Notes from Maine - 2021/01/10

Between podcasts and audiobooks, I’m listening to things a good chunk of the day. While I’m doing chores or working on projects around the house, I’m lost in a story, interview, or conversation. Maybe it’s why I never feel alone, even though I’m alone a good chunk of each year.

I used to listen to music constantly. 

In the 70s and early 80s, it was tapes, and then I carried a portable CD player as soon as they came out. Later, of course, I moved on to an iPod and now I get everything through my phone. The iPod is really what helped me shift from music to talk-content. Before that, music was just easier to obtain, so I listened constantly to the same albums.

I studied, memorized, and then learned to play a lot of my favorite music. But I never had the drive to practice an instrument for hours and hours until I was an expert. That’s just not my thing. I enjoy a little proficiency with guitar and piano, finding the right chord or note most of the time, but it’s not an obsession.

Then, a number of years ago, music and talk-content collided in the perfect way. On YouTube and podcasts, one can find all sorts of analysis of the music that I’ve loved over the years. It’s fascinating to have someone break down the thought process and influences behind the perfect melody or arrangement. 

It wasn’t long before I began to imagine my own stories about fictional musicians. 

Today, I’m offering Dug the Drummer for free. It’s a fictional memoir about a self-taught drummer who tries to make a life in music. If I had been a little more obsessed with music, and I had been really lucky, this might have been my story.