Rock Club (like a book club)
!http://pearlofcivilization.net/images/136.gif (Screenshot of my birthday playlist on the rock club website.)!For my birthday last weekend, I invited some friends over for a rock club. Between summertime and fall touring and various out-of-town events, rock club has gotten off track lately, but usually this is something we try to do about twice a month. It's sort of like a book club, but with songs. Fun!The basic template is that everybody brings a current favourite song (not necessarily a rock song), and we take turns playing them for the room (on the stereo, not personally performing... well, so far). Every other rock club has a theme, which we take turns choosing. Afterwards, I post everything on a website as MP3s, so we don't have to sit around burning CDs at rock club (and so we can later waste time at work, posting comments and bonus material).The website makes a better than average at-work radio station, although there are lots of dorky picks (I don't think it would be as fun if everyone was constantly trying to show off their superior taste). The real fun is the actual event, for me. Being in a group and listening to someone's favourite song, which maybe they just introduced with some special context, is a very different way to listen to music. It's interesting to see which songs benefit from social forces, and which ones just get talked over or perhaps overshadowed by someone's excess enthusiasm. Sort of similar to the way that seeing a band live can increase or decrease your appreciation for their album.So the theme of this latest rock club was to give me a song for my birthday, which turned out to be the most festive non-consumer gift I can so far imagine without resorting to sexual favours. Playing a song for somebody isn't even an object you can hold, but it was really fun to see what people picked. Add some food and drinks, et voila. Fun times.But it struck me-- having friends over to recommend songs to you is like live-action Mog! So I thought I'd pass along the rock club template in case anybody wanted to start one in their own neighbourhood.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (19)