"We're in the business of trying to create a larger audience and have
more people join our station." said Sharon Percy Rockifeller,
president and CEO of WETA, the Washington DC area's only
non-commercial radio station that programs classicial music.

Beginning February 28, the fifteen hours of weekday classical music
programming will be dropped in favor of round-the-clock news,
analysis, and interview programs.

I thought that the purpose of public radio was to serve the needs and
tastes of those not offered by other radio stations. I guess not. It
appears it's to take in more money, just like commercial stations.

I'm not that rabid a fan of classical music, but I listened to WETA
during the day (and even made my donations), but I'll have to find
some other form of background entertainment (and someplace else to put
my support dollars). I'm turning to the Internet more and more for
stations that offer other than top-40 and talk. Good thing I finally
got a DSL connection here.

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Mike Rivers wrote:



Beginning February 28, the fifteen hours of weekday classical music
programming will be dropped in favor of round-the-clock news,
analysis, and interview programs.


KXJZ in Sacramento dropped its 24-hour jazz format, which had
consistently won awards as the best jazz station in the country
(although they faded out the "Goddammit" in "Compared to What" whenever
they played it) switched to news all day (and is now programmed
elsewhere for some of the night jazz). No more bux from me, and I had
been a subscriber for 20 years prior to that.


Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.


I can't rave enough about Folk Alley on WKSU (http://www.wksu.org).

S O'Neill wrote:

KXJZ in Sacramento dropped its 24-hour jazz format, which had
consistently won awards as the best jazz station in the country
(although they faded out the "Goddammit" in "Compared to What" whenever
they played it) switched to news all day (and is now programmed
elsewhere for some of the night jazz). No more bux from me, and I had
been a subscriber for 20 years prior to that.

KCBX was one of the great things we liked about Reno when we first moved here. We also had KTHX as an independent commercial station at the time. Oh, and of course Reno Air.

Oh well, we're leaving in another year or so anyway. Moving to a town where you can receive exactly three FM stations (if you can call them that.)

S O'Neill wrote:

KXJZ in Sacramento dropped its 24-hour jazz format, which had
consistently won awards as the best jazz station in the country
(although they faded out the "Goddammit" in "Compared to What" whenever
they played it) switched to news all day (and is now programmed
elsewhere for some of the night jazz). No more bux from me, and I had
been a subscriber for 20 years prior to that.

KXJZ (via the KKTO translator) was one of the great things we liked about Reno when we first moved here. We also had KTHX as an independent commercial station at the time. Oh, and of course Reno Air.

Oh well, we're leaving in another year or so anyway. Moving to a town where you can receive exactly three FM stations (if you can call them that.)

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:znr1108137194k@trad...

I'm not that rabid a fan of classical music, but I listened to WETA
during the day (and even made my donations), but I'll have to find
some other form of background entertainment (and someplace else to put
my support dollars). I'm turning to the Internet more and more for
stations that offer other than top-40 and talk. Good thing I finally
got a DSL connection here.

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

The station on which I do a program has extremely eclectic programming,
ranging from shred-rock to reggae to Eastern European folk music to jazz
vocals to bluegrass to Brazilian to blues (lots) to Cajun/Zydeco to the
hard-core folk show I do. (No classical at the moment.) Every show is hosted
by someone who knows and loves the music, and learned how to do radio,
rather than someone who knows radio and is trying to learn the music. Some
of the programs will drive your finger to the tuning button at warp speed,
some will fascinate and delight, and everyone will have a different choice.
Regular streaming is at www.kdhx.org ; we have high-quality streaming
available, too, but it costs a few bucks. Check out the program schedule at
the website and see if there's something that attracts. I recommend "Music
from the Hills" and, of course, my own program, "No Time to Tarry Here", but
there's an awful lot there. All program listings are Central Time (GMT -6 in
the winter, GMT -5 in the summer).

Peace,
Paul

Paul Stamler wrote:
"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:znr1108137194k@trad...

I'm not that rabid a fan of classical music, but I listened to WETA
during the day (and even made my donations), but I'll have to find
some other form of background entertainment (and someplace else to put
my support dollars). I'm turning to the Internet more and more for
stations that offer other than top-40 and talk. Good thing I finally
got a DSL connection here.

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.


