Just Cyd.

One of those traits (annoying or telling, you decide) I've had since childhood is the need to make lists and catalog things, and to do it in such exacting detail that it's all but impossible to maintain.

Of all of those various lists and catalogings, I find occasionally that I really DO want to know how on earth I ended up at a particular website/article/book/song. You see, my friends and I like a bit of a sport with one-upping one another with the weird and wacky, and sometimes my contributions are so far out in left field that I have to cite my sources or, rather, show how I got there.

With books, I finally created tags in Goodreads that say "rec-xxxxx" for the person or source (NPR) of the book. Because with 1400 books marked as "want to read" I need to know WHY I want to read this, too.

FUN FACT: I began logging the books I read back in February 1995 while working at a Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. They told me to bring a book when they hired me, as there was a lot of down time. Cashiers and bartenders would swap books, but I found I'd get partway through a book only to realize I'd already read it. So out came the little hardback notebook, and The List began. 100 books read between Feb 1995 and July 1996. Yep, I had a lot of down time.

Lately, it's music that is the Big Thing, and I have no real way of documenting how I find these people, at least not easily. So, here is the Quick and Dirty Daisy Chain Of Rabbit Holes that Led Me to Getting a Facebook Post Liked By Mike Garrigan:

1 Ben Folds Five --> 2 Hotel Lights --> 3 Darren Jessee --> 4 Nic Brown --> 5 Athenaeum --> 6 Mark Kano --> 7 Mike Garrigan

Simple, eh? No? OK, let me explain:

1-3
Last August, I was still working in the office full-time, in an office with a door I kept shut (bliss!). I needed music to keep my brain happy, so spotify was my friend. I got a hankering for Ben Folds Five, so I dug into their catalog and re-discovered their awesomeness. Dug into YouTube as well, and at the end of the Ben Folds Five - Live at UNC Memorial Hall, 2008 ('Front to Back' Reunion), Ben introduces the drummer as "Darren Jessee of Hotel Lights" and my ears perked up. A few of the YouTube concerts had comments mentioning Darren's solo work, but this band name was new to me. Dug into YouTube and found his songs and actual videos. It was pretty much an instant switch from BFF to DJ right then and there.

3-4
Began following Darren on All The Socials, and he mentioned an upcoming album, etc. He doesn't post much, but Instagram stories are the most common. One was just a photo of a book, which looks interesting. I get the book from the library and read it in one sitting, had a bit of a cry, read it again (and then later the audiobook because why not?). Followed Nic on Instagram, and learned Nic's wife Abby did the cover art for Darren's newest album.

4-5
Most of the time spent with Nic's book I was focused on the career shift stuff, not that he was in a band. HE WAS IN A BAND. IN CHAPEL HILL. Darren is mentioned both IN the book and in the acknowledgements at the end. Said band had a moderately successful late-90s hit. after too many weeks, I finally realized I needed to look up this band. Athenaeum. Found their hit song from their 20 year reunion show" in 2018, and the second that singer opened his mouth, it was all over. who is this man, and where has he been hiding. Turns out that's Mark Kano, the very Mark Kano that Nic started this band with back when Nic was still a very young teen. That's a voice with depth and range and damn where was I when this band was popular?? oh. right. Dig thought the Tubes of You, and get my paws on pretty much everything this band has released. sweet!

5-6
And while digging up All Things Athenaeum, I learn that Mark Kano has done solo work. Similar to Athenaeum, but more mature in other ways. Vocally, this dude's got range and potential - almost reminds me of someone who had done musical theater/broadway. quickly downloaded his stuff from Bandcamp

6-7
in watching Athenaeum, I noticed the other guitarist also sings, and seems to hold his own. Took a while to realize the guy in the early videos is one guy (Grey Brewster) and the bald guy in the later videos/reunion show is another (Mike Garrigan). On Bandcamp, Mark goes so far as to recommend Mike. so I check out Mike, and am immediately bowled over by his song Satellites. after a bunch of listens, I was prompted to buy the damn songs already, so I did. And last night, I posted to Instagram about it, forgetting that insta cross-posts to facebook, and this morning i discovered that Mike Garrigan himself liked that FB post. [just now, snagging the link to the post, I see he liked it on Instagram as well!]

And that, my friends, is how I find myself where I am today.