Old & Nerdy

(Original Draft: October 30, 2009)

Not am I only a nerd, I'm now officially an old nerd.

From Blogger Pictures

Out at the Hut, my rental house in DeQueen, I can't pick up any radio stations. Except for KDQN, of course, but I'm not waking up in the morning to "Cornpone, Country-fried, Grits & Gravy Breakfast Show." I'm not listening to that first thing in the morning. Loren Hinton, he's a nice guy, but no. I'm not doing that.

For a short while, I was able to pick up 98Rocks out of Shreveport, but after my cat knocked down the antennae wire, I haven't been able to hear it since.

So I decide to fish around one night and find something, ANYTHING, besides country music and that awful stuff they call "popular music" now. I found some classical music and thought, okay, I'll stay here. It was a long, long, long orchestral piece with a chorus. It went on for almost an hour. I didn't recognize but thought, "That's got to be Mahler." And I was right. Symphony No. 4, I think. I was proud of myself because I was able to discern the composer without it being a piece I've taught every semester since 2003, (Beethoven's Fifth, Mozart's 40th, and Bach Cantata 140). It turned out to be the Texarkana College station, which is National Public Radio.

The next morning when the "alarm" came on, I heard some regional news and then the commentary on the death of Chick-Lit. (See previous blog post). Then I decided to turn it on in the car on my way to work that day. Since I don't have my Zune anymore, (See previous, previous blog post), and I don't feel like carting around tons of CDs, I have to have something to listen to. I can pick up my rock stations in the car but they're using the same playlists every day. I can guarantee that at 4:30 every weekday afternoon, 106.3 is going to play "Hell's Bells." 98Rocks will be playing a Skynyrd tune. Sunday night is the only interesting night to listen to 106 because of House of Hair and The Tour Bus, when I can listen to some more variety of the hard rock kind. I hadn't heard Helix on the radio since 1987. And I heard a great new (*gasp!* New rock on the radio? By someone besides a one-hit wonder? Holy Cow!)song by Living Color. I don't remember the title but it was pretty good.

Anyway, 91.5 is now programmed into the radio, and I've found myself listening to it more and more. On the way home from a rescue mission to the Winslow EZ Mart Wednesday night, I heard some Faure string quartets. (Lucky I didn't doze off-Faure's pretty mellow). After that they were doing Bruckner, Grieg, and one of my favorites, Rhapsody in Blue. I listened while I ate my smoked almonds and drank my Red Diamond Sweet Tea. I was trying to snack a little bit healthier and passed up another Coke and peanut butter cups. That's when I realized I wasn't just a nerd anymore, I'm an old nerd.

Only old people listened to NPR or talk radio. I used to think that was most boring thing in the world, to listen to mindless jabbering while you're driving. I always had to have music because I was usually practicing, singing along so I could stay awake. I got a lot of work done, vocal-wise, on those tedious trips to the Nashville campus twice a week. Since I haven't had to do that this semester, which is such a blessing, I haven't been in the car as much. When I was though, I still had music on. When we first moved to Texarkana and I was making the drive to DeQueen on Monday mornings, I would listen to Paul Potts and Abba on the Zune. This must be another sign I'm getting old because Judas Priest first thing in the morning is just too much. I didn't think that at the time, but I guess this day was coming. I usually never knew what I wanted to listen to, so I'd do the "Box of Chocolates" thing-put the Zune on shuffle, never knowing what I was gonna get.

Now I'm listening to NPR. I heard an awful story about an incident in Northern California, then they were discussing great monster movies. They mentioned "The Thing," "Frankenstein," and concluded with an e-mail about a teacher who introduced "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" to her students. Now I've got to put in my Netflix queue, between my marathon of Dark Shadows episodes. This morning they discussed how the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, where Elvis and Cash played, is haunted. Call GhostHunters! Quick!

I feel more informed now. Maybe I should have done this as a podcast and then I'd sound like I was on talk radio, too.

Then again, maybe not.