# Five Questions - One

I'm so happy to have stumbled on Christina's gemini capsule. I see she's already taking to the new platform well and diving right in with some social engagement. I've been asking some questions of the gopher community every year or so because of the inspiration of Christina's five-questions she asked on that platform. It's a remarkably good way to get people talking.

Here's her questions on Gemini:

=> gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/~christina/ Christina's Five Questions

I'm going to tackle them one at a time. Here's the first question:

> One of my favorite things to do in the summer is drive with my window rolled down and the music turned up. What is on your summertime playlist?

## What's on my summer playlist?

I'm going to answer this in three parts: what's eternally on my playlist, what's on the list right this second, and what stands out as special in the past.

### The eternal playlist

When I'm driving around town, on a trip, visiting friends, or around picturesque glacial lakes you can trust I've got the radio tuned to whatever classical station comes in best. Failing that I'll pop on some Enya. I always have a bunch of that on my phone just in case.

I love classical music (the generic category, not the specific time period). I also adore stations that play it. They have such fun personalities. Back in the US there was one station that played classical until 6pm when they switched to jazz. In Atlanta there was a 7,000 year old woman (based on the sound of her voice) that would go into rich histories on the composers as if she were there when they were scribbling their notes. Here in Reyjkavík there's a station that can't make up its mind on a theme. They'll play opera followed by a baroque quartet followed by Thelonious Monk. It's so spazzy and I love it.

### What's on right now?

I've been playing a LOT of Kesha so far this summer. Specifically her 2017 album, Rainbow. It's marvelous! It's quintessentially Kesha in execution but balances the ridiculous and dancey with some seriously thoughtful works. There are songs that make me laugh and songs that make me cry.

Ke$ha (now Kesha) was a guilty pleasure for me when she debuted but I'm really, honestly, publicly a fan now. I have no reservations in that anymore. She came through hell for her music and I'm not going to denigrate it with that nonsense.

If you haven't given her much time in the past, read up on her ordeal with Dr. Luke and then give Rainbow a listen. It got her two Grammy nominations. It's seriously good.

### What about the past?

Back in 1996 or 1997 I was playing a bunch of Tori Amos tracks along with Jann Arden's Insensitive and the Grease soundtrack. I remember spending time at the beach taking these long night walks with a special person and the music is forever tied up in that memory. It was free and wild and perfect.

In 2001 when I got my DD 214 papers (military discharge), I hopped in my car and started driving back north. I was free and had nothing at all to do in the world. I ended up taking a roundabout route, visiting with friends along the way. In fact, I randomly dropped by to visit the person from the 1997 memory only to be directed over to the hospital in Harrisonberg, Virginia. My random visit after years apart brought me to her delivery room as she gave birth to her first child. There was some wild magic in the air that day.

Anyway, as I was pulling away from the base and onto the highway I threw on the radio and cranked it up to be met with this song from 1996:
=> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV122X7ycvQ Space - Female of the Species

### Bonus Mixes

But now that I've given you a taste of some music links I want to share more! I love making mixes for friends. It just so happens that I made my wife a summer driving playlist not too long ago. I name most of my mixes after mixed drinks, but my wife doesn't drink. I used that to name her playlist.

=> https://tomasino.is/music/no-thanks-driving/no-thanks-driving.zip No Thanks, Driving (Summer playlist) - 133MB

And finally, here's something that might be unique to me. I love driving in winter when the world is at peace and everything is still. I love the crunch of snow under the tires and everything lit with sparkling lights in the vast darkness. So, here's a Winter driving playlist I made some years back. Enjoy!

=> https://tomasino.is/music/white/white.zip White (Winter playlist) - 105MB


Originally Published 2019-06-17 at:
gemini://tilde.team/~tomasino/journal/20190617-five-questions-one.gmi

If you have questions or thoughts to add please send me a link to your response.
=> ~tomasino/about.txt Contact Information
