When our tastes in music collide

Cliff and I agree on country music:  We like the kind that was popular from the 50's through some of the 90's.  The current stuff, not so much.  

However, my true favorite genre of music is folk, as most of my long-time readers know.  A lot of folk music is old-timey and even corny, and a lot of the more recent crop of folk singers don't have the best-quality voices (OK, neither did Woodie Guthrie, and he isn't current).  Many times I like an artist, either country or folk, mainly for his or her song-writing ability.  I truly admire good songwriting.  Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Iris Dement, Tom Paxton, and Ola Belle Reed are among my favorites.  

Cliff could go forever without hearing any of my folk music.  Sometimes I will try to get him to listen to the fantastic golden words written by some amazing poet/songwriter so he will understand my feelings, but his hearing is so impaired, even with a hearing aid in his "good" ear, that it's impossible.  I have gone so far as to copy and paste lyrics, so he will be able to get the true gist of things.  It isn't the same as listening to the person who put those thoughts in rhyme.  

I also enjoy pure, simple guitar-picking, and you hear a lot of that in folk.  I can just barely chord on the guitar:  I only wanted, when I was eighteen, to be able to chord to "Blowin' in the Wind", "Michael Row the Boat Ashore", and others of the folks songs that were in vogue back then.  Soon after I got my first guitar, I discovered country music, which I had spurned all my growing-up years; but when I found most country songs only required three chords... four at the most... I adopted it, beginning with "It Wasn't God Who Made Honkey-tonk Angels".  My playing never improved, and in fact, it's still so bad I'm embarrassed to play in front of a group of people.  However, if I'm going to sing songs I wrote, it's either accompany myself or sing a cappella.  

But I digress.  

When Cliff is outside, I listen to my Pandora folk station.  When I tell my Amazon Echo, "Alexa, play Pandora", folk usually starts playing, because the Echo plays whatever station I listened to last.  I hope all my readers know about Pandora.  If you have a computer, surely you have Pandora!  You can invent your own stations, one for every mood and season, and listen at your leisure, and it's free.

Sometimes when Cliff is inside, I'll play my classic country station, because that's the one we can enjoy together.  A while ago I said, "Alexa, play Pandora", knowing folk would start up; however, I had the Echo app on the Ipad ready so I could quickly switch to country.  Ah, but when the music started, it was the delightful picking one so often hears on some of my folk songs, and I said, "Hold on, I just have to hear this beautiful guitar-picking before I switch stations."  

Oh, it was so lovely!  And then John Prine's voice broke into the moment, making me smile and Cliff groan.  That's what happens when two worlds collide at our house.  One smiles, one groans.  

We will soon have been married fifty years, so I guess it'll be OK.

ennui

We were going to head out on a road trip today.  There is not one thing, really, to keep us from going.

And yet, we're staying home.  

Maybe it's the time of year; maybe it's just us.  Anyhow, yesterday I said to Cliff, who has had a slight tummy bug for a couple of days, "You know, I'm not all that excited about heading out on a six-hour journey.  I'm always ready for a road trip, but don't feel you have to force yourself.  If you aren't anxious to go or don't feel up to par, it won't hurt my feelings."  

I think he was relieved.  We just can't seem to summon up the desire to get off our duffs and go someplace.  

I did have an event Sunday that I was excited about:  A granddaughter accompanied me to Kansas City to the Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts where we saw "A Night with Janis Joplin".  It's a strange way to spend Easter Sunday afternoon, right?  That show lived up to every expectation, and if I had a way I would go see it again... expensive as it was.  As a non-driver, when I find an event I really am dying to see, I have to find a relative willing to take me.  This keeps Cliff from having to sit through something he really doesn't care about.  Not that I'd probably go all by myself even if I did drive.  

In April Cliff and I are going to see Willie Nelson.  Originally it was to be Willie and Merle Haggard, but Merle probably won't be doing any more shows on this mortal plane; my theory is that lung cancer has returned to take him, but nobody is saying anything along those lines.  They've been calling it double pneumonia for two months now.  Willie puts on a great show, or he did in the 70's.  He's ultra-talented, and I think we'll enjoy him.    

I found a future show at Kaufman Center that I mentioned to Cliff to which he responded enthusiastically!  "Yeah, I'd go to that."

"The Illusionists" isn't until November, but as soon as tickets are on sale, you can bet I'll be buying them.  There's a video HERE that will give you an idea of what we'll be seeing.  One thing I've learned about Kaufman:  You may as well get the cheaper balcony seats, because the view of the stage is great no matter where you sit.

So, no travel plans this weekend.  There will be another opportunity in a couple of weeks, and we'll see what happens then.  For now, I haven't even summoned up the enthusiasm to plant a few potatoes in the garden.  

There will be a train trip to the Grand Canyon in May.  Only illness would keep us from that, because it's already paid for.