howling wind, wailing children, sick to my stomach sunday mornin' comin' down

Out last night with my brother Jeff to see Madison's best New Orleans-style brass funk band: Mama Digdown's Brass Band (which I still call "Mama Digdown's Brass Junction" because I'm old school like that). Hilariously great, with my buddy Jordan Cohen on bass drum and hitting a cymbal with a triangle, my old social-work buddy Erik coming in all the way from Minneapolis to honk away on tuba: sublime. Of course, I drank too much, which has resulted in a very weird morning...but enough about that.

Listen: I have a confession to make. I am an addict. I don't like to talk about it, mostly because my addiction is not as physically painful or potentially medically catastrophic as some others. I literally am addicted to music. If I go too long without a new disc or recordstore pop-in or getting new review discs in the mail, I start getting irritable and shaky; when I come out of somewhere with new music, I feel it in the reptile part of my brain, somewhere that defies logic and conscious thought. It's gone beyond "I like it" and "I love it" to "I need new music to make up for the lack of [insert something here, it always changes] in my life" and "I need to celebrate [insert something here, it always changes] by hitting the Frugal Muse $1.00 Annex on the way home" and "I don't care if I don't have enough money to get this, I'll find a justification later" and "Better pay cash so I don't leave a paper trail." I've checked it out, I hit all the warning signs for addiction, it's sickening.

I realize that a lot of you are like this too.

CDs I have gotten in the last week:
Nellie McKay, Get Away From Me*
Baby Bash, Tha Smokin' Nephew: The Screwed and Chopped Version*
David Banner, MTA2: Baptized in Dirty Water: The Screwed and Chopped Album**
Martina McBride, Emotion***
Patty Loveless, Mountain Soul***
Paulina Rubio, Pau-latina****
Various Artists, Down South Bounce Vol. 2***
Jazzy Jay, Cold Chillin' in the Studio***
The Pharcyde, Labcabincalifornia***
Banda el Recodo, 60 Aniversario**
Various Artists, Heavyweight 3: A Blood and Fire Sampler***
Various Artists, A Bailar Merengue Vol. 1***

* Free for review
** Purchased used at Strictly Discs, Madison, Wisconsin (Banner was bought with money I got for selling old CDs, so technically doesn't count)
*** Purchased used for $1.00 each at the aforementioned $1.00 Annex, very addictive
**** Purchased new at Circuit City for review in Village Voice

Does buying the DVD of School of Rock count here?

So my question is not IS THIS BAD? Obviously it's bad. My real question is AM I EVER GOING TO HAVE TIME TO FULLY APPRECIATE THESE RECORDS? To give them the time and love and care they deserve? To listen for nuance instead of first impression, to create a full experience instead of cramming them into the corners of my life, trying to critically evaluate something that many people have put a lot of time and sweat and love into by cranking up the kitchen CD player while doing the dishes and fixing lunch for the kids? Is this any way to live?

That Banda el Recodo disc is pretty ace though.