Free music - and you don't even have to leave the house

This blog is primarily intended to entice you to check out CDs here at the Des Plaines Public Library. However, as I write this, I am also enjoying the free Internet radio service called Pandora. Have you tried it? It's the kind of thing that's so cool, so utterly simple, I keep wondering, "What's the catch?"

Sign up for a free account. You can opt out of "music suggestions," which sounded like "annoying emails" to me. Now you're in. Type in the name of an artist, a song or a composer. It sets up a "radio station" based on that input. Then it's like you're listening to a radio station, playing that song and others similar in quality, or that band and bands that might have been around at the same time or perform a similar style. Here's an example:

I typed in "Cheap Trick." A station titled Cheap Trick Radio now resides on my Pandora page. Here's a selection of what it offers me for listening:

• "I Want You To Want Me" from Live at Budokan;
• "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey - not sure that's a good fit...;
• "Let's Go" by the Cars - that's okay;
• "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" by Judas Priest. Cool...
• "Don't Bring Me Down" by ELO. Kinda...

Now, how does Pandora guess at what you might want to listen to next? It's based on the Music Genome Project. You can read about it. For a music geek like me, sounds like a dream job! Spend day after day listening to songs and analyzing them. Sign me up.

Back to my stations: I can listen to each song or choose to move on - however, they limit the number of songs you can skip at a given time. They keep trying to convince me I want to listen to the Talking Heads tonight and, well...I assume that is part of how they make their money - they do make money, don't they? You can also give a thumbs up or down to each song and supposedly that will help to improve your "station." I have yet to see any advertising but I literally just started using Pandora 10 minutes before I started typing here. Oops, never mind - an ad for AT&T just popped up. Easily ignored, however.

While each song is playing, you get cover art and a write-up of the band/artist, usually from AllMusic Guide. Ah, here's another money-making possibility - click "Menu" by the artist/band name and you get some options: Bookmark this song, Bookmark this artist, Buy this song from iTunes, Find this artist in iTunes. So Pandora is clearly forging partnerships with other commercial entities. I knew someone had to be making some money from this! :)

Here's the thing: you don't own these songs. You can't make a mix CD for your girlfriend or put them on your wedding video. You can just listen and enjoy from pretty much anywhere. I am listening on my iPad but it works on a computer, phone, etc. If you, like me, stopped listening to commercial radio a long time ago because of the endless commercials and the lack of interesting music, you might really enjoy Pandora. I think of all the times I wanted to hear an old song or a faddish new hit and went ahead and bought it, sometimes the entire CD, and then discovered it quickly grew tiring. With Pandora, I can give it a good listen and then make a purchase decision.

You may be aware that we recently lost our interlibrary van delivery service. We're hoping it will come back but we have no idea when or how. That makes it more difficult (but not impossible) for you, our patrons, to borrow items from other libraries. Pandora might help ease your music cravings until we sort out a new delivery service. Try it out: www.pandora.com
Already using it? What do you think of it? Would you recommend another service instead?

The Hissing of Summer Lawns

A Joni Mitchell reference in a post not about Joni Mitchell. It's outdoor summer music season - have you seen any great outdoor shows this year? My brother won free tickets for Steve Winwood and Santana at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre last Friday night, July 9, 2010. I also paid an insane amount of money for tickets to the following evening's Ravinia performance by Squeeze and Cheap Trick.

If both concerts held any common ground, it's that well-preserved and genuine talent can rise above any generation's trendy novelty tunes. The major players at these two concerts were all over 50, some into their 60s. They played and sang with the energy of 20-somethings and their gifts have lost none of their sparkle.

My weekend began with Steve Winwood's set in Tinley Park. You can find a selection of Winwood's recordings here, but that's just what we own at the library under his name. Depending on your age, Winwood's name conjures up different songs. I remember his solo pop stardom with albums like "Back In the High Life," "Arc of a Diver," and "Talking Back To the Night." For my brother, in his early 50s, Winwood is the defining member of supergroups from the 60s and 70s like Blind Faith and Traffic. A friend of mine in his late 50s couldn't place Winwood's name until I said, "Well, he started out in the Spencer Davis Group." That's quite a career: he joined up with Spencer Davis at the age of 14 and is still enthralling audiences at the age of 62. Winwood wisely touched on every era in his career during his live show and his mastery of keyboards, vocals and blistering electric guitar left me wondering how on earth Eric Clapton continues to garner all the attention.

Then Carlos Santana took the stage and the accompanying montage of photographs chronicled his journey from long-haired hippie days on the stage at Woodstock to today's crossover pop/rock/Latin success. We have CDs featuring Santana the band and Carlos Santana the solo artist. Of the four acts I saw this weekend, I was the least familiar with Santana - I know the hits and that's it. But you didn't need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the songs to enjoy this show. The large band had amazing positive energy and chemistry and the tight musicianship propelled these tunes into the stratosphere. I do like to dance and this music got everyone on their feet, smiling, moving, grooving. Perfect for a summer night, even in Midwestern humidity. You may have read the news stories that Santana proposed to his new girlfriend on the stage at Tinley Park - he did, but I have no insights to provide as I (rather foolishly) headed to the ladies' room right before it happened!

Next night, we were in literally a different part of the world, the tony environs of Ravinia in Highland Park, IL. I haven't ventured back to Ravinia since struggling to enjoy a Chieftains concert there many years ago. Too many mosquitos, too many chatty packs of friends who didn't pay attention to the music, and a very difficult parking lot to maneuver. When I heard that two of my favorite bands of all time - Squeeze and Cheap Trick - were playing there, together, I figured it was time to give Ravinia one more shot. Tickets from StubHub were ridiculously priced but I wasn't going to chance another night on the lawn. We were in the covered pavilion, the only place to be if you actually care about seeing and hearing the performers.

Even as a die-hard fan, I found this pairing a bit odd. The performances were so outstanding I didn't care. Squeeze opened with "Black Coffee In Bed," and ended with "Tempted" plus an encore of "Pulling Mussels From A Shell." The songs in between were probably known only to real fans but that's just fine with me. I could not believe how great Glenn Tilbrook sounds after all this time and it was nice to see him back together with Chris Difford. Tilbrook's guitar playing may have been the biggest surprise of the weekend. I saw Squeeze in the 80s and don't remember him being such an accomplished player! Then again, all the songs were synthesized back in those days. I left regretting only one thing: that I don't have tickets to see them in Milwaukee later on this month.

Finally, our hometown heroes (well, I'm from Algonquin, that's close enough to Rockford), Cheap Trick. Time for a confession - I have seen Cheap Trick in concert 10 times, beginning in 1978! So they really can't put anything past me. :) The Ravinia show was a killer - probably the best I've ever seen  from Cheap Trick. Who can say that about a band that's been playing for 36 years? I suspect many of the Ravinia attendees were less than thrilled as the band played only 3 of its very recognizable hits - I was ecstatic. (I never EVER need to hear "The Flame" again.) Robin Zander is 57 years old but looks/sounds decades younger. As I said up above, the weekend proved beyond a doubt that people with authentic, distinctive talent can stay fresh and relevant as the trends burn out and hit the ground all around them. If you haven't heard what your favorite singers and bands are doing lately, maybe you can check 'em out this summer at a concert venue near you. If not, bring in your library card and grab a pile of our CDs. You'll be glad you did.