So Eli and Shirley and Wally have been e-mailing me about a site. A number of e-mails come in saying, "Kat, I'm looking for the Green Day review . . ." Or the Wilco review, or the Maria McKee or . . .
So this is what this site will largely be.
For newcomers, I'm Kat of Kat's Korner. At The Common Ills, I write on music. I like bands. I like music that's performed. In my title, you'll find "(of The Common Ills)" and you may wonder why that is? Because, as many e-mailers have pointed out, there are tons of Kat's Korners out there.
No surprise there.
My name is Kaitlin. I've been called Kat most of my life. But I didn't invent the phrase "Kat's Korner." So to help anyone figure out which one is Kat's Korner that you know from The Common Ills, I've added it to the title.
So Kat, you ask, is this just an archive?
Largely it is.
From time to time, I'll do something here. Not an album review because I do those at The Common Ills.
Maybe it'll be something brief. Like, for instance, as I type, drink a Corona and chill, I'm listening to The Doors' Morrison Hotel. So I might make a comment or two on that.
Or I might make a comment on something else.
Eventually, I'll have all my previous reviews up here so you can find them if you're looking for them. I'll provide a link to them from where they appeared (The Common Ills) and note the date that they ran.
Some of you may know them from The Third Estate Sunday Review. Like me, they are community members of The Common Ills. And they are some incredible people and writers. They are Ava, Jim, Dona, Ty and Jess. From time to time, I'll help out with a roundtable there or something else.
My blog roll contains Common Ills community members. You'll see Folding Star's A Winding Road, Rebecca's Sex and Politics and Attitudes and Screeds. Betty's Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man and, of course, both The Third Estate Sunday Review and The Common Ills. I think I got them right in terms of the order that they started. If I didn't, my apologies.
I love all those guys. You can learn something from each site. I'll always add community members to my blog roll. There's a community member who's blog is down. When it's back up, I'll add it. Other than community members, I may or may not add other links.
I'll probably add links to music magazines.
But in terms of what is up here, this will probably be the longest entry you'll ever see. Probably, I'll note something here that's a paragraph. At best.
I'll read e-mail, to clear that up from the start, but I'm not going to be writing back and forth.
I write Eli and Shirley and Wally and Kara and Rebecca currently. But I'm not going to start a pen pal list. If I have something to say, I'll say it here.
I'm not going to be C.I. of The Common Ills trying to go through every e-mail that comes in.
What else can I tell you?
I'm primarily into rock. So if you're looking for country albums, for instance, you'll never see anything on them here. I'm not even fond of Bob Dylan's country period.
I do about one review a month at The Common Ills. Sometimes more. I wish I did more but if I'm not inspired, I don't force a review.
As for a review, it is what it is.
I noted that awhile back. The Third Estate Sunday Review gang think I've created a catch phrase with that. I was justifying my own attitude. If you find a typo, consider it there to give those looking for typos a gift.
I'm not going to go back and correct my spellings or my grammar. It is what it is.
I'm not going to pretty it up.
It is what it is.
And if you can get into that, you can get into what will be up here. If you can't, hey, sorry for you but find another site to visit.
If you're reading the review I posted before this, the first review I wrote for The Common Ills, and saying "B-b-but, Kat, the children of Destiny are so awesome . . ." then this site isn't for you.
I won't confuse manufactured music with real music. If you're hoping that I'll praise kiddies dabbling at music, you came to the wrong site.
C.I. and I were e-mailing back and forth about music for a bit before I got asked, "Why don't you write something?" That's how it started. Susan, a community member, loves music probably as much as I do. But she wasn't comfortable sharing her opinions on music. Mainly, as she'll tell you, because she didn't want to hear from the lovers of the children of Destiny. And she could picture the nasty e-mails that are now part of an average week.
I don't let those bother me.
If you can dig it, great. If you can't, find something else to read.
So I wrote a the Green Day thing and that's how it all started. I've reviewed Wilco, Carole King, Maria McKee, Tori Amos, Judy Collins, Nirvana's boxed set (an empty coffin) and I don't even know what else. Seriously, I'll get an e-mail asking about a review and I'll think, "Did I review that?"
I don't like doing histories. I think the "On the last album . . ." 'perspective' is useless and harmful. It's not a review, it's a statistic report. When I'm reading a review, I want to know what the album made you think or feel. I want to feel a part of that album. I don't want a paragraph of two of history, then three song titles mention and a line quoted, then a "that's all folks" review.
But that's what we get too much and I honestly think it drains the life out of music.
They want to act as though a CD is the back of a baseball card and talk about batting average.
I want to know about the CD, the game, and how that went.
In my reviews, I usually mention my friends because we're usually listening to music. We're not TV watchers in my group. Okay, Maggie is if she's drunk enough. But most of the time, if a TV's on, it's on as a backdrop with the sound all the way down and the stereo blasting music.
Music's too important to me to be pedestrian about it.
I hope that explains to you where I'm coming from. If you think you'll enjoy it, great, groovy. If the hairs on the back of your neck are rising, nice to meet you, now move on.
I'll close by noting a song that's been in my head all day today, Stevie Wonder's "Love's In Need Of Love Today." I think that pretty much sums up where we are right now. If you can get that, if you can grasp it, maybe you'll enjoy this site and my occassional entries here.
I know a tiny bit about blogging but I'll say a thank you to C.I. for staying on the phone with me while I created this and for still being on the phone in case anything goes wrong during the posting.
