Paid for Making Mixed Tapes

Thinking about the dream job for the pop music obsessed individual. Musician. Many a record fanatic picks up the guitar and finds joy playing those off the beaten path pop gems that friends think you wrote. Record store owner (Hey Patrick). I think I would be like Jack Black in High Fidelity and have a hard time selling Journey albums to all those Glee teens (more on this in the future). Concert promoter. I've often thought I would love to enlighten my community with cool music. I have my eye on a beautiful church that was recently purchased by a private citizen, but if I get Jonathan Richman to play in Elmira NY will anyone come. Radio DJ.

I don't need to tell you how bad commercial radio is. You'd think I could get nostalgic for what is called classic rock, but it's the same cuts over and over. It is also weird to hear REM and Elvis Costello on an oldies station. I guess they have been playing for thirty years, but oldies are the other Elvis and Ricky Nelson.

Thank God for the internet and the ability to pull in good music from far away places. I have been a WFUV fan for some time now( www.wfuv.org ). It is a public radio station from Fordum University in NYC, that plays what they call "Rockin' Roots" radio. A great mix of eclectic deep cuts from all of music history, as well a varied array of the great music that is still being made. Lots of live interviews and music info as well. I particularly enjoy a feature during the morning hours with Claudia Marshall. She proposes a "Question of the Day" that listeners get to answer musically. Just what a pop music geek like me needs to occupy his mind. I think I have gone too heavily with the NRBQ suggestions, but hey, that's how I lean. I love coming up with musical lists on particular topics.

Which brings me to my dream job, or side job. I am also a fan of NPR's "This American Life" ( www.thisamericanlife.org ). Each week host Ira Glass presents several real life stories or commentaries told by authors and and everyday people on a particular theme. When my son Michael was about 12 he summed the show up for me. After hearing Ira present a mother's day episode that included incarcerated female youth presenting cards to their mothers, Michael stated " He makes you care about things you didn't even know existed." I couldn't agree more.

Each week on "This American Life", along with the stories, there is theme related music. That is the job I want. Ira gives the weeks theme, and I come up with a mixed tape of songs related to the theme that the show can pick from. Now that would be a pretty neat job.

Kevin