Radio, radio

You may think I have been living the cool, expatriate life here in an empty 1st arrondissement apartment in Paris. Well, you're right. Yesterday, Victoria expertly guided me through the Louvre's "secret entrance" and the only truly important works of art, of course. Then I 'spent my last sous'--as Orwell would say--on a freshly baked and warm baguette.

The past week, though, has been less glamorous. Friends and family are either still on vacation or back in school, and my funds are mostly reserved for food. As a result, I spend the bulk of my time indoors, alternating between staring at job sites and staring at DVDs.

Only now does the loss of my mp3 player and distance from my CD collection sting. Frankly, I'm amazed I lasted this long without any CDs. Up by Right Said Fred, Appetite for Destruction, and Siamese Dream surround the memories of my different childhood trips to Nice. In chronological order, obviously. This time, my guitar was the accompaniment. Less practical, but in theory less boring than a CD.

So I have been listening exclusively to radio, which is surprisingly enjoyable in Paris. Surprisingly because I did not expect to find a station as hip and advertisement-free as 105.1 FM FIP. One night I heard The Arcade Fire right after a mysterious a cappella pop song. And I have yet to hear a single ad. The station is as freeform as a college radio station, but more professional. Unfortunately, as is often the case with stations like this, there is a lot of jazz and "world music." I suppose it is easier to thrown on some John Coltrane instead of figuring out which hyped indie release isn't mediocre.

For me, listening to jazz is like dipping my head in a bucket of cold water. Sometimes it's refreshing or even desirable, but never for very long. And if I'm lucky enough to follow it up with the familiarity of popular music, it's as if I just switched back to the hot tub from a break in the pool. If it's New Order, there's a naked woman in the hot tub waiting.

Seeking exactly that feeling, I sought a way to listen to my old favorites, and discovered last.fm radio. A few posts back, I linked to the site, and as far as I know nobody signed up. I thought it was an interesting winamp plug-in, but didn't bother with the radio download. Now I'm pretty thankful for it. I put in "Similar artists to My Bloody Valentine" and can listen to what I was in the mood for until I'm inevitably sick of it. By then, some other group that vaguely resembles them comes on and I'm happy again. It's also instructive to listen to categories (assigned by users, aka tags), for example "not bad." Listening to the latter tag just now, I have come upon the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and "Fascination Street" just came on. Not bad!