speed of dark

During high school, I started working in a music store, which I see as a major turning point in my musical development. Prior to this, I listened to the same trash that everyone else liked, never realizing what else was out there. Over time, I developed an appreciation for all genres of music, although I'm still not much of a jazz or country music aficionado. My manager was a great person and terrific boss, and always encouraged her teenage employees to learn more about other kinds of music. She woulg give us an artist's name, and we would have to identify the genre, and other kinds of tests to help us better serve our customers with their mind game questions.

One of the other great things about this job was the "freebie bin", which was a large box of promotional music CDs we were allowed to take home. The store was shipped boxes of CDs marked "promotional only" and the intent was for us to play them over the sound system, but most of them ended up in a cardboard box in the back office. Every couple of months, we had a store meeting, and at the end of the meeting we could pick through the box and take what we wanted. Most of the CDs I gleaned from that time were terrible and are gone now, but there were a few jewels.

Freedy Johnston released This Perfect World in 1994 and I picked it out of the pile of discs and grabbing hands of my fellow employees. This turned out to be a great album, and I have posted one of the highlights below, along with a cover of the song by Death Cab for Cutie. According to his website, Freedy should be releasing a new album in 2007 called Rain in the City.

freedy johnston: bad reputation from this perfect world

death cab for cutie: bad reputation from iTunes sessions