Steve Schwartz:

>I love Armstrong, Dylan, Ellington, and the Beatles and believe
>that they accomplished a lot.  But why do I know more about that side
>of things than the populist knows about mine?

I wonder about that too.  I've noticed that I have a better chance of
recognizing a song played on a popular station than of recognizing a
piece played on a classical station, even though my CD collection (which
you could say represents my taste) is 99% classical.  (I've been into
classical music for more than 30 years.)

A guy at work who sits across from me has a guitar which he sometimes
picks up and plays (very well, btw.  For me, it's welcome entertainment.)
I can usually identify what he's playing, and actually carry on an
intelligent conversation with him about rock music from the 60s and 70s.
We even talk about Jazz sometimes -- he once played the opening chords
to "Kind'a Blue", which I was able to identify.  But...  he as absolutely
no interest in classical music.  It's kind of funny, when we talk about
music, there's a whole side to me, like the part of the iceberg under
water, that he is blind to, i.e.  my world of classical music.

Mike