This is the golden age of music. I'm not referring to the quality of the music produced, although there's a tremendous amount of wonderful music being made right now. Rather, I mean the ability to listen to whatever you want, whenever you want it. Pick any tune or performance and google it and you'll likely find it available to be streamed or downloaded, usually legally. The streaming music services have improved over the last year so much that they represent an alternative to having your own collection. The popular services have millions of tunes of all type.

I subscribe to Rhapsody, probably the most complete library, but there are a number of other streaming services with similar libraries: MOG All-Access and Rdio to name just two others.

The three mentioned above require a monthly payment, although they all have free trials. Grooveshark is a free service where you can stream music uploaded by other people. It has music that doesn't show up on the other services, Zappa for example.

Of course, there's still lots of net radio, despite SoundExchange's attempt to kill it. The best web radio, of course, is WFMU, the greatest radio station in the universe.

According to this Australian article, doctors should ask their teenage patients what type of music they prefer to determine if they are at risk of developing a mental illness or committing suicide.

Here's the rundown on musical types and social problems: Pop - Conformists, overly responsible, role-conscious, struggling with sexuality or peer acceptance; Heavy metal -Higher levels of suicidal ideation, depression, drug use, self-harm, shoplifting, vandalism, unprotected sex; Dance - Higher levels of drug use regardless of socio-economic background; Jazz/R&B - Introverted misfits, loners; Rap - Higher levels of theft, violence, anger, street gang membership, drug use and misogyny.

I think I'm doomed. Here's what I listened to today while I worked: Eklektik Radio - obscure and classic new wave, surf, spy, exotica, weird (sadly, going off the air); Paul Weller - pop; Weather Report - jazz; Hank Crawford - jazz; Muddy Waters - blues. Right now I'm listening to some downtempo stuff on Rhapsody - dance.

No heavy metal or rap so far. I guess i don't have to worry about suicide or committing any crimes tonight. I guess I'm just an overly responsible, role-conscious, struggling with my sexuality or peer acceptance, drug using, introverted loner and misfit. Oh, well.

Probably this only applies to teenager. Most adults fall into the overly responsible, role-conscious mode anyway. Maybe that's why they listen to pop so much.

It's a bit hard to tell from the news article whether there is anything to this. My bet is that there isn't much. This seems like a case of confounding variables and weak correlation. If you surveyed all heavy metal listeners, would the suicide rate be higher than for opera listeners?

The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing," Chief Justice Roberts wrote. " 'When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.' Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965).

Chief Justice John Roberts citing Bob Dylan in his dissent in Sprint v. APCC Services.

I would have thought they would have used To live outside the law, you must be honest.

I do a lot of commuting by car. During my drives, I like to listen to audio books and podcasts. I recently listened to an exceptional collection of podcasts, The Traneumenatary. The Traneumentary is a collection of commentaries on John Coltrane's life and music by musicians and writers. Even if you're die-hard Coltrane fan like me, you'll find new insights into Coltrane and his music. If you are not familiar with Coltrane, it's a wonderful place to start. 'Trane is a towering figure in modern music. Forty years after his death, the music world still hasn't completely come to terms with him.

My affair with Coltrane's music began when I was in high school. During that time, I would occasionally listen to an R&B station out of the Baltimore-Washington area . On one of the early anniversaries of Coltrane's death, the DJ played a couple of Coltrane tunes. Even hearing the music on a scratchy AM station, I knew it was something special. A couple of days later, I checked out the Coltrane bin in a local record store. I found the Expression album. Expression was recorded shortly before Coltrane's death. Knowing nothing about 'Trane or his music, I figured it should be his best. In some ways, I was right.

During those days, some friends and I would play poker at my house with my dad. It was strictly a nickel-dime game; if you won or lost $2.00, it as a big night. My Dad said, "why don't you put on that record that you bought?", so I stuck Expression on the record player. Expression has some pretty "out-there" parts. 'Trane pushes the limits of the sax, but with absolute control. The title piece and the cut, Offering, have some parts that to some ears might be considered harsh or atonal. Needless to say, the poker crowd reacted negatively ("WTF is that!"), except for me and one other guy, Mike Mayes (I wonder where he is today). I was spellbound. I had never heard or even imagined music like that.

Over the years, I have listened to the Expression album and every other Coltrane piece I could find over and over. There is a deep spiritual quality to the music coupled with the coolest damn jazz you can imagine. More importantly, the man himself comes through the music.

I think the spirit of Coltrane is expressed best in these two quotes:

I start from one point and go as far as possible. But, unfortunately, I never lose my way. I say, unfortunately, because what would interest me greatly is to discover paths that I'm perhaps not aware of of.

I would like to bring to people something like happiness. I would like to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start right away to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I'd like to play a certain song and he will be cured; when he'd be broke, I'd bring out a different song and immediately he'd receive all the money he needed.


If I could live like that, maybe I would really be doing something.