Music

The “WLIR” years

I have a real soft spot for “80’s new-wave/alternative rock/punk”, from being brought up listening to 92.7 WLIR, mostly thanks to my brother Bob. I think it started around ’81, and lasted well into college, with WLIR’s sister station WXXP in Pittsburgh, and then with 92.7 WDRE when WLIR was shut down.

My favorites back in the 80s were The Smiths, The Cure, Thomas Dolby, Talking Heads, B-52’s, New Order, Depeche Mode, U2, R.E.M., Peter Gabriel, The Clash, Yaz, Eurythmics, Shriekback, They Might Be Giants, XTC, Tears For Fears, Howard Jones, Human League, Sex Pistols, P.I.L., Violent Femmes, Squeeze, Big Audio Dynamite, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and much more… I still love most of these bands.

The “Female Vocalist/Storyteller” years

I’d guess this phase really got kicked off when I borrowed some Kate Bush CDs from Steve in 1987, freshman year of college. I was familiar with Kate from the few songs that got radio play, but this was the first time I really gave her a good listen, and I was hooked. Next came Sinead O’Connor, Enya, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, Heather Nova, Happy Rhodes, Melissa Ferrick, Ani Difranco, etc.

Techno/Trance/Dance/Industrial

My tastes lately tend towards Techno/Trance/Dance/Hip Hop/Pop. The techno trend started when I moved to Virginia in 1995, though I think it has some roots in some of my 80s music I like New Order and Depeche Mode, as well as all the computer music downloaded on my Amiga (MOD files) in the early 90s. Artists in my “favorites” list these days include David Guetta, Moby, BT, The Prodigy, Rihanna, Flo Rida, Lady Gaga, and Nicki Minaj.

Concerts

Back in the day, I used to go to a lot of concerts. Reverse chronological list follows: