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Adam Joshua Smargon
www.adam.smargon.net/music

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture; it's a really stupid thing to want to do."
-- Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled "A Man out of Time Beats the Clock." Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52.

That being said, I'm simply going to list the websites of my favorite musical artists and styles, in alphabetical order.

I have a remarkably wide taste in music. I will listen to anything once.

AC/DC
Ace of Base
Bryan Adams
Aerosmith
America
Fiona Apple
Arrested Development
Asia
Anita Baker
Barenaked Ladies
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
Black Box
Bon Jovi
Boston
David Bowie
Jim Brickman
Garth Brooks
Jimmy Buffett
Mary-Chapin Carpenter
The Carpenters
The Cars
Johnny Cash
Harry Chapin
Tracy Chapman
Cheap Trick
Chicago
Eric Clapton
Collective Soul
Phil Collins
John Coltrane
The Commodores
The Corrs
The Robert Cray Band
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Jim Croce
Miles Davis
Def Leppard
Depeche Mode
Dire Straits
Doctor Demento
The Doobie Brothers
The Doors
Duran Duran
The Eagles
Earth, Wind & Fire
Electric Light Orchestra
Danny Elfman
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Enya
Gloria Estefan
Donald Fagen
Mary Fahl
Fleetwood Mac
Ben Folds
Ben Folds Five
Foreigner
Fu-Schnickens
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
Dale Gonyea
Lou Gramm
Green Day
Hall & Oates
Heart
Don Henley
Bruce Hornsby
Information Society
INXS
Janet Jackson
Joe Jackson
Michael Jackson
Billy Joel
Elton John
Journey
Kenny G
King Missile
Alison Krauss and Union Station
Led Zeppelin
Tom Lehrer
John Lennon
Ray Lynch
Huey Lewis and the News
Kenny Loggins
Richard Marx
Paul McCartney
Sarah McLachlan
Madonna
Richard Marx
matchbox twenty
John Mellencamp
Pat Metheny Group
George Michael
Midnight Oil
Glenn Miller
Monty Python
The Moody Blues
New Order
Nirvana
October Project
Oingo Boingo
Robert Palmer
Charlie Parker
The Alan Parsons Project
Pearl Jam
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Phish
Pink Floyd
The Police
Prince
Queen
Bonnie Raitt
Red Hot Chili Peppers
R.E.M.
REO Speedwagon
Lionel Richie
The Rolling Stones
Rush
David Sanborn
Savage Garden
Seals and Crofts
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Simon & Garfunkel
Paul Simon
Sister Hazel
Michael W. Smith
Rick Springfield
Bruce Springsteen
Steely Dan
Sting
Styx
Supertramp
Survivor
James Taylor
Tears for Fears
10,000 Maniacs
They Might Be Giants
George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Toto
U2
Van Halen
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Weird Al Yankovic
The Who
Wild Orchid
Robbie Williams
Steve Winwood
Stevie Wonder
XTC
Yes
ZZ Top

All these artists have something in common: they use instruments. Other groups don't; all they have is the power and potential of their voices. That's a cappella music, and I first got hooked in 1999 at a college a cappella concert. These are my favorite college groups, in alphabetical order:

The All-Nighters, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
The Amalgamates, from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts
The Beelzebubs, from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts
The Binghamton Crosbys, from Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York
The Brown Derbies, from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island
The Buffalo Chips, from The University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York
The Earth Tones, from The University at Albany in Albany, New York
The Georgetown Phantoms, from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Off The Beat, from The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Six-5000, from The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phalanx, from Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
The Rusty Pipes, from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York
The Troubadours, from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The Vocal Chords, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
The Xtension Chords, from The University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign, Illinois

Much of the best of college a cappella has been compiled into annual CDs titled "BOCA: Best Of College A-cappella." I own about six or seven of these CDs.

There are, of course, professional a cappella groups that I like as well (also in alphabetical order): The Bobs, Rockapella, Toxic Audio, and Vocal Tonic.

My personal music library, which I used to call The Favorites when it was all on audiotape, has grown considerably through the years.

I'm somewhat of a drummer, albeit one in need of re-training. I do some air-drumming (substitutng two pencils for the sticks I can't seem to find) to songs I know and love, especially when I need to stay awake or re-energize. I had a stretch of over twelve years between opportunities to sit behind a drum set... from June 1992 to February 2005. A weekend late in that month saw the annual Regional Gathering for New Hampshire/Maine MENSA in Manchester, and the weekend event featured a dedicated music room. People were encouraged to bring instruments, and some professional musicians brought their own instruments and gave all kinds of learning sessions. Karaoke, jam sessions, et cetera. I got a chance to sit behind their drum kit no less than four times, and within five minutes I was jammin' with the best of 'em. I took part in three jam sessions (my first three!), playing songs from Eric Clapton, Simon & Garfunkel, The Everly Brothers, and some other songs that I did not even recognize! (In that case, I had to fake it the best way I knew how... and I didn't do too badly!) What a tremendous amount of fun... and it's always nice to know that I haven't lost too much of my drumming skills! Yeah, it's like riding a bike... except the pedals are for different purposes.

Copyright © 1994-2008 Adam Joshua Smargon (adam@smargon.net)
Music Page v.2.65 - updated 23 April 2008