Genius...

iTunes. Heard of it? If you are reading this blog post then you probably have. I have used iTunes since version 1 in 2001. After getting an iPod in 2004 iTunes became more important as I used to organize the songs on my iPod.


One of the more recent additions as a feature in iTunes is Genius. You know when a friend recommends a band or a song because they know you like another band? Well, that is what genius does. It looks at your iTunes library and finds songs that would compliment the initial one you chose. I have 4615 songs on my iPod, so using genius helps 'mash up' songs that I might not have put together on a playlist myself.


I recently created a genius playlist for the song "A Little Respect" by Erasure and the list that follows are the results. It made a day driving to Twin Falls and Back a lot more enjoyable. Give it a try and see what songs in your own library you have been missing!

A Spring in your Step and a Song in Your Heart!

“The Hills are Alive with the Sound of …” “I’ll be your Candle on the Water...” “Let me give you the low-down, I’m K-RA-ZY for you…” “There's a somebody I'm longing to see, I hope that he Turns out to be, Someone who'll watch over me.” “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

If you recognize these words, lyrics; then you have probably heard and seen at least one musical in your life. I have heard many and been part of a few too. I grew up in a house full of music. My mother was always part of the church choir and recruited me at about the age of eight (when I could sing soprano). My father couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, at least as far as singing goes. But he did learn the accordion when he was younger, so he wanted to make sure that his children received some kind of musical training as well. My younger brother and I took piano lessons for many years and in school he took up violin and I learned the Trombone. I even played some in college (got a scholarship for it too). Music has always been there in my life.

As I was driving to work this morning my iPod decided to take me on a trip down memory lane by the song choices it made while on “random”. First was “Someone to watch over me”. There are a couple versions of this song on my iPod, this time it was the version by Sting from a George Gershwin compilation album. This is a song that I have known for a long time. When I was in eighth grade I was in the Jazz band at my Junior High, Mr. Stone was the director. We played this song for one of our concerts. I remember it because it was a song that featured an alto sax as the main melody and the rest of the ensemble to support and add fullness to the song. I thought it was great to see how my one part of 3rd Trombone joined with the other parts played by the other instruments to create such a beautiful song. Later when I was nineteen, a freshmen in college I had the opportunity to be part of a musical theatre performing group “Showtime Company”. I was part of the technical crew and we had the chance to tour the Northeast United States. We went to New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, many other places, including New York City (I jaywalked across Times Square! - that’s another story). We had some free time and some of us went to Broadway shows. I went to two shows during our time there. “Crazy for You” was one that I attended. “Someone to Watch Over Me” was a song that was performed in that production (at a pretty pivotal plot point I should add). Good memories.

The other musical I attended was “Les Misérables”. By the time I was in NYC Les Mis had been on Broadway for a few years. My mother attended a performance by a traveling Les Mis company in Boise earlier that same year and she loved the music and bought the soundtrack. She knew I would enjoy it, so she encouraged me to listen to it, so I checked it out of the Ricks College library. She was right (as she usually was). When I was serving as missionary for the LDS church my Mother would send me letters with lyrics from Les Mis written on the envelopes. It was her way of encouraging me and showing that she loved me even though I was far from my family. The next song that my iPod played was “On My Own” from “Les Misérables”. It’s a wonderfully sad song that is so beautiful. Who hasn’t liked someone who had no idea that you felt that way (c’mon junior high crushes…).


The third song was from another musical that I have the soundtrack for on my iPod. This soundtrack and the music from the other two movies in this trilogy were added to iTunes so that I could put the songs on the kids’ iPod shuffles. The music is pretty good and I can’t help but like it. The song was “Just Wanna Be With You” from "High School Musical 3". Tammy took the older kids to see this when it came out last fall. That is when I added the soundtrack. So I had been listening to the songs, but had no idea how they worked within the story. I saw the movie this past weekend when my brother got an advanced copy from his work. Then the songs meant something to me because I knew where the songs fit into the plot and what they did to move the story along. It was fun watching this movie with the kids and seeing them react to the music, get excited and sing along as the story progressed. I treasure the times when we can sit together as a family and enjoy times like this. The kids are growing up and the time will come when they will be too busy to sit down with Mom and Dad and watch a movie, or it won’t be ‘cool’.

Every year when “The Sound of Music” is on TV, we are usually all together at my Father’s house (as we are most Sunday nights) and we watch and talk and have great time. My Dad has loved that musical for as long as I can remember, I guess that’s why I like it too. Who doesn’t like to see nuns sabotage the Nazi’s car?


This is a pretty long post. Sorry about that, but it’s in my blood. I am a talker. So when I hear a song on the iPod, it’s always more than just a song. It’s experiences and memories; life. You have them too.

America is my iPod

I am making a new commitment not to keep up on the blog, I do that already. I want to keep up by actually writing things with substance. Currently the Presidential election is everywhere, so it is hard to not think about it (at least for me). It frustrates me that we all seem so polarized. When I know that people are not that way. There is a lot of common ground that people have. In the past that was something that brought people together not something hidden allowing only differences to be seen. As Americans we used to embrace our differences, doing that gives us strength. This was not intended to be political, so to the point. On my way to work this morning I was listening to my iPod (through my stereo) as usual and I listened to how different the songs were that played. First was "I am a Rock" by Simon and Garfunkel, then was "My Maria" by Brooks and Dunn, then "No Excuses" by Alice in Chains and finally "Trouble Me" by 10,000 Maniacs. These are all very different songs by very different artists.

"I am a Rock", reminds me of growing up. My dad had an 8-Track of Simon and Garfunkel's greatest hits. I still like that song and it amazes me that it was released in 1966. I don't have too many songs that were released in 1966 on my iPod. Simon and Garfunkel are definitely a unique sound and my have to grow on some people.

"My Maria", I started listening to some country music in high school. I had a friend who was a country fan and I wanted to broaden my musical horizons to include something that she liked (after we went out and I realized that she had gone out of her way to do the same for me). There are other country artists that I like and listen to that will appear on these posts from time to time (after all I am from Idaho!).

"No Excuses", when I was serving as a missionary in the California Carlsbad Mission I knew people that were into a music that I had not really got into in high school, alternative rock. I loved modern rock. The Smiths, New Order, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys; I was fluent in all of these. But there was a new sound that was a little more edgy and Alice in Chains had some tracks that to this day I still enjoy. "No Excuses" is one of them.

"Trouble Me", this song falls into the preiviously mentioned 'modern rock' genre. 10,000 Maniacs are a group that I have enjoyed since junior high. This is a very relaxing track that reminds me of when my wife and I were dating.

All of these songs are unique and different. In the coming months I will look at the different tracks that my iPod groups together and the pattern they weave in my life.

Different is good. We are all different.