The station on which I do a program has extremely eclectic programming,
ranging from shred-rock to reggae to Eastern European folk music to jazz
vocals to bluegrass to Brazilian to blues (lots) to Cajun/Zydeco to the
hard-core folk show I do. (No classical at the moment.) Every show is hosted
by someone who knows and loves the music, and learned how to do radio,
rather than someone who knows radio and is trying to learn the music. Some
of the programs will drive your finger to the tuning button at warp speed,
some will fascinate and delight, and everyone will have a different choice.
Regular streaming is at www.kdhx.org ; we have high-quality streaming
available, too, but it costs a few bucks. Check out the program schedule at
the website and see if there's something that attracts. I recommend "Music
from the Hills" and, of course, my own program, "No Time to Tarry Here", but
there's an awful lot there. All program listings are Central Time (GMT -6 in
the winter, GMT -5 in the summer).

Peace,
Paul


Hello,
well if it's any comfort, here in The Netherlands it has unfortunatelly
been the same lately. A far cry from the huge choice of everything,
including pirate stations broadcasting freely only some 2 years ago.
Fortunatelly, broadband has been around for some years now in Amsterdam
and many people have switched to listening online and giving donations
to whatever station they see as their personal favorite, regardless of
location. Sure, people have still been forced to listen to the radio in
cars, but with the boom of the ever-present mp3 players, more and more
people choose to "program" for themselves. Me being an optimist, and
people becoming ever more individually-minded, I think the people's
preference will prevail over what is being shoved down our throaths by
the commercial conglomerates. Not that they will stop trying but hey,
would it be so sweet if you didn't have to dig for it a little.
Cheers.

Paul Stamler wrote:


www.kdhx.org


Thanks!

Mike Rivers wrote:


Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.


www.wdav.org - classical programming

www.wncw.org - American and World music

Mike Rivers wrote:
Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

KPFA from UC Berkeley is definitely "alternate programming". :-)
They have a fair amount of news stuff, so if you want music, you have
to pick and choose when to listen. But they have a weekly schedule,
and an archive section ( http://www.kpfa.org/archives/music/ ) of the
music programs, so you can check out programs and see if you'll like
them without having to tune in at the particular time.

KCSM 91.1 FM (from the College of San Mateo) is a pretty good Jazz
station. They used to have a 2-hour weekly program hosted by the
late Al "Jazzbo" Collins (I was a big fan). They have a list of
what they've recently played at http://www.jazzlist.org/ . Be
forewarned that they are in the middle of a pledge drive right now...

I've listened to KKJZ (California State University, Long Beach) a
bit too, and they're not bad ( http://www.jazzandblues.org/listen/ ).

- Logan

Mike Rivers wrote:

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

There's an exhaustive list of online feeds and related links at this site:

http://www.janecek.com/bitcasters.html

--Paul

Radio Paradise is an outstanding eclectic rock/pop/worldbeat station.
Maybe a little too eclectic, but a great place to go to get a good
sampling of a broad range of genres. Check it out at
www.radioparadise.org.

For classical, try colorado public radio at www.cpr.org or Baltimore's
WBJC at www.wbjc.com.

For jazz, North Texas university's radio station, KNTU, is outstanding.
They are at www.kntu.org. Just be aware that they do broadcast
university sporting events from time to time and "black out" one or two
of their shows due to legal issues.



Paul Hilcoff wrote:
Mike Rivers wrote:

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find
it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a
stretch.

There's an exhaustive list of online feeds and related links at this
site:

http://www.janecek.com/bitcasters.html

--Paul

Mike Rivers wrote:
"We're in the business of trying to create a larger audience and have
more people join our station." said Sharon Percy Rockifeller,
president and CEO of WETA, the Washington DC area's only
non-commercial radio station that programs classicial music.

Beginning February 28, the fifteen hours of weekday classical music
programming will be dropped in favor of round-the-clock news,
analysis, and interview programs.

I thought that the purpose of public radio was to serve the needs and
tastes of those not offered by other radio stations. I guess not. It
appears it's to take in more money, just like commercial stations.

I'm not that rabid a fan of classical music, but I listened to WETA
during the day (and even made my donations), but I'll have to find
some other form of background entertainment (and someplace else to put
my support dollars). I'm turning to the Internet more and more for
stations that offer other than top-40 and talk. Good thing I finally
got a DSL connection here.

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

www.wwhp.com
Playing the best in blues, bluegrass, alternative
and traditional country, rock, gospel and American Roots music

a guy near my home town started this station up in his house a few years
back. a great radio station with a wide ranging playlist

I you like the authentic old-time country blues (I do), this is a
great streaming audio site: http://weeniecampbell.com/juke/

http://weeniecampbell.com has lots of discussion for blues fanatics
but I mainly appreciate the music they play

Al



On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 23:24:18 -0500, Jim Gilliland
wrote:

Mike Rivers wrote:

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

My own stations is so much like Paul Stamler's that I could just swipe
his description directly. But I won't bother - you already have a good
idea of what I play, and the rest of the WRUW schedule is just
unbelievably varied. Bluegrass is on Mondays from 5-7PM.

