As you might have noticed, I got out of the habit of blogging for roughly six months.  I’ve returned with new ideas that I’d like to pursue more deeply, and that’s going to demand a change in the format for the “weekly” playlists.  Previously, I posted mini-reviews of the music I bring to the Other Music show on KZUM every Sunday night from 10-midnight Central Time (you can stream the show anywhere in the world by going to kzum.org while it’s on.  But I found that the mini-reviews took a lot of time while not allowing for enough review depth–I’d like to get some more “serious” reviews going here.  And Other Music features two other DJs, and I wasn’t covering their stuff.  What might be nicer is podcasting.  I’m going to work on developing a podcast system for the show that can be linked from here, and take on more in-depth reviews of both new and old music and literature with this site (along with some essay format materials that I’m forever compelled to play with in my spare time).

I’ll likely do one more “mini-review” format post that will cover highlights of music I’ve brought to the Other Music show in the first half of 2011.  It’s been a great year for music!  But let’s hope I can get podcasting worked out from a technical standpoint, and I’ll focus on that to document radio activities.

Tonight’s Other Music will take us right up to the US 4th of July holiday, and I’ve picked out some music that in various ways pays tribute to concepts of “independence,” “homeland,” “freedom,” and so on (though not always in a flattering light).  So listen to the show tonight and enjoy.  One artist that will certainly make the cut, and I don’t think he’s been mentioned here before, is Bobby Conn.  I’m sure we’ll speak more of Bobby Conn’s work in the future, but for now let it be known  how much I appreciate his music: great lyrics, great singing, huge prog-but-modern arrangements, a killer band, and always a great sense of humor.  I’ll be spinning a different version of this track tonight, but it’s a great introduction to the Bobby Conn approach to Big Ideas on a limited budget: