AwesomeDude Radio

[Richard Norway]

I had seen the links to AD Radio many times and had just ignored them. I figured that it was just some commercial station promoting AD. But AD doesn't promote Coca Cola. Does It? So a couple of days ago I actually gave in to a little of my curiosity and did the big 'click.'?

The Oldies and Country assaulted me. I clicked it off.

No way! Why are these authors listening to this crap, I had to ask myself. This must be an insane group. But they can't be THAT insane, because I liked...really liked...what they wrote. Well, writers must be insane then. Shit! Does that make me insane? I had to think about that for a day.

Yeah. I probably am insane. At least I wanted then to be insane, because I wanted to be a writer too.

Okay, I decided to give AD Radio another try. What have I got to lose? My sanity? Hell, I gave that up a long time ago when I decided to do some writing.

So, here we go. I did that fatal?'click' again.

OMG. Peter and Paul and Mary came on. Damn, they were my favorite folk group back in the day. I turned up the volume. I was in heaven because you don't hear them any more on popular radio.

Then, to my amazement, Neil Diamond was on. Shit! What's happening?

OMG. I was now listening to The Clancy Brothers.

I continued to listen for the entire afternoon. I worked at my job at being an engineer that day with this music filling my ears. I worked for hours, but never got tired. I just worked with this background.

The next day, I still had to finish the project I was working on, but before I pulled up the AutoCad drawing that I was trying to complete, I 'clicked'?on AD Radio first. It seemed so natural. I guess I needed the focus that the music was giving me.

I had finished the last structural detail for the Framing Plan that I had been working on for the new bank building in Las Cruces, NM. It was good to be finished with it, but then I realized that AD Radio was still playing.

Why hadn't I noticed it?

I thought about that. I thought about the music that was still playing. What was it about this particular music that now intrigued me so? I'm not a big fan of the lyrics to most music, concentrating mostly on the music itself. But lately, I've been listening to the words...the poetry. It IS poetry. It means something. It's trying to say something.

It suddenly hit me like that fucking 2X6 timber right across my frontal lobe.

Passion!! That's what it's all about. I heard love stories. I heard unrequited love stories. I heard death. I heard life.

I heard Life!

I heard passion!

Damn. Damn. Damn.

I knew instantly what this radio station is all about. It's what writers are all about. It's why i'm here.

It's part of me now. The living that I hear, heralds who I am. It's me. It's truly who I am, passions, fears, regrets, joys...all of me.

I still hate the Country, but that's my unwillingness to hear the passion in that yet. I know it's there, but baggage takes a while to put out in the trash.

I'll still have a hard time putting away my classical music when I try to write, but AD Radio is there for me.

Listen to it. You'll see.

[DesDownunder]

The evidence of you being an author is contained in your beautifully written post, Richard.

Are you losing your head when all those around you seem to be keeping theirs?

They are the ones with the problem of holding on to their minds, guarding all their thought as if they meant something.

Worrying about your sanity will only make you crazy.

You don't have to be insane to be an author, but it sure does help at times.

[Trab]

"You don't have to be insane to be an author, but it sure does help at times."

Strange. It doesn't seem to have helped me too much.

I agree with Des though, in that your post about AD Radio is superb.

[Tanuki Racoon]

I pop on and off AD radio. I like it, but Dude once told me it's horribly under utilized. Too bad. I even had contributed some songs.

[The Pecman]

I think AD Radio just got a few more songs, thanks to an anonymous donor.

I agree: hearing seldom-heard classics is often far more enjoyable than hearing the same old rock/pop hits you hear on any oldies station.

I tell you, though, I have to be careful what I listen to when I write. I get so into dialog, I can't have any distractions, listening to vocals. I have to confine myself to instrumentals, usually jazz and classical, or the lyrics start intruding too much on my work. YMMV.

[Richard Norway]

I tell you, though, I have to be careful what I listen to when I write. I get so into dialog, I can't have any distractions, listening to vocals. I have to confine myself to instrumentals, usually jazz and classical, or the lyrics start intruding too much on my work. YMMV.

I have to agree. Words DO get in the way when I write. (Blue is now editing my first) I've reread some of my dialog, and it's obvious to me when I hear the undertones of Wagner that my dialog is ripe with double meanings, but when I'm listerning to Beethoven, my dialog is filled with angst. Lizt fills me with hope during his tone poems, but Copeland tears my heart out.

My trouble is having the right inspiration to write the dialog that is appropriate for the story. I get into my characters, as I'm sure you all do, but I also feel that I don't get into their story without music behind me. I should be writing screenplays, because I SEE the action along with the music...or maybe a director...or maybe an idiot.

I've tried to get into jass, but it comes across as incomplete. Maybe a better way of saying is that I feel angst in a lot of it. Having said that, you'll probably find it strange that one of my favorites is Dave Brubeck's Take Five

I've been told that all writers have a muse...that someone that keeps the juices flowing. Mine is music, I guess, because when I hear music, I dream of scenes and people doing.

Richard

[Bruin Fisher]

I've said it before in the forums - I think Awesomedude Radio is a wonderful service. I love to listen to it while I work, it alternately soothes me and challenges me and lifts my spirits. The playlist is better than anything I can find elsewhere. I don't listen when I'm doing creative writing, but I need to be alone with my thoughts to do that.

My heartfelt thanks to his awesomeness and all those who've helped to provide the radio service.

Bruin

[Tanuki Racoon]

I too cannot write with music containing vocals. I pick mood music (classical, new age, etc) relating to what I'm doing and then just go.

[Trab]

I can't really write at the best of times, no matter what lack of distraction, but when it comes to music, words just don't really penetrate as such. I have an almost impossibly poor comprehension of the words, unless the singer is extremely clear and the instrumentals extremely soft. I find that the flow of the sound is what I like, and because of that, I can listen to music in languages I don't know and enjoy it equally. Some music elevates me, and some drives me frantic, so the right choice is essential to what I want to do.