I Found Taylor Hicks - Links to Listen

Found Via Taylor Hicks, and a Few Admissions

Finding soul is a fantastic feeling! Soul comes to different people in different ways. You feel it. You know it if you have it. However, feeling soul is not something one deals with from a daily checklist. My recognitions of soul come to me like waves on a shore, in ever changing, always incalculable, revelations. Time passes between, and I forget even the concept from inattention.

If one can hear something that touches his soul, that person can experience a renewal, a sort of reawakening, about what it means to feel human. The meaning of life is more than just daily routines for survival. We all fall into these routines, and important things fall to the side.

This graying hippie knows all the words to most of the songs of the sixties and seventies. I understood life through music. My experiences and feelings were justified and intensified through music. At some point in time, the radio was not playing my life, in my tune anymore. The car radio drifted off to classic rock and oldies stations. I quit looking for new music. I think part of me died then, or I was experiencing a long time without a wave.

"American Idol" finally surfaced as a television viewing option for me after several seasons passed with good reviews, and lots of entertainment news. The 2006 contestant, Taylor Hicks, caught my attention with his Joe Cocker "moves", and his soulfully earthy delivery. Premature gray looks good on this 29 year old, who may be able to turn his “live shows nightly" experience into recording artist recognition. He remains in the top eight, pending America’s next phone-in vote.

"Trouble", Taylor's song entry for the week, grabbed my attention--literally stopping me in my mopping tracks. I put the mop in the bucket, sat down, and paid attention. Then, it was over. Since I wasn’t familiar with the song, I had to do some Internet research to find who had recorded that particular song from this century, as the artist’s name was mentioned briefly, before the performance.

"Where to look”? I start at Google.

Cingular has a download of the ringtone variety, available for customers for $2.49. The download on my phone is not a current option.

I search on. . . and discover the original artist’s name is Ray La Montagne -- and the next four sites I found would only stream the song for .99.

I hate that music is not totally free anymore. Ironic that it was the freedom of music on the Internet that created the “buy now” market.
Undaunted, as I consider myself a researcher, I changed search engines.

GoFish.com leads me to tracks unavailable for download. Then Amazon.com pops up with their usual looking for sale page, which contains additional information on Ray La Mantagne.

Hey! Downloads for free. I got cut off in third 30 second stream. Back to reading.

"Burn", La Mantagne's debut album is rated #87 in Amazon's "top sellers", and #51 in their "yesteryear" top 100. Reading the first several of 140 independent reviews, I decide I might buy the album. New music is good for the soul.

This album appears on the same listing page as the "Remastered: San Quentin" CD by Johnny Cash, and the new "Beatles Box Set", available for sale on April 11th. The beat does go on.

I pop up a new window, not yet willing to commit to buying something I have to wait for in the mail. But, I might, so I minimize that window, and try a dogpile search, finding different directions to venture.

Several clicks later, "Voila"! Hey, I’m good!


http://www.rickey.org/blog/2006/03/taylor_hicks_trouble.html


If you want to listen to my favorite American Idol contestant (cut and paste the link if necessary), feel free. It it does not cost a penny to download the MP3. You can play it, or save it! As a matter of fact, you can follow several pages of information through the weeks, and download the MP3s (and save?) for those performances too. Since the information is available from an ".org" site, I suspect this is a limited time offer. I don't know Rickey personally.

Music is still free, but sometimes you have to work to get it.