I went to the eye doctor yesterday (my eyes are actually way better than they should be for my age, so that's good). But I'm in the eye doctor's office, and they have one of those "lite" radio stations on - the kind that supposed to appeal to everyone, and also be kind of background music for offices, etc. So they play Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time and I think to myself, yeah... classic song (in fact I recently heard a music historian YouTuber say the same thing).
Anyway, the next song was Nirvana's Come As You Are - and that threw me, because when these songs were new, no radio station in the world would play them back to back. In fact, I'll bet no radio station in the world would play them both at all - one or the other - but they would assume that their listeners could not possibly like both of these songs. Now I know, they were not new at the same time, they came out almost a decade apart, 1983 and 1992, respectively. But you get the idea.
So how is it that early 80s Cyndi Lauper and 90s grunge now get played on the same "lite" radio station? I mean, let's face it, "lite" radio is just one step away from the elevator. Kurt Cobain must be spinning in his grave to know that his song got played on "lite" radio, right after Time After Time - so is it that the passing of time dulls the impact of songs, as we become so familiar with them that they start to blend together? Or is it that the real Nirvana fans from the 90s are now middle aged adults who will simply smile with nostalgia when their song comes on in the office? Or am I making too much of the difference between these songs?
In 1983, I LOVED Time After Time - but in 1992, I HATED everything from Nirvana. The whole grunge movement symbolized for me everything that was wrong with the world (though I did like some of the other bands that would be classified as grunge, the more I perceived an artist or group as drug users, the more I hated them, and to a large extent I still feel that way, if only for the sake of their influence on youth). And yet, here we are in 2023, 40 years after Time After Time and 30 years after Come As You Are - and they are played back to back on "lite" radio in the doctor's office.
Thoughts...?
This was for March 24th, recorded for the Ascension App
Thanks for your patience - here is our next installment of The Journey - it's session # 96, but I'm also calling it PART 1 of a "miniseries" on John chapter 6.
Whoever watches it first, please let me know if it looks good or if there are any problems with it - I get through the first two sections of the text on the feeding of the 5,000.
Enjoy!
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
As I'm going through all my belongings as part of our move, I have come across some audio CDs of my old music, from when I had my band, Remember Rome - if any of you still have a CD player, and you would like me to send you some of what I have, send me the address to send them to at this email address: [email protected]
Some of these CDs are in their original cases, and some were demo samples, but either way, it's all original music written by me, and performed by me and my band back in the late 90s and early 2000s.
I'll be happy to find a good home for these CDs in case you might enjoy them, and because you all have been supporting me (and I haven't produced much content in the last month or so) I'll send you one or more CDs for free. Just give me an address.
Thanks!
Here's the link to the new edition of my Rome book on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Rome-Second-Pilgrims-Guide-Eternal/dp/B0F8TGTWZX
