The First 100 Jams

At the tail end of this post, I mentioned it was my new habit to blog the best tracks I hear on my daily, random walks with my dog Hank:

I’ve been buying less new music and trying to really listen to the music I already have: those 27,000 songs stuck on my hard drive, so rarely visited or experienced. My random walks have been allowing me to consider these songs, in many cases for the first time. Obviously, going through them 2 GB at a time over each 3 or 4 week period isn’t the fastest way to do it, but I’ve been discovering new favorites and uncovering songs I’d long forgotten. Do I mind the repeats? Nope. Sometimes, hearing some of the same songs cycle through again is a pretty welcome adventure. It reminds me of the times before mp3s, when I’d spend whole afternoons or car trips repeating a single song or record.

I feel like I’m enjoying music again. Stumbling through the backroads, smelling the flowers, etc.

I’ve also been blogging about it on my personal blog. For each random walk I take with my dog Hank, I select a new Dog Walk Jam™, which is typically my favorite surprise from that particular stroll around the neighborhood. I’m up to #27. The best part? There’s a better distribution amongst genres, genders, sounds than there would be if I were consciously trusting my memory to tell you what I like. It feels more honest. It feels more…random.

At the time, I was just posting the songs to my main blog. But after DWJ #34, I decided to dedicate a separate blog to the project (also using the Tumblr). That was back in November. Now it’s Summer, and this past week saw me reach and surpass 100 Dog Walk Jams™. I felt like it was time to give you an update.

First, you should know why it took so long. I walk my dog twice a day, every day. So just doing the math, it shouldn’t have taken more than 6 months to come up with 66 more tracks. But there are a few other limitations I didn’t mention:

1. Tumblr only allows for one song upload per day. It’s a sensible way for them to hold down their hosting costs and limit exposure to suits from the RIAA. But the limit also contributes the charm of the project. I’m not trying to give you every song I hear. I’m just opening a window into my effort to hear more songs, and sharing my best finds with you.
2. I don’t listen to music on every walk. Some days I’m in a hurry, and I don’t grab the mp3 player. Many times, I’m walking with the family, and wearing headphones would be bad for conversation. And my marriage.
3. Some days I don’t hear anything I’d like to share.
4. A few times, I just haven’t blogged.

My last reason sounds lazy, but here’s what I have do for every track: Find it on my hard drive. Make sure it is properly tagged, including album art. Upload to Tumblr, which takes a minute or two. Tumblr usually imports the track information and artwork, formatting things into a nice little post that looks like this:

But even after making sure everything’s tagged properly, things sometimes look like this:

_____

So, enough of that, right? If you’re like Tiger Woods’s dad, you’re probably saying: ”I want to find out what you’re thinking was, I want to find out what your feelings are and did you learn anything?”

And the answer is, yeah.

I’ve heard some weird shit I didn’t know I had (#18, #21, #28, #32, #46, #50, #83, #91).

Some classic faves I had forgotten (#8, #9, #17, #30, #34, #39, #44, #51, #62, #71, #89).

Got into some great, but unfamiliar, songs by artists I already knew and loved (#15, #24, #33, #60, #79, #81).

And heard a good deal more black music than I would expect, given its underrepresentation on my hard drive (#1, #12, #46, #52, #72).

Finally, with a nod toward last week’s post, here are my five favorite Dog Walk Jams™. Songs that blew me away that morning. Songs that force me to cinematically remember walking the dog.

Random, but predictable, I know.

I leave you with a tech tip that was hugely helpful in putting this post together. I’ve been searching for a Lala replacement (more on that next week), but one fairly unique option for online streaming is extension.fm. It automatically converts mp3s you encounter on the web into a persistent, always-available iTunes-like player. It’s especially useful for browsing and playing music blogs built with Tumblr (like mine). Here’s a 2 minute video showing how it works:

A few notes if you want to try it: Extension.fm works only with Chrome. Also, it’s invite only, right now. But I got my invite the very next day, so you won’t have to wait long once you’ve requested your invitation.