I’m currently plugging away at my seal-counting or whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing… and realized I was not listening to anything (well, does eavesdropping count? :) ). And I couldn’t really recall the last time I listened to music while I worked. So on came my headphones and up came Windows Media Player (it serves its purpose, people).

For the fun of it, I selected “All Music”, a random hode-podge of all the songs I have collected from my collection (and a few songs from some other collections). And I feel better for it. I need music, but more importantly, I need variety. In the car (I love you Brian) the choice is minimal. Classic rock is good, yes, but it gets old (pardon the pun). And the other choices of radio station play… well, they don’t vary a whole lot. Sometimes you can set your clock based on what’s on a particular station, or can actually switch from one station to another… where they’re playing the same song.

I need variety (though some would argue my collection really isn’t that varied). I like to hear Dave Matthews sing sweet love songs to me (I do have a lot of Dave Matthews), followed by Alanis Morissette ranting about men (that’s her earlier work - the later stuff is much more guy-friendly). Throw in some Sarah Harmer with the vocals, guitar and clarinet (clarinet!!). Add a dash of Moist’s Silver. .. I even keep the Charlie Brown Christmas tracks there (really, there just jazz).

Next ten songs: Counting Crows - Murder of One, Dave Matthews - Crash Into Me (how can you not love Dave Matthews?), Nirvana - Man Who Sold the World, Alanis Morissette - That I Would Be Good, Dave Matthews - All Along the Watchtower, Josh Ritter - Kathleen (this guy opened for Sarah Harmer here in town, he’s great), Counting Crows - Round Here, Moist - Underground, The Beatles - All You Need is Love, and finally Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1,000,000.

I need some new music suggestions - groups, soloist, jazz, rock, country - I’m open to suggestion. Got any? Email me. Or leave a comment.