I find myself listening to music more these days. While I'm a movie buff, I simply can't find the two hours or so for most movies, either in the theatre or on the 50 incher. Music can be multitasked. A few years ago - more than I want to admit - I had an email conversation with Billy Idol. He'd just put out the underrated Cyberpunk - heck, Idol's underrated period - and I asked if he thought the Walkman was the first step in virtual reality, altering our sonic experience of reality. He did, but he said the experience was too limited by format and size. I bet he has an iPod.

Still, I also find music more interesting and eclectic while what's "popular" is getting less and less interesting and eclectic. Really - who do you know that bought a Britney Spears album? (Do I date myself by saying album and not CD? What do we say when we buy something off iTunes?) Still, I can listen to a varied and interesting list of things, from the complete catalog of Ryan Adams, with and without Whiskeytown, or giving The Shins another listen. I can hear new Big Star (well, sorta) or a new Emmylou Harris song. What I don't see being done is some sort of communal experience and that's interesting. Where do I find people who are listening to a similar range of music or are we destined to just podjack and occasionally find that we have some common tastes? I guess that's okay too. I'm willing to listen.

Alan Light can do almost no wrong, though his stay at Spin didn't bring that rag back to its mid-80's glory. His new mag, Tracks, ain't shabby and is the closest thing to eclectic out there. I re-read Lester Bangs mid-summer and had to really try not to let that out into my writing at the time. We need a Lester, but Alan is the one to find him.

Someone needs to figure out how to use the Amazon-type "you might also like ..." for music. Until then, leave suggestions in comments.

More on this later, but I'm very intrigued by the story of how Schilling chatted on Sons of Sam Horn and on Redsox.com before agreeing to the trade. Baseball does a pretty good job of online - MLB.com and it's offerings are the crown jewel of that organization - but will MLB or will teams control their community? Can they route people to official sites or will blogs/discussions be the destination of choice? There's no "Dawg Pound" in baseball ... but why not? Toronto is trying to organize a "cheer club" which is a great idea, but they do it through Batter's Box, a great site that I should have a link to on here, come to think of it. (And yes, I'm too lazy to do hyperlinks right now.)

One more thought, but for format's sake, I'll make it a new post.