Outside-Inside-Out

In his recent New Yorker column Sasha Frere Jones cited a study that said the average American listens to 20 hours of music a week.  Turns out the “average American” (the critical theorist inside me just dry heaved) only owns 3 hours of that music, meaning that the majority of music s/he listens to comes from the radio or an online source like Pandora.  I first thought that 20 hours was quite a bit of music, but it occured to me that the “average American” must be getting most of that music in their car on the way to work.  The study Jones cited has inspired me to figure out my listening habits.  I’ve never really thought about how much music I listen to a week (other than “a lot”), nor have I compiled the source of that music and what I’m doing while I listen to it.  The only statistic I’m aware of in terms of my listening habits is how much radio I listen to: which is probably less than two hours a week.  I’m often asked “so what are you listening to that I should check out?” (don’t worry, it’s not just you J Skin).  So to answer that question and see what my listening habits are I’m going to hit you with a daily update for the next week.  So here goes…. (oh, before I give you the run down, here’s the over/under of how much time I’ll listen to music this week: 42 hours, and I’m taking the over)

Sunday, June 20:

Jason Moran, Ten

Craig Taborn Quintet, NPR streaming from A Blog Supreme

Nas and Damian Marley, NPR streaming from their Bonnaroo coverage

Neko Case, Austin City Limits (in the car)

Charles Mingus, Blues and Roots (in the car)

Total time: 3 hours, 45 minutes