How it started

When Ross died he left me with many wonderful memories, tons of t-shirts, baskets of fleece pants, and a grip, as he liked to say, (meaning, in 1990s Minneapolis Public Schools-speak, a lot) of CDs. Remember he wasn't always the hippest with his lingo.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. Should I keep them even though I didn't know what half of the CDs sounded like or even who some of the musicians were? Or should I just sell every single one of them on eBay, not caring that there might be gems amongst all those CDs. Now, you may ask exactly how many is "a grip of CDs"? I don't think I can answer that with a mathematical term for the number in a grip but I can say that he bought enough CDs that if I listen to one CD every day for a year, I will still have CDs of his I haven't listened to. Thus came the idea for this blog. I would listen to one CD a day for the year, blog about it and come to a decision on whether to keep it or not.

There were some topics that came up though after thinking of this idea. Which CDs should I listen to? I own a lot more CDs than 365 so I decided to limit it to CDs that Ross bought for himself and for which I had nothing to do with the purchase. Lucky for you we won't be talking about my "Best Of Def Leppard" CD he bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago. They will always be my "no apologies" band. It just conjures up high school memories. But I digress. I also wasn't sure what to write about this CD. Would it be just a free form entry? Would I have some kind of theme? I could write all kinds of drivel unless given a direction and even then it is probably still drivel. I was given some direction by friends as to how to make this easiest on me. I would answer 3 burning questions: What is my favorite song? Why do I think Ross bought the CD? and Is it a keeper or eBay all the way? I know he would just be turning in his grave thinking I may be giving away some of these CDs so as I talk about them if it is an eBay one that interests you, let me know and I will pass it on to you. I think more than anything he would want to know his music was going to a good home. Finally the big question, how in the world could I listen to one CD a day and make a decision about it that quickly? I am busy enough as it is! As another friend advised, I needed some time to sit with each CD. Thus I decided that I can't listen to one a day. I find there are some CDs that grow on me the more I listen to them so I will probably do one CD a week. However the blog name wouldn't sound as catchy though if it was "52 CDs and counting." I'm sure someone could easily do that. That's how this all started. Let's see how far I go with it. Feel free to post your comments on the CDs I talk about as well. I love to talk about music even though I am no expert and even better I love to listen to all kinds of music.

One thing Ross did was open my eyes to all kinds of music I had never heard before. I didn't always like it but I listened to it all with an open mind and an open heart. Sometimes I learned to love a CD, even singing along to most tracks, and sometimes I just asked him to turn it down. But I sure did learn a lot from him and for this I will always be grateful.