I didn’t listen to a lot of current music during the 80’s; during that decade, I was mostly listening to classical music, with occasional visits to the local rock stations (WSHE being the only one I can remember from my time in South Florida), where I usually hoped to hear early-70’s progressive rock.

But I guess I did get exposed to some what was on the radio during the 80’s, because much of what I’m hearing on today’s Bootcamp installment is at least vaguely familiar — I even recognized one song well enough to know its title and who did it (Peter Gabriel’s “Games without Frontiers”). On the other hand, although I’d heard of Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” before today, I am sure I’d never actually heard it (and I don’t think I missed much).

I just looked at the 80’s IT list and there are lots of familiar songs through about 1983; after that, they’re few and far between.

I tuned in too late for Bruce Kelly’s show, but I should be around for some of Heidi Selexa’s gig later this afternoon; from what I’ve read on the XM discussion board, it should be fun. (Yep, it was fun; I left the office and my XM radio five minutes before she played my requests — I guess I’ll have to try again another day!)

I’ll be back — the more I listen, the more I like it!

Today’s Bootcamp stop is The Flow, which describes itself as “America’s first Neo Soul channel”. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with Soul Music the first time around (except for some Motown crossovers), so I didn’t have high hopes for today’s visit.

The music is better than I expected, but it doesn’t really speak to me (as usual, I’m listening in background mode, so I’m not concentrating on the lyrics). I might stop by again, but it’s unlikely that I’ll make The Flow a regular part of my XM diet.

Frank’s Place will be my last stop on today’s Bootcamp catchup expedition, and a very nice stop it is, too. When I was growing up, I heard a lot of music from this era — when I didn’t have control of the radio, it was usually on WRVA/1140, which played “the standards” — Sinatra and his friends. And, while I liked the music of my generation better, I enjoyed listening to this music, too. And I still do.

I wouldn’t want to spend every day here, but it’s a nice place to kick back, relax, and enjoy real pros.

It’s a quiet day at work — my manager is in Asia, most of my colleagues took the day off or are working from home, and IBM locations in New York are closed for the holiday. So I’m taking advantage of the quiet to work on a proposal, get caught up on my e-mail, and catch up on the Bootcamp channels I missed last week in Paris. I’ll be catching up on the rest of the channels later this week (I suspect that some of this week’s channels won’t hold my interest for very long).

At any rate, I’ve spent the last hour or so at Hank’s Place, which has been a very pleasant surprise. As I’ve written before, I didn’t like country music when I was growing up — but my tastes have broadened over the years, and I’m enjoying my visit to the honky-tonk country era at Hank’s today. I’m surprised at how many of the songs I know, too.

Sometimes, though, when I listen closely enough to hear the lyrics, I’m taken aback, as when they played Mary Kilroy’s “Bit and Bridle” a few minutes ago.

I’ll be back to Hank’s. Wish I could get them to deliver the beer, though!

Reggae music — “The Joint” — get it?

But even without inhaling, the music’s pretty good to listen to, and quite relaxing. I missed the official visit on Bob Marley’s birthday, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard today, and expect to wander back from time to time.