COLUMNS

I'm sure you've got one- or had one, at least.

For years I'd listened to Karl Haas's "Adventures in Good Music" on 90.1 FM. It began as an outgrowth of having once read a report that listening to classical music could, in fact make me smarter; thus, while I wrote reports in high school (and burned the midnight oil- smarter, perhaps, but not more punctual!), I tuned in. Haas's dry sense of humor and flair for puns (the title of a recent installment: "Baroque and in Debt") were well appreciated, as the material did not initially seem all that exciting. "Adventures in Good Music" was, initially, as exciting to me as "The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet"- and not the episode where Ricky sang, either.

I don't think you could blame me. At the time I started listening, I was beginning to discover the vast amounts of rock, folk, and jazz that my ears had scarcely heard. Son Volt had replaced the Eagles in regular rotation, with John Coltrane and Woody Guthrie sneaking in for good measure. How could I possibly be expected to squeeze in time for an entire genre that spanned more time than my current obsessions combined?

Haas made it easy. He provided historical context; dry, sometimes groan-inducing humor; and an array of, yes, good music. His show has been in repeats for the past two years, but they're still pretty fresh and always well worth hearing.

When I read that Haas had died at the age of 91, I thought about the wave of memorials that came following British DJ John Peel's passing. Peel had touched my record collection, even if I didn't know it (he broke Jimi Hendrix, The Pixies, Blur, and countless others in the UK)- is it possible that Karl Haas had affected me the same way? More importantly, is it possible that Haas may have been more influential to me than Peel?

I'm not sure. I'm still scared of classical music, but that's been changing. I find myself listening to pieces and actually knowing who composed them. I've actually begun purchasing classical music, and not just the Mozarts or Beethovens of the world, either.

As I said, his show is still on 90.1, and I think it's still at 10pm. Check it out if you get a chance. It wasn't rock and it certainly wasn't Oklahoma, but I think "Adventures in Good Music" was something bigger, perhaps: a parallel universe in which obsessives use tidbits about Mendelssohn as cred the way we might use a SubPop 45, a world in which John Cage occupies the obligatory name-drop space the way Sonic Youth does now, a world where the NME runs a massive tribute to the least-hip man to ever hook me up with music I loved.

© 2003 OklahomaRock.com