The Great White Shank’s “seven wonders of the musical world”. What makes for a “seven wonders”, you might ask? It’s the kind of song (or series of songs in an album) that would make me (or anyone, for that matter) stop whatever their doing – even work, sex, or (in my case) standing over a 6-inch putt to win the Goodboys Invitational, whatever – simply to listen because it not only is riveting, but in some fashion an architect of the musical house around which one’s earthly house might have been constructed.

Be it understood – my “seven wonders” of music will likely not be anywhere close to someone else’s “seven wonders”; more likely than not, they will leave more than a few scratching their heads. But music is a funny thing – there’s no accounting for taste, and, quoting my friend Dona, it’s its very transcendent quality that makes it such an intensely personal experience for me.

Of course, not everyone is into music sufficient enough to have even one “wonder”, let alone seven. (My lovely wife, for example, equates music to television programs – some of it she likes, some she doesn’t. But none of it makes for anything close to an intensely personal experience. And that’s because she – admittedly so, BTW – simply doesn’t have an ear for it.) But I do, and I have always had an intimate love/hate relationship with music to the point where there is very little I’m “in between” about – oh I suppose classical music…

But I digress. You might be saying to yourself, ‘Geez, Great White Shank, just exactly what are the “seven wonders” of your musical world? Well, you’ll just have to frequent these spaces over the next couple of weeks or so to find out. But here’s a hint: I’ve already blogged about one or two of them in these very spaces, and some of you might even be able to pick out one or two. Each will be discussed in the coming days in no particular order – after all, if you’re talking about true “wonders”, how can any one be considered greater than another, right?

In the meantime, I encourage anyone wanting to, to think about your own “seven wonders” musically and publish them here via comment. Encourage your friends to do likewise – it’ll be a fun exercise! After all, there are few subjects left that one can be passionate about anymore without being accused of being labeled a liberal, conservative, sexist, racist, xenophobe, or homophobe. Fortunately, music remains one of them. I’d love to see some of your choices.

So stay tuned (literally!)