I’m not sure how I heard of Twenty Feet from Stardom (Netflix link), about backup singers. I remember jotting the name of it down while at work, so I think what happened was something on TV mentioned some old footage of David Bowie found on this documentary.

(image from Amazon.com)

ANYWAY, the upshot is that I watched it, and I recommend it. It’s not so much that I found it particularly riveting (though I was interested all the way through), but more that it was about a whole industry I don’t think I ever gave a minute’s thought. And now, when I’m listening to the radio, I’m NOTICING the backup singers, and I didn’t notice them before, so it feels like I made a permanent change in how I hear music, and that’s kind of neat for a 90-minute investment of time.

Now I’m reading Can I Say, by Travis Barker of Blink-182, so I am continuing the musical theme.

(image from Amazon.com)

It’s what I like in an autobiography: a nice mix of name-dropping, personal tidbits, behind-the-scenes, shocking behavior, and transparent self-delusion. I like how the other people in his life contributed pieces of text, so you read along for awhile, and then he mentions meeting a great girl, and then there’s a section written by that girl. Or he mentions a bandmate or friend, and then there’s a section written by that bandmate or friend.

I had no idea that he and Tom DeLonge put out an album as Box Car Racer, and Tom DeLonge is my favorite Blink-182 singer, so I’ve been having fun listening to those videos on YouTube.

And there are a ton of bands referenced in the book, so I keep going to my computer to hear samples of what they sound like. And then in those songs, I notice the backup singers.