Expert: Bruce R. Gilson - 9/23/2010

Question
Hello ! I'm a fairly young (51) fan of American Popular Standards and especially the music from the late 40's into early 50's----Doris Day, Perry Como, Patti Page, et al. Problem is that area where I reside has absolutely no commercial radio stations playing this type of music. I am told for that one has to either stock up on CDS or subscribe to Sirius----however, with the current state of the economy---this cannot be done at this time.  I would like to be able to match notes with others who like this same type of music---I never run into anyone with similar tastes. Is there any venue where I could meet others with the same tastes in music ?  As the years pass, it is getting increasingly difficult to locate such venues. Thanks.

Answer
Actually, Sirius is not so great. The last I checked, their '40s channel is mainly pre-1945 big band and their '50s channel mostly post-1955 R'n'R, so "our" music falls through the cracks. I have followed the CD route myself, but over time that has been a big expense. There is a group on Usenet supposedly devoted to '50s music, but it's gotten mostly taken over by r&b and R'n'R fans. So I agree, it's hard to find a place for people to discuss "our" music.

One could set up a blog -- I've got so many Wikis and my own blog going on subjects of interest to me that I hesitate to start my own on this music, but if you go on http://blogger.com you could start one. On a blog, you can make posts that people can comment on, and invite others to be co-bloggers with you. Perhaps someone (even you!) will take the plunge!