Right place, right time.

I was sitting at home on Saturday night with my dozen cats and an enormous sweater that was twice my size, being all spinsterish, and I flip on Tube. For those of you that don't know, Tube is a music video channel that actually plays music videos. Only music videos. No shows. No DJs. Very scant commercials. No format. Just whatever. In case you're wondering, it's channel 296 on Comcast.

So I throw on Tube and what's this? Hmm, sounds good. I'll check it out. Song ends, and I'm floored. Her name is Corinne Bailey Rae. I immediately run to the computer and hop on iTunes. Sweet! The album's only $8. I download it. It turns out to be a smooth, bluesy/jazzy R&B number with the very occasional hints of Bjork. Very nice. Don't ask me, I just hear it in certain spots. (Although it probably got into my head because I saw on iTunes that she also has another album/EP where she covers "Venus as a Boy".) And very little of that over-singing junk that passes as R&B these days. Sounds like a good album for romancing, if one were so inclined.

However, the whole experience made me think about the idea of being in the right place at the right time. Obviously this could extend to every facet of life, but I was thinking about specifically in terms of music. How you can catch something good by turning on a radio station or music video station at just the right time. And maybe you're just in the right frame of mind at that time to appreciate it. Something that you might have missed otherwise. Something you might never have heard otherwise. As it turns out, I've heard another of Corinne Bailey Rae's songs on the radio twice since Saturday, but it was a different song---"Go Put Your Records On" as opposed to "Like A Star", which was far more fitting for my mood that night---and maybe one that I wouldn't have paid as much attention to if I wasn't already pre-disposed to.

It makes me wonder how much stuff I would have never heard if I hadn't been in the right place at the right time. And how much stuff I've missed.