Saturday, March 15, 2008

Pandoradipity in action

You might have noticed people who make their way to Restricted View are not always happy to find me discussing their work. (For example, a recent commenter felt that my recaps for Television Without Pity are lacking in, er, pity.) But not everyone objects! A month ago I told you all about my deep love for Pandora, the internet personalized radio thingie, and about how Pandora occasionally seems to know not only what kind of music I want to listen to, but also what I'm doing while I listen. Well, not long after that I got a very nice email from Danny Scherr, whose song "Fade Me In" took me by surprise as I was editing my honeymoon pictures. My mention of the song, and the weird concidence, took him by surprise -- and as he poked around here he discovered that we have some other things in common as well (one example: we danced to the same "first dance" song at our respective weddings!). The internet, she is a woundrous thing.

Danny very generously sent me a copy of his album Richmond Special, so I can enjoy his "basic rock song structures," "subtle use of vocal harmony," "mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation" and other pleasing qualities whenever I like. Lately it's been keeping me company while I cook. Pandora was right: I do like it! And I think "Fade Me In" is my favorite track. So thank you, Danny! And thank you to Pandora, and the internet in general, for keeping life interesting.

Speaking of Pandoradipity, I submit that the opposite of Pandoradipity is when you turn on the radio (or walk into a store where a radio station is playing) in the middle of a song, and then the DJ comes on to tell you what they've been playing, and it turns out you just missed a song you really love. I don't have a cute term for that, but I really hate it.

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