As far as bluegrass is concerned, I've been playing a couple of new
releases regularly that are worth checking out:

1) The Dry Branch Fire Squad live at the Newburyport Firehouse, a very
enjoyable 2-CD set from Rounder (and produced by Ken Irwin) that
features both some great songs and Ron Thomason's spoken introductions.
He can be _very_ entertaining.

2) Bill Monroe live at Mechanics Hall, a 1963 recording on David
Grisman's Acoustic Disc label. The band featured Del McCoury and Bill
Keith among others.

And getting away from Bluegrass, I'm also very taken with a new CD by
"The Duhks" (pronounced Ducks) on Sugar Hill. Quite eclectic, but
probably too contemporary for you.

But as for a on-net suggestion, my friend Jim Blum at WKSU has a 24x7
feed of folk music at FolkAlley.com. It's done well and covers a lot of
ground. I suggest that you check it out. You might even occasionally
hear one of my recordings.

http://www.folkalley.com/

You can also hear his regular radio show on WKSU. It's streaming here
as I write this - he's on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening.

http://www.wksu.org/folk/

I note that he already has playlists posted for tonight, tomorrow, and
Sunday. Here's what's on during the current hour:

11:00 PM / Cheryl Wheeler: Gandhi/Buddha
feeling lucky / Diffrent Stripe / Cheryl Wheeler / Philo 116711

11:03 PM / Maura O'Connell: If You Love Me
Just In Time / Rounder 1124

11:07 PM / Pat Donohue: Love and Desire
Backroads / Adrienne Young/Mark Sanders / Bluesky 926

11:12 PM / Red Clay Ramblers: The Cat Came Back
old timey / LIVE / Traditional

11:16 PM / Chris Hillman(w/Tony Rice): So Begins The Task
FILE UNDER RICE! / Out of the Woodwork / Rounder 390

11:18 PM / Chip Taylor,Carrie Rodriguez: Sweet Tequila Blues
duet / Let's Leave This Town / Chip Taylor / Trainwreck 4009

11:22 PM / Herdman/Hills/Mangsen: Silken Dreams
Voices / FlyingFish 70546

11:27 PM / Bill Whelan: Mystic Seacliffs
The Roots of Riverdance / Jeff Hanna/ Marcuss Hummon / Universal 53106

11:29 PM / Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Come a Long Way
can't see flowers... / Dancer With Bruised Knees / Kate McGarrigle /
Hannibal 4402

11:33 PM / Richard Shindell: So Says The Whipporwill
Vuelta / Richard Shindell / KOCH 9538

11:38 PM / Julie Hoest: On the Other Side
Where I'm Standing / Resounding 322

11:42 PM / Leo Kottke-Guitar: I Yell at Traffic
Regards from Chuck Pink / Privatemus 2025

11:46 PM / Patty Griffin: Rain (Live)
A Kiss In Time / Patty Griffin / ATO

11:51 PM / David Francey: Wanna Be Loved
Kieran Kane,Banjo / The Waking Hour / David Francey / REDHOUSE 182

11:54 PM / The Duhks: The Dregs of Birch
then..full band! / The Duhks / Traditional / Sugar Hill 3997

In article znr1108137194k@trad, (Mike Rivers)
wrote:

"We're in the business of trying to create a larger audience and have
more people join our station." said Sharon Percy Rockifeller,
president and CEO of WETA, the Washington DC area's only
non-commercial radio station that programs classicial music.

Beginning February 28, the fifteen hours of weekday classical music
programming will be dropped in favor of round-the-clock news,
analysis, and interview programs.

I thought that the purpose of public radio was to serve the needs and
tastes of those not offered by other radio stations. I guess not. It
appears it's to take in more money, just like commercial stations.

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

Mike, like you, I am not a huge classical fan. But I do occasionally
find myself dialing into WETA when I am on the road. Classical can
be calming when you're stuck in DC traffic.

My radio is programmed for WTMD, Towson Universty most of the time.
They stream at: http://www.wtmd.org

yes the corporation for public broadcasting has forced our npr
affiliate ( WOUB ) to discontinue it's jazz and classical programming
because the "market share" was not enough to warrant the finical
assistance. sounds like comcast to me, market share = lowest common
denominator, maybe it's the start of liberal talk radio but it is all
just BS on the airwaves.

Itunes has a good radio election.
WUMB.....

dale

Thanks for the suggestions. Now I have too many. g

Anyone from Memphis? I remember a community station there that was
really hip, kind of like Paul Stamler's station, but I can't remember
the call letters so I haven't tried to find them on line. It was a
pronouncable word, as I recall.

