Breaking Format - Updated

If you listen to music on your car radio, you probably are constantly flipping your preset station buttons. I often just turn off the radio and listen to my own tunes on my smartphone. I live in San Diego and after all these years of trying every station up and down the dial, I always fall back to just one station now. I love rock, pop, jazz, blues, folk and americana to name a few genres, but a lot of the music I want to hear is just not on FM radio today. This month I turn the big six oh, so I've heard a lot of rock n roll in my time, but on the radio you are only going to hear the big big hits from the narrow narrow radio formats.

So what music do I listen to on the radio? KSDS Jazz 88.3. It is bar none the best music radio station in San Diego County. Why? Because they play such a variety of jazz and blues. On Jazz 88.3, you will never hear the same song twice in a week and probably not in a month. As people get older they tend to get more conservative in life, with the exception of music. It is one of those magical things in life as most people actually expand their musical tastes over the years. With many young people, it is just the opposite. I strongly recommend Jazz 88.3 to anyone young and older who were just raised on hip hop or rock n roll, respectively.  If you live in San Diego, give it a try for week and let me know if you have ‘expanded’ your radio listening.

Now to television, a medium that is actually getting better with cable and pay for view programming. Last week, I got a couple of pleasant surprises to shake my 'ol preconceptions about two current and very popular music artists. Gotta love it when that happens.

First, I'm watching my favorite music tv station, Pallada owned by VH1 (Time Warner Ch. 286, San Diego). Pallada gets it, they play shows and concerts from a very eclectic range of pop and rock people, good stuff. I came across, You+Me: Live in Santa Monica (check TV scheduling) , a folk duo project by Dallas Green and Alecia Moore (better known as P!nk or Pink). What? Pink doing folk, I was shaking my head, this should be interesting. Well, it was. It was better than that, it was damn good! These two artists and their vocals together are a perfect match and it blew me away. I actually got the goosebumps tingle. You know the tingle, that feeling that goes up the back of your spine to your neck hairline when you witness something special.

• Wikipedia - You+Me

• youplusmeVevo Channel

Second up, it’s the 2015 Academy Awards, not a great show this year, but then came on Lady Gaga. Like Pink, not a person I sit down and listen to (like change the preset button or channel). I know she has being doing her thing with Tony Bennett, doing standards and I was getting to start to appreciate her range, but then this The Sound of Music film tribute...and I'm stunned. Hey, I was also getting the goosebumps tingle again and with music coming from network TV! It was something like watching a great scene from Breaking Bad, it was that good. So just sit back and appreciate the work and respect she gives.