u/MarkVoenixAlexander

Do you find that you actually only listen to about a dozen discs with any regularity? I know I have my "go to" titles that seem to get all the rotation in my collection especially when I don't know what to listen to.

In no particular order, they are

• Verve Remixed (vols. 1 thru 5)
• The Best Of Blue Note
• Blue Note Reimagined
• Blue Note Reimagined II
• Marla Glenn - The Best Of
• Nina Simone - Four Women (box set)
• Chris Isaac - San Francisco Days
• George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice
• George Michael - Faith
• Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
• Miles Davis - Blue Miles
• Disco Discharge - European Connection
• Anything on the Three Blind Mice (Japanese Jazz) label.

And of course, probably because of the novelty of something new from Madge....

• Madonna - Confessions II

Almost as a followup to my last post, are there any Madonna fans here, and if so, what do you think of Confessions II?

Madge and I are the same age and she has provided the soundtrack of my life since she first appeared on the scene in the early 80s and I've stuck with her through thick and thin. I welcome her return to the recording studio after a very long dry spell.

Just curious. I knew I was gay since I was in high school, but I didn't come out until 1977, my freshman year at the University of Arizona. I was lucky to have the support of the GSO (Gay Students Organization) and the multitude of friends I made at "the table" in "Louie's Lower Level" cafe in the basement of the Student Union while I made my grand entrance into open, gay life. For the most part, I haven't suffered by coming out. My family was accepting (my dad admitted shortly thereafter that he, too, was gay), although my mom (who was an interior designer) had some initial difficulty, not being able to reconcile my "butch" demeanor with the more effeminate gays she'd worked with all her life. I also haven't (to my knowledge) suffered professionally by being out-and-proud. I've always felt that my employers and colleagues treated me fairly and with respect.

I moved from Tucson to San Francisco in 1986, right in the middle of the AIDS crisis. I survived the horrible 90s, attending what seemed like weekly funerals, somehow coming out of it all without an arrest record (LOL) and HIV negative.

Those of us who are still here are survivors. Never forget that! With the current state of the world, I sometimes wonder if those who we've lost had the right idea by getting out early, but I wouldn't trade the last 20 years since I returned to Arizona for anything. (I wouldn't have met my husband of the last 15 years!)

Anyway, just throwing this out there and would love to hear your stories.