The concept for this entry began as a lyrical metaphor relating Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman” to my web publishing philosophy. The latter is boring, though, and a topic that tends to weave its way into all of my posts anyway. Music, on the other hand, tends to be a rabbit that we chase into Wonderland. 1972 “Pusherman” performance on Soul Train (YouTube):
Every once and a while, I get on a classic rock kick. I grew up in the 80s but tend to listen to rock music from the 70s. I have nothing but fond memories of parties where my dad and uncle (Mom’s brother) played The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, CCR, and the Eagles (to name a few) in their live band: Riff Ron & The Carntoons. Pops loves soul music, too, but we both tend to avoid disco… I guess because we can’t dance.
By the time Uncle Jim had given me the 4-cassette 1990 Zeppelin Boxed Set, I was hooked on classic rock. I’d spend weekends helping him catalog his music collection in a database. My 1984 Toyota truck’s radio was usually tuned to 93.3 “WMMR, the home of rock and roll.” These days, whenever I head back to Philly, I take a look through my dad’s record collection or sit and read one of Uncle Jim’s hundreds of classic rock books and magazines.
I don’t listen to classic rock on the radio as much anymore, mainly because there’s not enough variety. Pandora radio online is popular, but I’m a Last.fm disciple. Their Led Zeppelin station, for example, has given me “Down in the Boots” – an old Jimmy Page jazz tune I’d never heard before today. You can listen to it on Grooveshark along with Mayfield’s “Pusherman” and Steppenwolf’s “The Pusher” while you’re there. If those aren’t enough sites to visit, check out a list of the Top Songs of 1972 or browse another one of my fav music sites: Lala.com.
I apologize to those who voted for “Pusherman: An analogy for why I blog” on my inaugural Tuesday Zep post. I went a different direction with the title… I’ll probably address why I blog in my upcoming “I want a website” series. Web hosting and design is a big business, and everyone wants yours! I’m no expert, but I can help you sort through the interwebs on how to create a website. In the meantime, let some of David Gilmour’s (Pink Floyd) Gdansk concert sweep you away: