Music from This Century

I think it's important to stay abreast of the music scene--or at least have some familiarity with it--to avoid terminal old fogeydom. As delightful as a stroll down 1960's memory lane can be, at some point one has to escape from the museum and live today.

So--I spent some quality ear time on The Pulse--SiriusXM bills it as "The 2000's and Today." That seems about right. It doesn't play hip hop or anthing too intense but you do get a nice sampling of today's artists. On The Pulse, an "oldie" is from 2002.

Appealing songs by female singers included Michelle Branch's Are You Happy Now, Sara Bareilles' Uncharted, and Pink's F'n Perfect.

Groups of guys entertained me: Switchfoot's Your Love is a Song, The Fray's Syndicate, Maroon 5's Misery and the amusingly named Fitz and the Tantrums, with MoneyGrabber--which sounded like an old Hall and Oates song.

After my sampling, I think the retro period of choice now has become the 1980's. For pure '80's, you can visit Channel 8 on Sirius or XM, of course, too.

Uncharted is my top pick, and I got a nice "Cold Play" feeling from the Switchfoot song, but I liked them all. Makes me feel young.

Coffee House on Satellite Radio Offers a Tasty Blend

I sat down in my borrowed car yesterday and turned on the audio system. It was tuned to Sirius Channel 30--The Coffee House (also available on XM Radio Channel 51). It was just what I felt like listening to. I've heard this channel before but had forgotten how enjoyable it is.

It's mellow--singer songwriters. That could be anyone from "seasoned" acts like Paul Simon or Bob Dylan or brand new artists like Peter Himmelman (Impermanent Things) or Cas Haley (Better).

Also, you'll hear live acoustic versions of songs that were originally scored for a full band or even an orchestra. I just heard Maroon 5 a half hour ago on my way home doing a song I didn't recognize. I heard Boz Scaggs singing Lowdown with just a couple of accompanying instruments.

What really impressed me was the "Coffee Covers." Think Elvis Costello performing Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. Or, how about the Rolling Stones' classic Mother's Little Helper by the young Irish singer Eleanor McEvoy?

Of course, there are many young artists just arriving on the scene, which makes it all a real treat. Satellite radio, branded as Sirius XM, is a combination of XM Radio and Sirius--the original two options for getting your radio broadcast from a satellite transmission. The beauty is, you get it every where--you can hear it in New York or New Orleans, Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine.

The only drawback is that you have to pay for it on a subscription basis and it has drop-outs when you drive under an overpass or a thick stand of trees and driving in a tunnel--forget it? You get well over 100 stations, including a wide range of music from Classical to Swing to Hip Hop to Bluegrass. The Rock is separated into multiple categories beyond the 50's (Channel 5), 60's (Channel 6), etc. And many stations have NO COMMERCIALS!

A highlight? Hearing the California duo The Weepies.