is why I was stopped in my browsing of the book by this picture.)

There are some shots that contain the faces of the subjects, but it is clear that the focus is on the body language of those in the pictures.