Wake Up Call - 6/13
A few years ago I got one of those Bose CD/radio/clock units for the bedroom. The main reason was to have a decent music source for that room without having to run speakers; the Bose is a small unit with a lot of power, produces good sound (including a reasonable bass) at relatively low volume, and more than does the job. I also like to listen late at night before going to sleep and my wife is out before me, so I wanted something that would (a) take headphones and (b) have a remote, since it's across the room from the bed. The Bose has a nice little creditcard sized remote, which I keep on my night table, and while it doesn't have a phone jack (at least at that time - don't know if they've added one to later models), it has RCA outputs - so I picked up an RCA-to-headphone jack converter at Radio Shack, and it's worked just fine.
My wife likes to rise quietly; luckily, she gets up before me and has her own alarm clock, which uses increasingly bright flashes of light to wake her - it only gets noisy if ignored too long (like so many of us). I, OTOH, like to rise to music. The Bose has alarm settings that let you specify buzzer, radio, or CD - I always use CD. It defaults to track 1 (and has no random setting for wake up), but you can pick a specific track as the starting point, as well as a snooze interval and max wake-up volume level.
Usually I pick a disc for the week, and select a track. I keep the max level moderate, and like music that doesn't assault me while I'm still reaching full consciousness (or as close as I get to it). The Bose starts the track at very low volume, and slowly increases it to the max setting. It's a very nice little device, actually. I'll generally hit snooze once (on the remote), and then - on the second run - listen to the track run through before actually climbing out of bed (literally - we have a new bed/mattress/boxspring combo, and are a good 32" off the floor).
As a regular part of the blog, I'll post my wakeup choice for the week; other recommendations are welcome.
This week, the disc is the Grateful Dead's "American Beauty", and the starting track is the beautifully harmonized #9 (number 9, number 9): "Attics of My Life".
I've never been a Deadhead, and although I respect their talents (particularly the late Jerry Garcia's chops - I also like some of the work he did with master mandolinist David Grisman) and their integrity as a band, they're not a favorite of mine. In fact, there are only two Dead albums in my collection (this one and "Workingman's Dead") - but they're two discs I return to repeatedly. Of course, they're more structured, tighter, and less "jammy" than the Dead's more typical output, and that's probably why I like them - that plus the strong American folk and blues roots-base, and the outstanding songwriting that characterizes them (Box of Rain, Ripple, Friend of the Devil, Casey Jones, Uncle John, Dire Wolf, etc. - just about every track on both sets is a keeper) .
As for the selected track, I'm a sucker for harmonies, and this cut's layered vocals go very nicely with the sunrise (the bedroom faces east, and we're up early). The words work well for the pre-coffee moments, too:
My wife likes to rise quietly; luckily, she gets up before me and has her own alarm clock, which uses increasingly bright flashes of light to wake her - it only gets noisy if ignored too long (like so many of us). I, OTOH, like to rise to music. The Bose has alarm settings that let you specify buzzer, radio, or CD - I always use CD. It defaults to track 1 (and has no random setting for wake up), but you can pick a specific track as the starting point, as well as a snooze interval and max wake-up volume level.
Usually I pick a disc for the week, and select a track. I keep the max level moderate, and like music that doesn't assault me while I'm still reaching full consciousness (or as close as I get to it). The Bose starts the track at very low volume, and slowly increases it to the max setting. It's a very nice little device, actually. I'll generally hit snooze once (on the remote), and then - on the second run - listen to the track run through before actually climbing out of bed (literally - we have a new bed/mattress/boxspring combo, and are a good 32" off the floor).
As a regular part of the blog, I'll post my wakeup choice for the week; other recommendations are welcome.
This week, the disc is the Grateful Dead's "American Beauty", and the starting track is the beautifully harmonized #9 (number 9, number 9): "Attics of My Life".
I've never been a Deadhead, and although I respect their talents (particularly the late Jerry Garcia's chops - I also like some of the work he did with master mandolinist David Grisman) and their integrity as a band, they're not a favorite of mine. In fact, there are only two Dead albums in my collection (this one and "Workingman's Dead") - but they're two discs I return to repeatedly. Of course, they're more structured, tighter, and less "jammy" than the Dead's more typical output, and that's probably why I like them - that plus the strong American folk and blues roots-base, and the outstanding songwriting that characterizes them (Box of Rain, Ripple, Friend of the Devil, Casey Jones, Uncle John, Dire Wolf, etc. - just about every track on both sets is a keeper) .
As for the selected track, I'm a sucker for harmonies, and this cut's layered vocals go very nicely with the sunrise (the bedroom faces east, and we're up early). The words work well for the pre-coffee moments, too:
In the secret space of dreams, where I dreaming lay amazed
When the secrets all are told, and the petals all unfold
When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me.
posted by DJStan at 12:17 PM
2 Comments:
Once I had an alarm something like that. (Don't anymore, and don't need one. Have toddler.) Two favorite wake-up songs were "Dreams" by the Cranberries and "Modern Love" by David Bowie. (Couldn't pick anything mellow; wouldn't have worked.)
Waking to Bowie, eh? Maybe "Space Oddity" or "China Girl" ("Wake up mornings where's my little China Girl?"). Hey, how about teaching Joey to sing "Young Americans" when he wakes you?
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