William Burrows (Under Under Some Pillows)
It’s Friday afternoon in Southern Washington and winter has finally swatted its big, wet, windy hand across the face of fall. It’s 40 degrees, windy and raining. Even though it’s about 3:30 in the afternoon, it’s dark enough to feel like the middle of the night.
Energy costs being what they are, we have the heat in the house turned down considerably; most of the warmth in the room comes from the lights in the ceiling, the three furry dogs laying on the floor and the cup of tea steaming my face from its spot next to my computer.
When I was a kid, I loved Friday afternoons like this. I was a sports fanatic. I played some kind of sport at the neighborhood playground pretty much every day, all year round. But there was something comforting to walk past the playground on a night like this and bunker myself in the house, knowing there was nowhere to go that wasn’t warm and secure.
Mom would cook dinner, the steam from the spaghetti pot warming the house and fogging the windows. I’d pile up a stack of pillows from the living room couch, curl up in the corner behind an easy chair and listen to Duke Ellington or Bob Dylan on the family record player (a gigantic console with speakers, an FM radio and a turntable). I’d pet the family pooch and feel just as much warmth and security knowing there was nowhere to go on Friday night as I felt anxiety on Sunday afternoon, knowing that school would be in session again the next day.
Happy Anniversary, Baby
Today marks the second anniversary of Fusion 45. When I launched F45 two years ago, my intention was to spend more time with my record collection. It worked for awhile but now it seems I spend more time with my computer. Things being what they are, that would have likely happened anyway.
The very first “episode” of F45 in December 2006 was a mix of music that I picked at random and played at the roll of the dice. I called it “Trippie Hippie” because it opened with Leonard Cohen. The music mix is quite diverse though not completely out of sorts, the mixes were adequate (though I hate the way I sounded). I’ve since wised up and stopped talking.
Fusion 45, No. 1 - Trippie Hippie
A year ago, I was in the middle of digitizing and posting about 30 cassette tapes worth of mixes I’d found in a box in my barn. If you have a minute, you might want to jump on over to my archives page for December 2007. There are actually some fun mixes on that page, including the oldest known mix in the Fusion 45 repertoire (from somewhere around 1975), which I’ve renamed Be Gentle, It’s My First Time.
In spite of all this work, I think I had about 12 visitors during the first year or so of Fusion 45’s existence. But, thanks to some blog-savvy friends, the support of aggs like Hype Machine (Hi Zoya!), Totally Fuzzy (Hi Fuzzy!) and the many, many (many!) nice people I call the Friends of Fusion 45, I managed to see a little traffic this past year. I’m not bragging here because this ain’t nothing compared to a lot of blogs, but as of, of, 3 minutes ago, I’ve welcomed 33,392 visitors to Fusion 45 over the past year. But to me, that’s pretty spectacular.
I’d like to say that I’ll do more mixes, more posts, more of everything musical in the next year…and maybe I will. Or maybe not. Once never knows how things will go. But, so far, it’s been a lot of fun and I truly appreciate all the good vibes that have been sent on my way.
So, onward to Year 3.
Namaste,
Music Junkie at Fusion 45
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