Digging for locally grow music

When I have free time and a fresh paycheck, my favorite indulgence is a trip to the record store. Every time I pass through the entrance to Tracks or Borders, my mind begins to churn out the mental list of approximately 246 CDs I want to get next. But sometimes I'm tempted to forget what friends have recommended to me, or what I just read in Rolling Stone. Sometimes I'm in the mood to buy a CD by a local Bloomington musician of whom I've never even heard a soundbite, just because it's fun to expand my collection.\nThis Weekend is dedicated to exploring the music within 2003's Live From Bloomington compilation. Whether this CD is fantastic or disappointing is not relevant. What's important is to acknowledge that listening to any town's local music offers an incredible opportunity to hear the texture and flavor of local culture. A musician is certainly influenced by their surroundings; likewise, surroundings can be sculpted by its music. \nThink of the torrential downpour of great music in the '60s and '70s. Walk around campus with your headphones blaring the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Bob Marley's Catch a Fire or Joni Mitchell's Blue and it's impossible to prevent your thoughts from wandering back in time, to the civil rights movement, the summer of love or hazy marijuana smoke. Time, place and sound are intrinsic. There is no separation. If you can filter out the environment of a brilliant song, you'll find you've stripped it of its soul. \nUnfortunately, what's popular in today's mainstream music scene says nothing about our world, our hopes, our fears. Sure, maybe you can listen to Justin Timberlake and recognize he's listening to Michael Jackson or hear Creed and know it's listening to Pearl Jam, but their music fails to contextualize the world in which we're living. Taking a chance on a locally grown, unheard of artist offers a lesson regarding the concerns of a society, even if that society (Bloomington) is a microcosm of the world as a whole.\nI realized how important music can and should be to a locale when I spent my spring break in New Orleans. Meandering around by myself our last morning in town, I ventured into The Louisiana Music Factory. The endless racks of entirely local artists initially intimidated me, as I knew nothing about New Orleans musicians. Upon asking for recommendations from the cashier, she pointed me in the direction of their "listening stations." There in the back of the store I found eight ten-disc changers and headphones that allowed me to listen to over an hour of music I had never heard before. \nBecause I could listen before I committed 15 dollars to a purchase, I bought not one, but two albums: Los Hombres Calientes Volume 2 and The Iguanas Plastic Silver 9-Volt Heart. The former is a fantastical jazz fusion of Latin, reggae and traditional brass beats, and the latter is a blending of zydeco, blues and roots rock and roll. I never would have bought either of these albums had I not been able to preview them. Looking at a CD cover doesn't tell me if the substance inside matches my taste, and my budget doesn't allow me to just constantly buy on a whim. Even though I really shouldn't have spent any additional money, I couldn't refuse to splurge because I had sampled the music. Now back in Indiana and still broke from three other CD purchases since my trip, I'm so happy I have a little taste of New Orleans accessible whenever I want to musically travel back to its colorful southern culture. \nIn one month I'll graduate from IU and be forced to move away from Bloomington to get The Inevitable Job. Bloomington is an amazing cultural oasis in the otherwise bland state of Indiana, and its music should reflect its open-minded attitude, progressive political agenda and diverse population. So when I move away and I'm craving a taste of my college home, I'll be sure to tune my stereo to a little Sideburn Mike and the Lawsuits, Carrie Newcomer or John Mellencamp. I'm confident that this music, which reflects the personality of this town, will soothe my melancholy and provide me with the opportunity to musically journey back to Bloomington.