But my real point is that a "public" and "listener supported" local radio
station which was well established with a certain audience and a
certain mix of programming has chosen to abandon the programming
that brought them the faithful audience for the chance to attract a
different, and larger audience. But there are only so many listeners
within the broadast area, and there's already a local public station,
WAMU, that programs primarily news and analysis except on weekends
when they still offer eclectic music programming. I guess WETA is
attemting to steal listeners from WAMU to bolster their coffers.

It just ****es me off.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

On 11 Feb 2005 12:53:42 -0500, (Mike Rivers)
wrote:

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

My local NPR station here in Athens has good solid stretches of
classical music, and web streaming broadcast.

www.wuga.org

They've also got some very good jazz programs on Friday night.

jtougas

listen- there's a hell of a good universe next door
let's go

e.e. cummings

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:znr1108214349k@trad...

Anyone from Memphis? I remember a community station there that was
really hip, kind of like Paul Stamler's station, but I can't remember
the call letters so I haven't tried to find them on line. It was a
pronouncable word, as I recall.

WEVL.

www.wevl.org

Peace,
Paul

Don't have anything here except a vote of support for internet radio.
Yahoo news has recently implemented these Associated Press one-minute
AVI clips. Freakin' brilliant. I can log onto Yahoo and get the same
major news as the networks in 5 minutes rather than 60.

Similarly, I look forward to internet radio giving us "all killer, no
filler" as that environment develops.

Ann Arbor Alive
http://annarboralive.com/A3Radio/indexNET.shtml

dale

http://www.wfmu.org

NOT BACKGROUND MUSIC!
On iTunes under "Public"

Try www.wfmu.org. It's freeform radio from Jersy City, NJ, and they
stream on the web 24x7. You might find something you like there,
although you probably won't find the non-stop classical music. Here's
a link to their current schedule:

http://www.wfmu.org/table


Angelo




Mike Rivers wrote:
"We're in the business of trying to create a larger audience and have
more people join our station." said Sharon Percy Rockifeller,
president and CEO of WETA, the Washington DC area's only
non-commercial radio station that programs classicial music.

Beginning February 28, the fifteen hours of weekday classical music
programming will be dropped in favor of round-the-clock news,
analysis, and interview programs.

I thought that the purpose of public radio was to serve the needs and
tastes of those not offered by other radio stations. I guess not. It
appears it's to take in more money, just like commercial stations.

I'm not that rabid a fan of classical music, but I listened to WETA
during the day (and even made my donations), but I'll have to find
some other form of background entertainment (and someplace else to
put
my support dollars). I'm turning to the Internet more and more for
stations that offer other than top-40 and talk. Good thing I finally
got a DSL connection here.

Anyone got suggestions for on-net alternate programming? I have
bookmarks for WWOZ, KBCS, and KEXP. WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find
it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Mike Rivers wrote:
WAMU's Bluegrass Country (round
the clock bluegrass) has their heart in the right place, but I find
it
fatiguing to listen to for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.

The two or three times I went to a weekend long bluegrass festival, by
the time I got back all I wanted to do was crank Zeppelin or Pink Floyd.

Would it be impolite for me to observe that Beethoven and Mozart might
not necessarily be proud of being deemed worthy of the "background"?

That said, I essentially agree with you. PBS is supposed to provide
"alternative" programming.

But up here in Canada, I thank God every day for the CBC.

Mike Rivers wrote:

I'm not that rabid a fan of classical music, but I listened to WETA
during the day (and even made my donations), but I'll have to find
some other form of background entertainment (and someplace else to put

Bill Van Dyk wrote:
Would it be impolite for me to observe that Beethoven and Mozart might
not necessarily be proud of being deemed worthy of the "background"?

Perhaps, but Erik Satie would be delighted!
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

While I agree with Hank in principle, people no longer have the constraint
of options on musical entertainment that he and I grew up on. Today's world
presents Acid for loops, loops for Acid, people with no real musical talent
or arrangement abilities, and this is today's music for the home. Where I
grew up with Brenda Lee stopping by for a night of jams with Roy Clark,
Donnie Hammond, Jimmy Dean, et al., today's stop by is a CD of jams made on
a computer, mixed via headphones or computer speakers, and without the
requirement for anyone having learned how to tune a guitar, much less
actually play one. And a piano in the home is a piece of furniture for most
families.

Sad to think about all the good musicians who will have no means to support
themselves, which will promote more "music" that has no basis on a musical
background. Some even marvel at this or that program that will make "music"
for them via their computer. I realize it takes a lifetime to master a
musical instrument, but at least we could hope people will continue to try.
I finally got to the point where Rap music was becoming acceptable because
it started incorporating live musicians. Seems that about the only two
genres of music that are still making real money out there are Rap and
Christian.

