I do a little woodwork out in the shop. It has a two fold purpose. One: the enjoyment I have creating with my hands what existed only as an idea beforehand, and two: as a necessary income supplement. Man does not live by venison and sweet potatoes alone.

An old radio provides the background music while I work. Normally, I have “contemporary adult” of rock and roll from the 70s and 80s on, and sometime a little country. It is a digital radio and the dust from the shop has filtered in, making it difficult for the controls to operate as normal. None of the buttons do what they are supposed to do making it difficult to find my music. One easy find is the local PBS classical music, which I had never really listened to before; my Rock and Roll is much harder to find.

Over time, I’ve noticed a rather odd phenomenon. It began rather unconsciously, without any thought on my part. Now it’s become part of my ordinary routine.

When working on a new creative project, I leave the radio off; it seems to be too much distraction. Once a new project is created, classical music is the key for a calm detailed production process.

But for pure production, turning out bulk, ten to twenty items at a time, without much thought, there’s nothing like Bachman Turner Overdrive. It’s well worth the extra time it takes to tune in that station.

We hear alot about how we’ve been programmed since birth to make us useful and obedient to the Powers that Were (formally known as the Powers that Be). I fully agree with that assessment and now believe that much of that was done through the music we grew up listening to. Who knows what all was piggy-backed onto those tunes, but we’ve all felt that emotional jolt when an oldie we grew up with comes on the radio, taking us straight back to those days.

I am searching for ways to deprogram myself and liberate my mind from automatic responses to external prompts. Silence looks to be a key to breaking out, perhaps along with new and untried experiences. But meanwhile I’m using it to get a little production out of myself when needed.

rab 3/16/25