BY WAY OF INSPIRING JEALOUSY
Just figured I'd show you what great beauty lies just outside my window this morning. I've had a pretty good night writing, my housemate and his gal are soon to awaken and we'll trudge off through this glorious slop to grab some brunch, and um, tonight I finally broke down and downloaded all the Napster stuff. I get the feeling I'm the last person on Earth to actually buy into the whole file sharing thing, but what the hell.

The very first file I downloaded?

Gladys Knight and the Pips - I've Really Got To Use My Imagination.

I own the record, but it's been in storage in Toronto for over a year, and I miss it to hell. And Gladys Knight is the most beautiful female voice I have ever heard, period. Keep your Aretha and your Billie Holiday, and Janis and Dusty (and even Kirsty MacColl - *sigh*) can step back. They're great, sure, I dig them whenever I can. But Gladys and her burgundy done-me-wrong voice reeks of class, and it moves me in ways that mere mortals just don't.