Elvis Music as Comfort Food

There's no greater audio comfort than Elvis singing.

Yah hah

Unused blogs age fast. Just another dead-end.

I hate to let this one die. Even though it's purpose is at present purposeless. I like the name, though, and it must endure for that reason, if for no other!

I was writing about the CDs I was getting. But there hasn't been too many lately. Except one day I got 15 or 16 at one time. And some I've actually listened to. The whole thing of getting them on my iPod isn't very handy, but a matter of step step step. (I don't like putting them directly into iPod's format because it isn't useful for anything else and I'd rather have them as mp3's since I can use that format in various ways.)

Anyway, one of the CDs was an oddball for me, a few actually. "The Very Best of Conway Twitty." I've had Twitty tracks before, an album here or there, but never for listening. Except for the old single, "It's Only Make Believe." This album has 10 tracks, and the only one I'd ever heard before, besides "Make Believe" was "Hello Darlin'". But I got it on the iPod and listened to the whole album a couple times.

"Don't Cry Joni" is the weirdest track. It's about a guy 21 and a girl 15, but she's too young, so he goes off somewhere else. Then five years later when he wants her, and she has vowed to wait for him, he finds she's already married. The other tracks are pretty good, good enough anyway, in a very twangy, affected country style.

Other recent acquisitions

I was detailing some of my music buying, which I try to get used, especially at thrift stores when possible.

Some of this I don't know what I'll ever want it for. But, you know, Christmas eventually comes, so any Christmas album is good. I got Jim Nabors' Christmas CD one day, then the very next day there was a big front-page article about him in the newspaper insert magazine. And I had just been wondering aloud if he was even still alive. Turns out he is.

I got Michael McDonald's Hallmark Christmas album. For some reason these Hallmark albums show up pretty often. And I also got James Taylor's sometime in the last year.

Here's probably an obscure CD: Vacation Bible School songs from Group, Sing & Play Roar Music. 10 Action-Packed Songs Kids Love! It's not opened so I don't know what I'll do with it precisely. But I have some ideas.

Here's one that is virtually out of my league as far as interests, but I got it anyway. A Reader's Digest CD, "The Most Beautiful Melodies of the Century," including tracks by Damian Luca, Romantic Strings, Henry Mancini, etc. Another one is in that same realm, "The Greatest Show Tunes," including tracks by Stanley Black, Mantovani, Frank Chacksfield, and Ted Heath. Now those are oldies! I haven't listened to any of this yet.

Others a little more mainstream include Roberta Flack 'Best of,' Neil Diamond, '12 Greatest,' a couple Patty Loveless CDs, a Trisha Yearwood one, a few k.d. lang. And there's been several others.

Goodwill

This blog could essentially consist of my near-daily jaunts to Goodwill, but of course it won't. That's only about 50% of my life, so whatever the rest of it is, that has to be included too.

It was amazing today, the number of people in Goodwill. I actually started counting and got up to about 25 and there were more customers than that. But since I was essentially tripping over little kids darting in and around the clothes racks, I needed to focus on walking.

It's like a social scene in there, mothers, children, me. A couple mothers were near the CD place, so I had to squeeze in there, although I could see there wasn't anything new. When you see the stock a few times you can just tell by the color of the edges and other clues that they're the same.

What I Got At Goodwill Today

Nothing. I didn't get a thing.

I've been buying quite a few CDs lately, though. They get them in and I have a wide range in musical preferences, so I've picked up all kinds of things. The last one I got, which would be yesterday, was "Now 13." I've never had one of the "Now" CDs before. And this one goes back to 2003 and I'm not familiar with the songs on it. So it's setting down by the CD player.

At another thrift place I got Chris Isaak's "Forever Blue" and a children's one, Cicely Mary Barker's "A Flower Fairy Alphabet." I have another Chris Isaak CD, which I've heard before and it is all right. But I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan, since that CD and hearing him on XM Radio a few times is my extent. As for the fairy one, I like fairies, but not overly much. If only I could be convinced by a few personal appearances, I'd probably like them a lot more! It's cutesy. And that one isn't even opened. I was thinking 'put it on eBay' but I went there and there are already a dozen copies, with the cheapest being down in the $2 range. This one cost me $1.00, so that doesn't sound like a fast way to easy riches.