Was involved in a chat on IRC, about some of the stories I've reviewed on the Show, and someof the music I've played. And I suddenly flashed on just how much I've gained by the process.
Just because I was looking for more to keep my interest, and more to keep the interest of my audience, I started listening to and reviewing more and more audio books on Podiobooks.com. And I started digging more deeply into the music available on Garageband.com.
As far as the books go, granted, I was going to be listening to something. Podiobooks is a free site, and there's a whole slew of books available. I got interested in Audio books because my Mom, almost 30 years older than I am, also listens to audio books, albeit whatever the local public library has on CD or cassette tape.
But looking back, I have found a whole bunch of really very good books to listen to, and by reviewing them, perhaps other folks have found these books and enjoyed them as much as I have. Some of those artists, like Nathan Lovell or Mur Lafferty, are going to be writing fiction for as long as they live, and I feel honored to be one of the happy few who get to see their work when it's still soemthing new. And I'm honored that, since this audio book venue requires a person talking into a microphone, I get to hear the story very close to the way the authors heard the stories in their heads. And the actual author reads the actual story for the recording. In another venue, these recordings would be profoundly rare and precious. And in the world where I live, they are rare and precious, and I look forward to maybe meeting the authors someday.
I will grant that the "It Doesn't Suck" list started out as a mechanical trick to give me X number of minutes of audio for the show I didn't have to create myself. But given that, I found Owen Poteat's music via the iDSL. I found Sue Marchand's music via the IDSL. TR Kelley's music I found only when I started looking elsewhere -- but I started looking because of the IDSL.
And then there were an amazing group of Minnesota artists I found simply because of sustaining a commmitment to the IDSL. Not always stuff I would have looked for, I'm just a country music guy. But there are some incredible performers, rap, alternative rock, folk, whatever, who have showed up on that crazy IDSL, just because they're from Minnesota as far as Garageband is concerned.
In the final analysis, I found all this wonderful music just because I made the commitment to take that dangerous walk through those Minnesota artists, and I shared them, as long as their music didn't Suck. I think y'all have done well following the list, but amazingly, I think I've been exposed to a whole slew of artists I'd have never heard of, some who's work I absolutely loved, and some whose work wasn't my style, but Gawd, what amazing work they did to produce what we've gottent to see.
Many of those artists may never shake the world with the brilliance of their creations. Many of them may never be quite commercial enough for some CD-burning label to give them a large advance, to give those folks a chance to do everything they've demonstrated they can do, by sharing their work with the whole damn world.
But many of those artists had at least one moment where they truly shined. And I got to be there, and you got to be there because I passed the word along.
I am honored and humbled by the opportunity, and I look forward to the opportunity to find out what comes up next.
Gosh, this showbusiness stuff is cool, huh? ;-)
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