Thinking about a pug named Potato...
I've been working on a project for about 4 years now: a book of poems. And lists and time stamps. It includes these guys. This started when I was thinking about that thing that happens when you unexpectedly hear a song that takes you back; like, say, Marvin Gaye's Got to Give it Up. And then I started thinking about all of the albums that take me to a place long ago: albums my parents listened to; the first albums I bought; the one CD that I had in my car in college when I rigged a "Discman" so that I could play CDs out of my cassette-tape-only car stereo. So then I started asking other people what they would put on their lists: albums that influenced their lives--albums that take them back. I asked everyone I could think of to write their list of albums. I got lists from my 18-year-old creative writing students, and from my 70-something jazz musician friend. I asked artists and writers. I asked my parents. The reaction was pretty amazing. Some people were instantly on it: they sent their lists to me within hours of my asking. Others lingered--took days and weeks to perfect their lists. But most wanted to tell stories: most attached a paragraph or two of explanation for why they had chosen each album. The stories are great. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some of the explanations of albums that have influenced people. "Album Explanations." Stay tuned...