Your daily Prog dosage?

[rickawakeman]

A number of years ago, in my pre-Internet days (that would be prior to '99 for me) I had a letter published in Progression, essentially bemoaning the absence of sufficient time to devote to proggy pleasures, especially while raising three children and working more than full-time. Well, the kids are gone, enjoying the empty nest but still struggling to put aside devoted blocks of uninterrupted time for active listening, campling, watching vids on YT, searching Dime for shows. At this point, my typical daily (weekday) prog routine consists of grabbing a disc for the commute to/from work (total 70 minutes...just right for most discs), checking PE several times a day at work (total 20-30 minutes), and at 10 p.m. selecting a new or relatively new aquisition for some attentive listening under headphones while , meaning I usually fall asleep about 30 minutes into a disc. On weekends, I'll crank the prog at home for several hours from early evening until about 9 p.m, so get through about two hours of tunes or a concert DVD. I still have managed to amass a "get-to" pile that never seems to shrink, while older releases sit neglected in the stacks. And of course I keep downloading live shows (primarily pre-FM, FM or soundboards) from torrent sites like Dime and continue to buy way too many new or used releases (here in Northampton, we have several record stores!). So...where do we find the time for active listening, etc.? How much of your day is devoted to the passion we call Prog?

[Jefferson James]

I work out of the house so throughout the work day I am checking stuff out, music I see referenced here or on Facebook. Most evenings are spent working on demos, otherwise I'll watch concert videos or documentaries, or tune into some internet radio prog stations. I don't have to drive a whole lot but when I go to LA for rehearsal weekends I listen to stuff in the car. There are a lot of times when there is no music playing at all -- I like the quiet.

I temporarily moved to the local mountains (got a great lease deal on a cabin, thinking of buying a place up here but thought it prudent to live here awhile first in case we hate it) so I am alone 99% of the time; I have been using this time to catch up on some artist's catalogs -- listened to tons of Bowie, Zappa, Eno, Miles Davis, Pixies, artists I have always wanted to check out but never found the time.

Can't really put a number on the time spent listening to new (to me) music but it's a daily thing; I spend probably 20-30 hours a week up in the loft working on solo stuff or material for Heliopolis.

And there's still not enough time to listen to everything.

Edit: When listening to German folk music, or polka, the dosage is usually around 100-150 micrograms.

[strawberrybrick]

Same kinda stuff to report. The car can be a sanctuary for listening, but I mostly prefer talk radio or silence (esp in the am). I burn CDs of stuff I want to listen to, then leave them in the car. Evenings I find myself nodding off all together too early, but sometimes I can make it through a couple of LPs. I am able to make time for new purchases, probably to justify the purchase. However, once a month or so, I gather some friends for so-called "snidings", and these are not only spent listening to music into the wee hours of the night, but also full of great conversation and friendship. And libations. Lots of libations.

[NogbadTheBad]

Most of my listening is in the office, my job is probably split 50:50 meetings and data crunching. When I'm data crunching I'm usually wearing headphones. I get through about 2 or 3 albums a day that way. I also go to the gym 3 times a week and have 45 minutes of random shuffle there. I probably only get 3 or 4 hours of active focused listening at home a week.

[JKL2000]

This is a topic I can get into. My answer is: not enough. Mainly because although I'm in my early 50s, we have a soon-to-be seven year old boy, and also a 17 year old boy. Lots of stubbornness in the household!
So the drive to and from work is about the only time I have alone, and the drive each way is only about 20 minutes! So I get through a couple of prog epics a day in the car.

I try to listen to music on headphones while falling asleep, but that never lasts more than five minutes or so.

Occasionally I'll find that everyone else is asleep and I'm still up, so that's when I usually put on a concert DVD and drink a bit too much. Good times!

On the positive front though, we're doing renovations on a new (old) house, and when we move in - June or so - I'll have a bona-fide Man Cave for the first time ever! I'll have to share it some with the kids, but I think I'll be able to blast ye olde prog fairly regularly down there, so I aim to make it into a bit of a pub environment and also finally have a real surround sound setup so that Steven Wilson's work won't all have been for naught. Also, my older son and I can relax and watch Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, while the wife is upstairs watching Masterpiece Mystery instead of complaining at us. Hooray! Familial bliss...

[NogbadTheBad]

Somehow Jed I can totally visualize you in a Man-Cave. Enjoy!

[spacefreak]

Weekends mostly and late nights sessions when kids go to bed. Unfortunately it ain't possible at workplace and very rarely in the car (I prefer talk radio). Hopefully, three times per week I spend my afternoons helping out at a record store and I'm blasting new releases there.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Every second weekend when I'm drinking and aren't engulfed in fatherhood. I'm 44 now and wouldn't any longer impose my habits on younger neighbours in apartments around me, but I may go hours on end during fridays and saturdays, and they even endure it then - albeit most likely with a frown as they attempt to counteract by blasting their trance/junk-electronica.

I'm attending a record fair in *1 1/2 hours time*, so I'll be returning home afterwards to tote my gramophone until I leave to see Pixel play Victoria at 21:00 this evening. Meaning it'll be a short stint this time!

I used to listen each and every day, of course.

[JKL2000]

Somehow Jed I can totally visualize you in a Man-Cave. Enjoy!

Thanks, Ian. I will definitely enjoy it!

[Sputnik]

My wife and I eat dinner in the dining room and have music playing during prep, eating, and cleanup. We can get through one to three CDs an evening, and this constitutes the bulk of my listening. I'll also bring a couple of CDs with me to various band rehearsals and can fit two or three more in that way. Usually that constitutes my closest listening, though when my wife and I are into a disc we often give it a pretty close listen together. So I usually hear between 15 and 20 CDs a week, give or take a few based on length.

