Music and Me

In the wake of the shinanigans that were the AMA awards... (no not going to go into the performance), I got to thinking about music in general; my tastes, likes, dislikes, etc and as many well know I am what I consider a lover of music, all music.  I will listen to everything from Jay Z to Cross Canadian Ragweed to Greg Laswell to Three Days Grace; Bottom line when someone asks me what my favorite kind of music is my honest answer is "If it's good I like it, basically, I like what I like" I don't like to be labeled as a "rap fan" or a "country fan" I just like good music, which started in college and has only grown since.  Finding new music that I enjoy is like a game to me, a constant search for new stuff that not many people are into.  I hate the radio - the radio takes a good song and plays it so many times in a given day that you want to never hear the song again, which is disappointing.  The best, the Holy Grail if you will, is when you have some music that no one else has. In my life I have been lucky enough to have some of this music literally dropped right into my lap (save for my brief stint in Denver). In college it was my good friend Jon Robins, Garrett Lucas, and Grant Hamilton (part of which are now The Plainsmen) and here in Chicago its been Chris Jerles, Borrow Tomorrow, and Adam Richardson.  Finding music that no one else has heard is awesome.  There is nothing better than playing a song on my computer or iPod and having someone say "who is this? I like this" I honestly have a Mr. Burns-esque "excellent" moment everytime this happens.  Aside from getting to brag a bit about my quality musical collection thus casting a shadow on the embarassment that is the Lady GaGa and Beyonce on my iPod... Just Dance, Check; Halo, Check, (hey... I like it but that doesn't mean I don't catch some grief from others...) I get to introduce people to something that they may not have otherwise listened to which I like because I want more people just appreciate good music rather than follow the top 100. 

I've posted as hyperlinks a few of the artists in the text above that I enjoy to "share the wealth" as they say.  Hope you guys enjoy as well.

Newest on my radar that I'm getting into:  Guster, really like the song Demons

P.S. As for the AMA's I hate music award shows.  All music award shows.  They lost all credibility a few years ago when Coldplay beat Mettalica for best Rock Album