I have settled in Seattle again recently. Mainly to take classes relating to my main life interests, that is the written word. I am enrolled at North Seattle Community College for this Spring Quarter taking two classes, Creative Writing and Intro to Philosophy. Sometimes I like to listen to music while i study. The style of music i have found most conducive is ambient, and my favorite source is a program called Hearts of Space, hosted by Stephen Hill. On the air since 1973 , HOS is dedicated to transmitting high quality ambient tracks in seamless ad-free broadcasts. In other words, its all about the music and the "space" it helps create for the listener.
I first heard HOS about 2 years ( i'm pretty sure, yet it may have been longer) ago while driving across Washington State during a 6 month stint of working out of town. I was somewhere out on the central Washington high desert when i switched on radio and twisted the knob to the low end of the dial, where most of my choice programs seem to congregate, for some reason, when s surge of mellow noises of what sounded like a soundtrack for CS Lewis' scifi classic 'Out of the Silent Planet' filled my car and set a mood within me that made me forget the monotony of the hours behind the wheel. It was 10pm on a Sunday which meant i had stumbled across HOS weekly broadcast airing out of Yakima's branch Northwest Public Radio.
Hill 's deep, resonant voice concludes each weekly broadcast with these words: "Safe journey, Space Fans, wherever you are". I picture him sitting alone in a rusty, trusty space craft, like Luke Skywalker leaving Degoba, and giving his benediction over his handheld CB, as he moves about the galaxy to gather more sountracks for the next program.
You can listen to programs on his fantastic website: www.hos.com
(Photograph is of the Ballard Draw Bridge with Discovery Park Ray-Dome and the Olympic Mountains in the background, image taken today by myself from Phinney ridge)
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