Jamie Thingelstad

I remember at some point in my early 20’s being curious why, it seemed to me at least, that as people aged they listened to less new music. This was all well before the Internet and I don’t even recall how I came to the research on this. Perhaps the research came to me and I’m remembering it backwards. Regardless I distinctly remember reading this research that showed that in fact people do listen to less new music as they age. In fact, people in their 20’s, my age at the time, listened to the most new music. And that with each decade after the library of music grew at a slower and slower rate.

I think back to this more often than one may suspect. In my mind this suggested a level of adaptability and “seeking new” in the brain that decreases with age. Even then I found that prospect concerning and thought to myself that I need to make a concerted effort to avoid this stagnation. Tammy and I go to a decent amount of new music and happily I can say that Brandi Carlile, one of our favorite artists, wasn’t even around in my 20’s so there is some renewal happening.

But the other thing that is true is that music plays a different role in our lives as we age. Tammy comments regularly how music in her 20’s was so impactful and such a big part of life, much more than it is now. Certainly part of that is that our lives are much broader and expansive as we age and music correctly isn’t as big as it was when we were younger. But now I watch Mazie and Tyler and how they engage with music and I see that emotional engagement that reminds me of those days. When I was Tyler’s age I was deep in the Violent Femmes and Run-DMC. I remember being Mazie’s age and exploring the Minneapolis music scene after moving here for college and voraciously absorbing Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, before bridging to the new with Uncle Tupelo. All these bands still sit heavy in my musical rotation.

I think we are pretty lucky that our kids like similar genres of music that we do, and as they are exploring new music they are constantly going to artists that I don’t even know exist. Seeing their excitement and connection to music has me inspired to renew my own musical interests.

Being who I am, this has me thinking of some actions:

1. Bring music back to my commute time. I’m not sure when I decided that drive time was best for podcasts but I did. Somehow I became that stereotypical 50-year-old man listening to talk radio all the time. I think I would like it and I’d even be a bit better off to make this time more for music.
2. Pay attention to the release date of albums. Focus on music released in the last year or two. And yes I still listen to albums versus cherry picking songs.
3. Get my kids engaged. I’d like to get an album recommendation from my kids about once a month and commit to actually listening (not in the background) the whole thing. I want to get my brain to do the work of listening to new, and not just going to that routine of the past.

Musical renewal doesn’t suggest going backwards to emotions of the past, but does focus on not being anchored to those routines. Exploring new artists and sounds, keeping interests fresh, and connecting with different people through shared musical appreciation.

This post is part of the IndieWeb Carnival on Renewal hosted by me in April 2025.

Finished 2.54 mile walk in 60.9 minutes (23.98 min/mile). Delightful evening for a cool neighborhood walk with Lucky. 🚶‍♂️

It was eight years ago today that I started using micro.blog. Seems wild that it has been that long. It has grown into a really great blogging platform. I’m looking forward to the next eight years. Congrats @manton!

My favorite Indieweb services — Micro.blog and Buttondown — have had a tough week. They worked through it.

Finished 1.66 mile walk in 40.4 minutes (24.34 min/mile). Casual walk with Lucky around the neighborhood. Minnehaha Creek is very low. 🚶‍♂️

We (just barely) completed “The Anomaly” at Puzzleworks today. This is the newest room they have — just opening up about a month ago. Yes we were here just yesterday to do The Dungeon. 😊

This newest room had some new dynamics.

1. The room was divided into three segments with 20 minutes to complete each segment. If you finish the segment before that you get a time bonus. If you don’t have it finished in 20 minutes they clue you to the answer and move you to the next room. We finished the first room with a few minutes to spare. The 2nd and 3rd rooms we finished with just seconds left.
2. Each of the rooms were puzzle heavy. There was only one single lock in the whole experience. The puzzles worked well to handle in parallel. We had five people but eight could easily be engaged.
3. The experience was interactive with a computer. So as you completed things you put them into the computer and worked through a menu system. That was cool and worked well.
4. Given the way the clock worked you don’t just get a time — you get a score based on how you did. We scored 63,550 which actually put us in 17th position on the top 20 leaderboard.

It was a little odd to us that the game didn’t have a final time since that is how all previous 67 rooms we’ve done have operated. We have done a couple of rooms with a point system, but it was always in addition to the clock. The puzzles were challenging and the experience worked extremely well. Definitely a great room and a fun, new experience. Room 68!

Schooling the next generation on Air Hockey.

I’m having fun with my new profile photo. My previous one was the very first time I tried the Vision Pro and it was great, but I am loving this one with the bird on my hat from Discovery Cove. Perfect for the arrival of summer. 🤩

Mazie returned to St. Olaf for her friend’s birthday and Tyler, Tammy, and I went to A Minecraft Movie. Not an obvious pick for the movie on Tammy’s birthday but we wanted to see it. It was completely ridiculous, funny, goofy, and enjoyable at the same time.

Finished 3.09 mile walk in 76.1 minutes (24.63 min/mile). Incredible afternoon at the “the Arb” for a walk along the 3-Mile trail and through the hedge maze for Tammy’s birthday. 🚶‍♂️

Contrail.