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"A Freshly Fallen, Silent Shroud of Snow"

December 5, 2007 3:27 AM

was vaguely bored and not at all sleepy about an hour or so when I noticed, through my window blinds, that the outside world is that distinct shade of orange that means it is snowing outside. I hadn't left the apartment since earlier today when I went to the grocery store. It was snowing then, too, but I didn't know that it had been snowing the whole day. By the time I looked outside, there were a good six inches of new, fresh snow. Having nothing better to do, I decided to dig the seXterra out of it's snowy cave and go on a little bit of a drive. After driving around Madison listening to classic-rock radio, I have some observations:



8 Comments


tRJ said:

* Yesterday's snow was especially cool, as it really sparkled.

* This is some of the worst snow emergency cleanup I have ever seen in Madison.

* AWD is what I have, and I concur that it is awesome. If you want some fun areas to play, I recommend the roads and office parking lots around Greenway Blvd in Middleton. Holy cow did I have some fun out there one night.

* Comfortably Numb does rule. So does Rush, and you should never feel bad about that fact. And I happen to like Jethro Tull, but it is extremely weird stuff.

* There are tons of good songs with organ, but I suspect you are annoyed by a certain type of organ or organ usage. Please expound.

December 5, 2007 11:27 AM



Santiago Canez said:

Wait, does your hatred of organs extend to classical music, such as Bach's Toccata & Fugue? I sincerely hope not.

December 5, 2007 3:26 PM



Lauren said:

I have a feeling Mr. Tapia II's dislike is limited to the jazz organ and is definitely not extended to the more traditional pipe organ. If this is not the case, then I fear Mr. Tapia II is absolutely and entirely full of shit.

December 5, 2007 4:21 PM



Lily said:

I agree with Lauren.

There was really pretty snow here in DC today, too. But it made me homesick.

December 5, 2007 7:01 PM



Ismael Tapia II said:

I don't have a huge problem with the classical pipe organ--it can be kind of cool in a Phantom of the Opera sort of way. Still, I'm not the biggest fan of that instrument, either. But my real beef is with the Hammond organ as used in popular music and jazz. Actually, I hate jazz generally, but organ-based jazz is even worse.

My problem isn't so much with the application of the organ but with its timbre, tone, and just generally the way it sounds. It's almost nonmusical. It never, ever, ever seems to fit in with whatever instruments it's being accompanied by. It always seems out of place, regardless of whether it's in Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" or the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'." And that's even after taking into account that both of those songs are relatively good--add that bag-full-of-dying-kittens sound to a bad song and you've got a something really terrible.

Having said all of that, however, it's also very frequently used to just add some droning noise to the background, which is really lame. So, yeah, the Hammond organ sucks and all songs that feature it would be better without it.

December 5, 2007 8:04 PM



jbob said:

I hate to question your music taste, but how can you hate the organ once you've heard music from Boston? Organ rock rules! Maybe I'm just too old school.

December 5, 2007 10:24 PM



Ismael Tapia II said:

Dude, organ-rock does not rule, and Boston blows. Hard.

December 6, 2007 5:35 AM



TheExpat said:

Sounds like someone-ah,
ah-needs a heeeeeealin'-ah!

*cues the organ*

Deep Purple is one of the coolest rock bands to use organ. Somehow, an organ with distortion does it for me, otherwise I'm not really fond of them myself. I do like other electronic keyboard instruments, like the Clavicord. Throw a Clav through a wah pedal and some pre gain and it sounds pretty sweet.

December 6, 2007 8:32 AM



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