I was driving to work, listening to the radio. Faith Hill's new song, "Breathe", was playing. The new album, with the same name, is due out next Tuesday. And I can say that I'm eagerly waiting to buy it. I can't say that about some other new albums that recently came out and that I'll get eventually. B*Witched, Paula Cole, Chantal Kreviazuk, Melissa Etheridge, Natalie Merchant, all have new albums out or recently out. I'll get them slowly but there's too much too buy given the current method I use to buy them. I buy a new CD when I get more blank tapes, which is about every three weeks or so. Anyway, I really want to get Faith Hill's new album. Watching her and Tim McGraw together, it's plain to see how much they love each other. It's really special.

Much to my dismay, I've gotten to the point that I can leave the radio on the country music station all the time and listen to the music. The women singers I already liked, but now the male singers are not annoying. Kenny Chesney, Lonestar, Montgomery Gentry and several others whose name I don't know. True, I still get really annoyed and change the station, but for the most part I can listen to the country station continuously.

As a corollary, I also found out that Country Music Channel is carried locally by KTNC out of Concord. This is a two hour show that airs country music videos. It's not CMT, but it's enough to satisfy my cravings to *watch* the artists. Compared to MTV or VH1 it's quite unprofessional looking. Heck, they don't even show the video credits, so it's hard for me to tell who I just saw. But it's a show I tape and watch most days of the week.

Slight change of topic. My first concert. Junior year in college, I was living in the dormitories. Watching television and I saw a commercial announcing that Roxette was doing a show in San Francisco in a couple of days. Impulsively, I bought a ticket the next day, for like $23 or so. Contrast this with the $45 I paid to see Faith Hill a few months ago.

Anyway, I took the BART to San Francisco and went to the Warfield. It's an old theater, probably seating a couple of thousand people at most. I sat way in the back, in the balcony. The main floor was cleared so people had to stand, but they could also dance a bit. I don't remember the opening act, some rock band playing for half an hour.

When Per and Marie came out, it was magical. A loud show, well produced, designed to entertain. Some artists have concerts that are almost quaint, unpretentious. Roxette had colored lights, costume changes, they did two standing ovations. I sang along, jump up and down, and really enjoyed it all.

It's kind of weird that both Per and Marie are now over 40, both married (not to each other), and have kids. Ten years ago they were so young, I was so young. They still do some music, and put out a Roxette album last year. But they have their own projects. They were very successful as solo artists before they formed Roxette, and they still do quite well in their native Sweden.

Gosh, time sure flies as you go through life. Seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was in college. Now I'm about to become a Senior Developer, or so the rumor goes...