Peter mixes a little religion with thoughts on sharing music

Editor’s note: Peter Lewis, who since November 2008 has written about the culinary and cultural aspects of the Fort Smith/Van Buren region, continues to write for The City Wire from his new address in Austin, Texas. As he did with his previous delicious essays, Peter humbly attempts to move beyond the conventional and expose, entertain and enthuse. If anything Peter proffers in this space results in the expansion of cultural awareness of the world around us, we apologize in advance.

Musically speaking, each person goes through a progression of growth. We are all malleable creatures, a veritable tabula rasa. Like most things, we are indelibly influenced by our creators/parental figures, prone to attach ourselves to that which they enjoy. From adolescence into young adulthood, horizons are broadened as we start to experience on our own terms.

For so long, exposure to new music had to occur in one of two ways: through acquaintances or professional mediums. That is to say, you most often heard something on the radio (professional), through a friend (acquaintance), or perhaps read something intriguing in a publication (professional again).

Given the prevalence of the automobile in American life, the musical horizon has long been desperately limited to AM/FM radio. As one of the few purveyors of music, this medium was quite competitive and gave rise to a plethora of diverse and innovative stations seeking to capture an audience. As the dissemination of music became easier, the diversity of traditional radio stations began to die out, leaving us with a stunted array of homogenized “choices” blaring interminable advertisements every few minutes.

These days, radio airplay gives listeners nothing more than the regurgitation of every other station across the nation, leaving us with one less avenue of exposure. However, as the song says, “when the Lord closes a door, he opens a little window.” In this instance, the removal of viable exposure to new music through the radio was replaced with (arguably) a better avenue of exposure: the internet (not to mention Satellite Radio).

Trying to stay up to date with the world of music is unnerving. So much so that I largely abstain from trying at all. In my youth, I devoured periodicals, religiously read record reviews, and memorized the lyrics to whole albums. Of course, as a youth, time is never quite the issue it is as an adult. With each successive year, my consumption of information seemed to decline as “more important things” began to capture the majority of my attention.

Even with the mind-bending possibilities the Internet offers those seeking to stay ahead of new music, I have largely given up on staying ahead. Though I may stumble upon something now and again, my exposure is instead courtesy of a coterie of friends and acquaintances. Ironically, this exposure is gained in two uniquely disparate ways, one modern and one (somewhat) traditional. The modern is via Drop Box. This platform lets you easily (and legally) share files with friends privately. While not specifically built for sharing music, the set up of Drop Box certainly facilitates an interest in new music with the ease of its file-sharing process.

Running concurrently to this is a somewhat anachronistic way of sharing music: the mix-tape club. While certainly not as easy as sharing with friends online, it is equally effective in its own right. Each month is divvied up between the members of the club. In that month, the member makes a CD of their choosing and sends it to all the other members of the club, thus ensuring that each member gets new music 11 months out of the year.

While this particular path to new music is certainly much more labor intensive than other possibilities, it fosters a much deeper sense of community within the members. The monthly package is something to look forward to, something to talk about with others. And it is the sparking of conversation that is the true mark of its worth, for culture that does not spark conversation is not worth much at all.

Pushback
There is no guarantee that he’ll respond or care, but feel free to send Mr. Lewis your thoughts at [email protected]

You can also track Peter at his Twitter site.