But the pendulum always swings back and forth, so at some point it will hit
the max point and start back again. Just as long as we don't have to go
through big hair heavy metal again! g

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio

"Bob Olhsson" wrote in message
...
"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:znr1108137194k@trad...

"We're in the business of trying to create a larger audience and have
more people join our station." said Sharon Percy Rockifeller,
president and CEO of WETA,

I sure hope people start waking up pretty soon!

We've got ourselves a BIG music problem and it's affecting all genres.
Everybody loves to put their own spin on the details but the fact is that
music broadcast programming, live music performances, high quality
recorded
music and the professional recording of music are all rapidly going away
because people are not finding music to be compelling entertainment.
People
are obviously having more fun jeering at Ashlee Simpson than from hearing
great music. What's wrong with this picture?

Hello????

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com

On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 21:10:21 GMT, "Bob Olhsson"
wrote:

Everybody loves to put their own spin on the details but the fact is that
music broadcast programming, live music performances, high quality recorded
music and the professional recording of music are all rapidly going away
because people are not finding music to be compelling entertainment.

Well, I've been thinking about this for years (and, if memory serves,
Mike R. touched on this a few months back) and my take on the whole
situation is this:

Compelling entertainment requires first for it to be valued. Abundance
of anything reduces its value.
Time was, you had to put at least _some_ effort into hearing music;
whether it was travelling to a performance, moving an antenna around
and waiting for the tubes to warm up, making sure the needle dropped
on the appropriate spot, sitting on the porch with musicians/singers
as well as maybe actually playing music yourself, etc. In other words,
you 'went to' the music, and it was something special.

Nowadays, music of some sort is virtually everywhere. We are immersed
in it. In fact, you practically have to make a conscious effort to GET
AWAY from it. I personally know some folks who think they absolutely
have to have some kind of music playing all the time, else they think
they'll go crazy. (one guy I know actually brought a small boom-box on
a backpacking weekend.)*
This mentality, coupled with business and marketing mentalities, has
most folks hearing music many of their waking hours, even at
times/places where they aren't even actively noticing it. Now, add to
that the ease by which software enables people so inclined to
'compose' and 'produce' their own tunes... if you are constantly
barraged by something, it's not likely you will go out of your way for
more of it, much less be willing to put up any significant amount of
cash for it, as long as it is being provided to you without much
effort on your part.

Some may say "but most of that stuff is crap" and they might be
subjectively correct. So what? The fact remains that it is constant
external musical stimulation, regardless of the quality. What value
would you place on local transportation, be it Yugo or Porsche, if it
were immediately and constantly available on demand? Would you go buy
a Ford or a Chevy, just because you like the idea of spending
money/effort on something that would otherwise be provided to you?

Yes, the writing is on the wall, and I suspect that it has several
layers of clear-coat applied over it... this scenario won't change
without a lot of painful losses along the way. And, I fear that those
my age and older (which seem to be the bulk of the regulars here) will
never see a _real_ turnaround during our remaining active years.
(Wow, talk about being a 'Debbie Downer'.)

And no, I can't offer any universal remedies, other than suggesting
what at least part of the root problem might be, in order to stimulate
thoughts as to what a partial solution might be.

I envision something like this:
An outdoor party sometime in the future. Several youngsters sitting
around a bon-laser (fires will probably be illegal). One of them
recently found his great-grandfather's acoustic guitar /mandolin
/fiddle /harmonica /etc in the attic with some instructional aids
printed on something called 'paper'. On his own, he found a way to
make interesting sounds on the thing, even though the instructions
weren't in Spanish. And, surprisingly, the only inputs given to the
instrument were physical human actions.

He says "hey, turn off that interplanetary space modulator, and listen
to this... this thing is xaxznicious (future word for 'cool')."

They listen.
They say "'what the Zimbabwe is that? How did you make it do that
stuff? Can you do more? Where can I get one of those? Will you teach
me how to manipulate one? I've never heard anything like it, that
thing is way xaxznicious! Will you bring it to my party on Lieutenant
Governor's Day?"
And so forth...

In other words, my opinion is that things will have to get completely
out of hand, to the point that 'real music' becomes a genuine, almost
unheard of novelty, in order for 'real music' to re-achieve any sort
of serious sought-after value.

Let us all make the best of it while we still can.


* I was going to further comment on my buddy, but I'll abstain at this
time, as this post is fast approaching the length of those typical of
Roger N. g


====================
Tracy Wintermute

Rushcreek Ranch
====================