Cheers everyone and welcome to Friday’s Morning Open Thread.
Morning Open Thread is a daily, copyrighted post from a host of editors and guest writers. We support our community, invite and share ideas, and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue in an open forum. Join us, please.
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Notes from Below Sea Level
The days are shorter from here on out; and that’s a universal truth. This morning I have little to say (haha, you lucky people)—I’m bouncing around on YouTube listening to artists that have put their work out there for anyone to listen. Groups, solo acts, odd assortments of whatever and whomever that have created something and are looking for an audience. Love songs by an artist with eight followers (well, nine now) and three “likes”; terrible rock ballad coves by kids just learning the guitar; overly-serious 20-somethings hell bent on creating something different.
Thing is, YouTube is designed in a way (which I don’t understand at all) to restrict wide-ranging exploration. A few videos in and most of the recommended choices are songs I’ve previously seen or songs by the same artists or genre—almost all with hundreds of thousands, even millions, of views. I was listening to “Le Feeling” by a group called Unknown but Very Nice (featuring guest AlgorithMix and Sweet2Kiss) [428 views, 9 likes]. Pretty good, actually. And that, because YouTube knows something I don’t, was followed by the bluegrass version of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Thunder and Rain [1.4M views, 33k likes].
Each video has its own raison d’etre, surely; the mind of the artist unknowable in a real sense. And each is put out there as an act of courage with equal parts chutzpah and naivete. But my coffee cup is empty and the morning is late so I’m cuing up an old favorite, Wiskey Myers’ “Broken Window Serenade” [90M views, 480K likes], to finish out my time before the day begins.
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My hope for the day is that each of you celebrates life in one way or another and finds peace in these turbulent times. Be well, be kind, and appreciate the love you have in your life.
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Grab your coffee or tea and join us, please.
What's on your mind this morning?