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The Sound of Separation

As fun as Super Bowl parties are, I must admit that my love for combing through CD libraries got the best of me yesterday.

The bass player in my band, Mike, threw a housewarming/Super Bowl party at his loft. There was plenty of food to eat and a big TV to watch the game. I ate plenty and watched most of the game, but the appeal of borrowing CDs got the best of me during the game. I just couldn't help it.

Something that made this special was that this was an actual CD library. Mike used to write music reviews, so he has boxes upon boxes of promos. This was like my time back in college radio, where anything and everything was available in physical form. I was in proverbial promo heaven.

Why this was special was because I'm more and more aware of people consolidating their massive CD libraries to MP3s on hard drives to save space. I don't blame people who do this for the sake of space, but the thrill of going through racks of CDs is way more involved (and exciting) than just scrolling through a list in iTunes.

A lot of the stuff I've borrowed are things I've had, at best, a casual interest in. Stuff like later Machine Head and Thrice records, the most recent records by Underoath and Norma Jean, and even New Found Glory's Coming Home. No, this isn't a stack of former hipster accolades, but it's stuff I've had interest in hearing. Seeing them there, I figured, why the hell not?

Of course, now I'm next with Mike coming over to my house. And I don't mind. And I especially don't mind when people don't criticize me for having a lot of music.

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