On weekend mornings (like right this second) I spend a bit of time checking out PE and try to catch up on sampling stuff on Youtube and elsewhere. I also set aside time when I get an update from Walker full of links of stuff to sample.

I don't like music on when I'm working or reading, nor do I have a portable player for my train commute anymore, as I prefer to read.

Bill

[Nijinsky Hind]

Honestly, its mostly in the car. I work outdoors and sometimes I am able to keep a portable CD player around me. When the wife and kids leave the house for an hour or more on weekends, I crank up some prog. I have always needed to hear it loud and that really rattles the wife. Especially King Crimson at high volume.... She is 13 years younger and listens to depeche mode, duran duran, george michael, billy idol...

All that said, I probably average an hour a day.

[StevegSr]

I alternate prog, every other day, with folk rock, blues, acoustic blues, world music and folk. I usually listen to music about two hours a day since I retired. It's wonderful to have that option!

[jlneudorf]

The days when I have to drive out of town for work (I'm a teacher) I love cranking CDs. It makes those drives so much more enjoyable. I avoid talk radio like the plague.
At home much of my listening is spent on headphones and that is mostly reserved for reviewing music. Often there isn't enough time in the day to spend as much time on music as I would like.

[Poisoned Youth]

I no longer have a "prog" dosage (or maybe I never did). But I do have a music dosage. To sum it up...

I almost always have some song, beat, or melody running through my head. I suppose that makes it 24/7, like an I.V.

My commute is on the short side (thankfully), so besides short stints of music in the car, most of my listening is at home these days. I often have music on when I'm working from home certain mornings as well. I'd say it all averages out to 3 hours/day at this point. At work I find that I can't concentrate all that well at the office, but I still find ways to get in a few hours of week there as well.

Besides that and obviously checking in on PE, I'm frequently searching still for new discoveries and news for new albums by old or current favorites.

[rickawakeman]

I almost always have some song, beat, or melody running through my head. I suppose that makes it 24/7, like an I.V.

What a relief...I thought I was the only one...

[strawberrybrick]

Today, and tonight, lots of ELP and the Nice.

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The Nice, Autumn To Spring
Tarkus
Trilogy, Jakko 5.1 mix
Aaron Copeland Hoedown
Brain Salad Surgery
Works Vol 1. only parts
Works 1/2 bootleg

then we moved on to George Martin productions, VDGG Theme One, then World Record, and then Genesis Trick of The Tail, And Then there Were Three

[JKL2000]

I almost always have some song, beat, or melody running through my head. I suppose that makes it 24/7, like an I.V.

What a relief...I thought I was the only one...

It's hard when that and the music you're actually listening to are really different.

[Interstellar]

I have no precise daily Prog dosage, as I like to mix different kinds of music. I like coming back to prog after listening to other things - it makes that moog solo, that psychedelic part, that mellotron piece or that odd time signature sound fresh. (I also like hearing this kind of contrast within a single record.)
Most of the listening is done in the car these days, which is both satisfying (as the music merges with the landscape and the current mood to create a unique experience) and frustrating (as the car noise takes away some of the frequencies and subtleties of the music).
From time to time I manage to have an "old school" listening session with headphones on. But family life comes first...

[Rangershockey7]

My wife and I are now empty nesters, but while the children were young, music was always playing in the house (4 rooms plus the pool were wired for speakers as well as the living room where the stereo is), and I was lucky enough to have my oldest develop a love of prog (he is on this site as BigJohnWayne) and my daughter liked it enough to constantly steal my CD's leading me to have to purchase a 2nd copy. Additionally, my wife, a drummer, appreciates most prog (especially 70's prog) although she prefers AOR. As we did projects at home, we either had the music playing in the house or on a boom box outside. When the kids were young, they had a couple of Playstation games I enjoyed and we would play as a family with Genesis, Yes, Rundgren, Arena, ELP, Chicago, Marillion, ... playing. Hours and hours a week when added up. Probably 30 to 35 hours a week.

Thanks to my oldest son, as the children grew, we stayed up on the new releases and trends and still listened a ton. Both my sons were hockey players and traveling all over the north east and eastern Canada made for hours and hours of listening. To go to the Mousquiri Tourney in Richmond, Quebec was 4 to 6 CD's each way with another 4 or 5 while we were there. A typical road game in the Metro League was at least 2 - 3 CD's.

Now the kids are out of the house. I listen in my truck at least 10 hours a week. Working in my workshop is another 12 hours a week. On the computer while doing work or messing around, another 5 - 6 hours a week. If I get control of the MP3 player at work on any given day, add 8 hours.

Probably 30 hours on average.

However, since my oldest son got married, I am not on top of new or obscure bands as I once was. Kind of an odd reason to miss your son when he moves out, the "Decrease in your Prog Awareness. "

[Trane]

I'll talk of music dosage instead of pro dosage.

From Monday to Thursday, unless I head out for a movie, I listen to music from 7PM until 12. And I have 40kms retirn as a commute where I get +/- one album heard.
Outside the odd PE recommendation, no music at work, though I suppose I could, because we all have our own office

Friday is the day I do most kms (and therefore most listening in the car), because on top of the commute, I return to Brussels ,so that's roughly another 4 albums , but at the expense of the weeknight 5-hours lounge session.
Saturday, generally very little music too busy ), unless the odd concert.
Sunday, ome music search via the web, anbd the road back to North of Amsterdamm and 2.5 hours of music.

[flowerking]

I'm a professor of computer science and usually spend 4-5 hours a day in my office. I have music on all the time unless there are other people in my office. Throw in another 30-45 minutes a day commuting when I'm listening to music. Probably 80% of what I listen to is prog. So figure about 5 hours a day of prog 5 days a week. On weekends I tend to listen to a lot less music. Probably the reverse of most people here.