CD: CMJ New Music Monthly, Vol. 88, December 2000

My CD collection is Important Business. Not that the CDs are very good, or that I've spent a great deal on them. But I listen to a lot of music, and when it comes to recordkeeping I'm Rain Man. My 753 CDs are now enjoying their new home in a plastic shelving system recently bought from OfficeMax. (Except the 200 that wouldn't fit.)

Some foreign coworkers have asked me to put together an MP3 CD for them, and being the great American Music Lover I am, I've decided to go all out. Two hundred songs from 200 artists. Looking through my collection, I'm finding stuff that I completely forgot about. Like my Snoopy's Christmas With The Royal Guardsmen album. Or the fact that I put Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting" and Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" at the end of Jane's Addiction's "Ritual De Lo Habitual." Or that I can listen to Kermit the Frog sing "(It's Not Easy) Bein' Green ANYTIME I WANT. Or that I got a copy of "Bachelor Pad Royale Vol. 4" from none other than my hyper-conservative former roommate Micah. Or that I own four times more Smashing Pumpkins songs than the Smashing Pumpkins released. Or that I have at least 5 CDs that I actually sing on. (There's one I've never told anyone about, called "Green Pancakes and Soup" that no one must EVER hear.) Or that I did have the cultural aptitude to purchase the complete Beethoven symphonies. Or that some of these Nirvana recordings are going for $60 on EBay. Or that the first CD I ever bought was "Chant" by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos. I could go on, but the CD I'm listening to has 30 seconds left. Goodnight, and listen to more Ozomatli.