A Challenge

As I sit here watching O destroy zombies with terrible might, I decide it's about time to make good on the idea that's been floating around in my head the past couple weeks. It's probably not a unique idea, but I think it could be good for both my listening development and hopefully my writing--with luck, it would be in tandem.

My challenge to myself is to listen to every single CD I own.

Sure, on the face of it, that's no hard feat. I probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of, oh, we'll say 200 discs lying around in various places in my apartment, with a small few still at the Ranch (which I'll pick up next time I go home--I know how much my parents love it when I take more of my stuff out of their house).

I could just throw some into the changer at home every night and spin a few discs while I do things around the apartment, but I want to delve a little bit deeper than passive listening. I know it would be hard to go through in detail about every CD I own (and hell, I already know that, at least with some of them, I don't really WANT to), but I want to take the time give each CD its moment to caress my ears, and let it either teach me something I didn't already know, or remind me of a story that I could relay in this space.

So what I'm going to do is this: each week, I will select 5 CDs at semi-random (semi-random because, as I've mentioned, not all of my discs are in one location) and give them a spin. There will likely be multiple spins of the same disc in one week. And in each group I will find something to write about, be it the music, the lyrics, a fond (or not so fond) memory I've associated with the music, or just my general thoughts on what I've listened to that week. Hell, I may get inspired to write a poem, and I'll use that week's entry to post it here! At the top I'll list every CD I've listened to in that week, along with whatever comes with it. Mix CDs WILL be included because often times those brought with them their own memories, ideas, and stories. I'm sure I'll be embarrassed by some of the previous musical choices I've made (at least I'm happy my Color Me Bad album was on cassette and will NOT be part of this project!), but I think I'll wind up stumbling on some musical diamond in the rough that I've let sit by for far too long.

I started my CD collection in the summer of 1996. Since then, I've gone on buying sprees, buying droughts, and almost given up the CDs in favor of those nifty downloadable files everyone seems to have these days. I've picked up CDs at shows, been given discs by performers and friends alike, and I think it's high time I give them all just a little bit of time to play their hearts out for my ears. Maybe I'll even jog some memories for someone else. Either way, it should be a fun and musical time.