New Year's Resolution

I know that it is not yet November, but I'm already thinking about my New Year's Resolution. I'm thinking about being a bit more intentional about what kind of music I listen to. I'm hoping to come up with a list of 52 musicians or bands that I listen to for a week at a time and try to learn as much as I can about who they are and what contribution they have made to the history of music. I want to include a variety of musical personalities from a variety of times and genres, such as Beethoven, Bach, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Garth Brooks or Madonna.

What I'm asking you to do is help me think of who I should include in my list. My only criteria is that they have at least three or four albums as they will be the only thing that I will be listening to for an entire week. If you are also willing to help me out by leaning me CDs that will be an amazing help. Try to think of those artist that you know you should know, but because there is just so much good music out there you just haven't gotten around to listening to them.

(Coming soon: pictures of my marathon)

Apple Picking

When I was a kid, we would go apple picking almost every year. We would go with Grandma and Grandpa and our cousins. We would go to the orchard and take a hayride out to the particular apples we wanted, then we would pick off ladders, off the ground, or with baskets on long poles. We would eat several apples each as we picked. Us kids would throw rotten apples at each other or at rocks or trees. A direct hit would offer a satisfying crack as the apple fell into a sloppy mess. Once we had collected all the apples we wanted we would go back to the barn for cider and doughnuts.

So last week, my brother and his friend came up from Chicago and we went apple picking. It wasn't exactly the same. The hayride was a walk across the street and nobody threw anything rotten at each other. But it was still a lot of fun, a beautiful day, and we all took home some tasty apples. Grandma and Grandpa weren't there, but we stopped by afterwards for coffee, "something cold to drink" and plenty of tasty treats. Take a look...