The Sound and Taste of Revelation

Remember that special moment when everything changed. Were you listening to a particular song? Or was it some food? Well a couple of friends just posted about such associations.

The first is from Tall Med Student, a former Harvard postdoc who is now a med student at the University of Calgary.

In his ode to Boston, he writes:

Korean food. Three places come to mind: Café Han River at St. Mary's, Korea House in Chinatown, and best of all, Buk Kyung II in Alston. At that last place, I was introduced to jajang myeon, which was spectacular there. Interestingly, one day while in İstanbul last summer, I succumbed to the urge to eat jajungmyun, and walked from Taxim across to the only Korean place I knew in town, in behind the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet. I had my jajang myeon (coincidentally with a Korean family from Boston sitting at the next table), and then headed home, stopping by an internet café on the way; that café stop was where I found out that I had gotten into medschool. So, medschool and jajang myeon are now forever linked in my mind.

Then there is Bil the Man who is now running a lab in California and writes in a recent post:

The night I broke through the phase problem and started seeing useable density on my last big project I 'heard' Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" for the first time. By that I mean that I had heard it before I had just never really listened. Well, late on that Friday night it came on and I was in the right frame of mind to hear it. It blew me away. I put it on repeat and after that the structure slowly revealed itself. It was a singular moment in time that really divided me to before and after. Wonderful.


So do I have any such memories? Well as a grad student I spent many days and nights in the microscope room trying to figure out microtubules. When I got the data for my first three big papers I was listening obsessively to Suede (the Dog Man Star Album), the Smiths, Ruby and Godspeed You Black Emperor. I'm not sure if I subconsciously (or consciously) tie any of my scientific achievements to food though.

Other events? Well I will always associate my wedding with this version of Miles Davis' Freddie Freeloader sung by Jon Hendricks, Al Jarreau, George Benson and Bobby McFerrin. Ah, what a great song and this is a great version too. (although am I secretly saying that I'm a freeloader???)

More like this

I always associated any big finding, in my small career, with Mac N' Cheese. Although the findings may have been hallucinations.

What is your current music rotation and is it affecting your results?

Perhaps we should assemble a data assure compilation CD, or mp3 list.

By Acme Scientist (not verified) on 31 Mar 2006 #permalink

Mac N' Cheese ... sounds desperate. Any moment in particular?

As for my current music rotation.
- Medeski Martin Wood - "Underground" (don't listen to any other MMW album - but if you are in to heavy, rapid, blow-up-your-brain jazz, this one's for you.)
- Egberto Gismonti, Charlie Haden - "Live in Montreal" (Egberto is incredible)
- Sounds from the Verve Hi-Fi, a compilation of 60s latin Jazz from the Verve record label as selected by Rob Garza and Eric Hilton from the Thievery Corporation
- Lots of M, M & M (Monk, Mingus and Miles) but one album that is being played a lot is Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. This came from an old forgotten recording lying around the library of congress that someone recently rediscovered. If you are a Jazz aficionado, this is a must have as it capture Coltrane at a unique moment when he's about to head his own band, and you can begin to hear what's been buzing in his head.

After thinking about this for a couple of days I think that I'll have revise my answer ...

I associate intense study and prepping for something difficult with Brahms Violin Concerto and many songs by Queen. They pump you up with energy.