Besides the obvious Japan/America thing, there's another divide I often find myself straddling:

classical music/rock music

You see, as anyone who read my prior post about weird things, my parents never played any rock music in our house. We got musicals, operas, and instrumental classical music. It wasn't until my brother was old enough to have the power to play what he wanted that I heard other music.

So when my friend told me about Sting's recordings of John Dowland's madrigals (Songs from the Labyrinth) I felt ecstatic.

Here, finally was the marriage of two of my great loves: Sting and classical vocal music.

I haven't been so transported by a recording since I heard Sting and Pavarotti sing "Panis Angelicus" on the Pavarotti and Friends Gala Concert CD.

And yet, my mom had to tell me to turn it off when she came to visit because she couldn't stand Sting's breathy tenor. For me, it's just another way of enjoying music. I mean, sometimes I get tired of all that vibrato.