Boy, I can't express how great it is to have a radio. For the first time since incarceration I have new terrible pop songs stuck in my head. The best part is that I actually enjoy them in their stupid catchiness. I wonder how long that will last.I began by listening to classical music on my cellie's radio. I was able to buy my own radio last weekend so I didn't have to wait until he wasn't using his. The radios don't come with antennas so I attempted to make one out of a paper clip and the foil seasoning packets from ramen soups - ramen seems to be useful for everything in prison.That first antenna didn't work too well, so I cut a Coke can into a long, thin strip and jammed it into my window frame. Immediately my station count went from a low one digit number to a high teen, including many in stereo. It doesn't look pretty at all but it works very well.
I got my musical feet back starting with the pop and adult alternative stations. I don't think music has changed a whole lot, but it was almost all intoxicatingly new to me. After admitting to myself that, yes, I did actually enjoy Taylor Swift's and Lady Gaga's music (did I really say that?), I moved over to the rock station to reintroduce myself to great hard guitar riffs from the likes of Chevelle.
Now that I had my mainstream music foundations, I was ready to hit the indie airwaves of college radio from Rice (University). Whoa, maybe I did that a little fast. The crazy time signatures of avant garde stuff was a bit much for my atrophied ears, but after hearing a couple familiar songs from Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah! and M. Ward, I was hooked again.
When I'm not exploring sounds on college radio, I'm listening to the news and familiar radio shows on the public radio station. This evening I closed my eyes as I listened and laughed along with Prairie Home Companion and I felt like I was at home with my family. It was a good serving of comfort food to sing along to "Powder Milk Biscuits."
* Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver
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