What's In Your (CD) Wallet?

If I could hold a coherent thought in my head, I just might get all philosophical.

Fat chance of that. Since I suspect that cracking my cranium would just release a useless grey Jell-Oish substance, it's not happening. Brace yourself for the usual drivel. As I'm typing this, I'm experiencing what I expect is a regular occurrence in the third circle of hell -- Suzanne Geha reading story after story about various crimes and punishments. I really need to learn to just shut off the damned TV at 11:00. Ah, at least she has finally shifted gears and is butchering a story about the return of the silicone breast implant. Much better.

So, anyway, Otis My Man (a Kip Walton film) over at Up For Poker posed an interesting question today: "If bloggers had iPods at the table, to what would they be listening? Furthermore, does it say anything about their style of play?". As much as I would enjoy blasting the Starland Vocal Band's "Afternoon Delight" at max volume in a Vegas poker room, I have to admit it wasn't the most serious of answers. Since this was probably an honest question, it deserves a real answer. Or two or three. So let's hit it.

Answering the second question first, if there were a connection between style of play and musical taste, I'm afraid I'd be loaded up on Barry fricking Manilow. Pat Boone, pre-metal. Andy Williams. Anyone of similar ilk that you can think of. Caspar Milquetoast personified. Except dumber and with less personality. That's my game. Weak. White bread. (Here's hoping I get a chance to prove it in Vegas in June).

Good lord I hope that there really is no connection.

So let's get to the real issue: What would be on my Ipod. If I had one. And as if anyone was actually wondering. I answer because I can, which you can pretty much read into every post on this thing.

If I have to be in a group, I guess I probably would be lumped in with the "Americana Boys". Much of what I listen to falls into that broad genre. You'll find old skool country (George Jones, Cash, the list goes on), new skool not-often-played-on-country-radio country (Allison Krauss, Fred Eaglesmith, Neko Case, Allison Moorer, Shelby Lynne, blah blah blah), a little bluegrass, some blues, maybe even some folk of non-recent vintage -- it's dead, man. Brian Wilson. Anything you might find on the Time-Life "AM Gold" collection. You know, Americana.

The thing is, it's not ALL that.

I stumbled in tonight, plopped down on the couch, flipped on the TV and praise Jebus, VH-1 is showing "The Commitments". And it just started.

Good movie. Great music. If I had a TiVo, I'd probably skip directly to the performance scenes. If you don't like "Mustang Sally", "Chain of Fools", and the sort, you just don't like music. Well, maybe you do, but what I'm fumbling around trying to say is that I'd definitely have some 60s soul in the mix. A little Wilson Pickett. Some Joe Tex. Sam & Dave. Jackie Wilson. And a long loop of James Brown, preferably live. I'd have even more of this stuff in there if my collection weren't mostly confined to vinyl and cassette. Damned advances in technology.
What I do have on MP3 is boatloads of the alternative rock. Mostly older, 80s and early to mid-90s. I might be on an alt kick at any given time. So figure on some of that.

This being a Vegas trip, what's a soundtrack without the Rat Pack? Plan on a little Frank, a spot of Dean and I'll be a dirty bird if I don't have a decided lack of Sammy.

Bits and pieces of classic rock, maybe some Allman Brothers or Clapton or what have you.

Okay, bottom line. I'd probably have a little of all of that. And who am I kidding -- being me, I'd probably have an enormous chunk of the space tied up with my collection of live and recorded Kasey Chambers. Ah, if only I could figure out how to get a decent bootleg between now and a week from Saturday.

I would have little to no rap or metal. Nothing against either genre, but my knowledge of either is most limited, at least if you're talking anything more recent than 1994. No bubblegum, no top 40 to speak of, no gospel, no mainstream country, no spoken word, no instrumental jazz, no classical, no show tunes. Probably no opera, although I would be tempted to give that a try sometime. Next best thing to metal, I would wager. No books on tape. No "build a million dollar vocabulary" or "best of Tony Robbins". A decided shortage of jam bands, not there's anything wrong with them.

That's pretty much it. Maybe there is a connection between musical taste and poker style. Put me down as shallow, scattered, all over the place with a few glaring gaps.

Oh, and yes, I admit it. Somewhere I do indeed have an MP3 recording of Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again" -- I wonder if her man was humming that when she broke the news that she's knocked up? I would have been.