Re: Mama, for you, and pass this along to Frank...

Frank and I are still smooth jazz fans even though there are no more stations for us to listen to or concerts for us to go to. There was a time when, like you, I was going to a smooth jazz concert in St Louis at least once a month. We went on five smooth jazz cruises in the Caribbean which were an absolute blast. We saw so many great artists over the years and had the good fortune to see Oleta Adams perform on one of the cruises. I have a pretty nice collection of smooth jazz tunes in my computer library. The CD player in my 17 yr old Mazda died about 10 yrs ago so I couldn't even listen to the smooth jazz CD's I have. My daughter told me there was a way for me to use my ipod and hook it up to my radio and listen to my music. WHAAAAAT? There was??? I had no idea!! I made a beeline to Radio Shack and this college girl that worked there told me exactly what I needed to get. I can't remember what you call that thing but it cost me $100. It connects my ipod to my cigarette lighter and I hear all the music on my ipod through my radio!! Don't ask me how it works, I'm just glad that it does. It took me forever to figure out how to upload my computer library of smooth jazz tunes to iTunes but once I figured that out, I uploaded only my truly favorite songs so that everything I listen to is music I absolutely love. There's nothing on my iPod I ever want to skip. If I do come across a song that makes me go... "I don't even really like that", I update iTunes and remove it. So even though I have no CD player (my car is too old for USB or bluetooth), I am able to listen to MY favorite tunes. I never listen to the radio in my car anymore. Listening only to the music I love blaring through my radio from my iPod when I'm driving... I am in smooth jazz heaven. Every now and then I go searching for new music or new artists. When I find something I really, really like, I'm able to record it and then upload it to my iPod to add to my collection. Frank has an arm console full of smooth jazz CD's in his car and he listens to it all the time when he's driving. His collection isnt as vast as mine but he still loves it as much as I do.

We haven't been on a smooth jazz cruise since Frank's amputation in 2009 but we are still on the smooth jazz cruiser mailing list and still get monthly newsletters and information about all their upcoming cruises. Now that we're full-time daycare givers, vacationing anywhere is next to impossible for us anyhow. Plus, those cruises have gotten too expensive for our retired pocketbooks. But I still love that genre of music above all others and miss that heyday period when it was easily accessible.

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