Oct

6

This is my October, shadow me accordingly…

Filed Under Babbling, Homelife, The history of me 

There’s something that’s just ever so wonderful about the month of October. For me, I don’t know if its the seasonal feel in the air, specifically, or just the fact that I’m now a solid 4 months from my birthday. But the festive spirit always catches hold and throws me into a glowing, beaming, seasonal mush.

October 1st marks the day when I’ll usually whip out my copy of Mike Garrigan’s The Lessons of Autumn or the album that followed it from Mike, Collapsis’ Dirty Wake. It helps set the seasonal mood for me… Both brooding albums with hints of the playful spirit and introspective lyrics, Mike’s music puts me in the mental mood for the weather to come and stepping outside. It goes back to when I used to work at Walgreens and sit outside and listen to songs on my 15 minute break in mid-October, with the cool breeze thrashing at me. All I had to defend me was the volume control on my CD player as I’d listen to “Superhero,” “Automatic,” and “October” for my break…

October 2nd is when I usually celebrate Wallace Steven’s birthday. I’ll thumb through my tattered paperback copy of The Collected Poems, reading some of my favorites like “Le Monocle de Mon Oncle,” “Sunday Morning,” “Not About the Thing but The Thing Itself,” and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” And maybe, just maybe, I’ll put out my copy of the voices of the poet that Sarah got me one year and listen to Stevens read some of these. He has that classic feel to him, that gentleman of the 1950’s that is controlling that passion and emotion with a sharp tongue, slicing and parsing his words cautiously, carefully, controlling the tone of his voice to keep you just barely hanging there, but awaiting the next words drop…

October 3rd finishes off my early October festivities with me usually loading a copy of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood and Couldn’t Stand the Weather onto my iPod or carrying the CD with me, and spinning it at least once for lil’ Stevie’s birthday. One of the greatest blues guitarists of all time, SRV has been cited across the board as influential by many of today’s modern musicians, and the wake he left in the blues allowed so many main stream individuals to keep it alive. Besides, without Stevie, we wouldn’t have had that smoking guitar on Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.”

For me, October just feels right… Its just turning outside with the seasons and on the cusp of the cool and the cold and the warm and a stew of the smells and sights and a complete sensory overload… And for me, it helps this year now that we have one of these sitting in our bathroom. Yup, just one scents up the whole apartment just right…

So this is my October… Cover me accordingly…

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    About The Site


    Thanks for stopping by, folks! My name is Adam J. Cohen, and I'm a guitarist/songwriter in Champaign, IL, recently relocated from Orlando, FL where I'm a UCF grad. Here, you'll find vignettes on my life, setlists from open mics and reviews, and whatever else crosses my mind. Enjoy!