Okay.... here we go.
Back in the year, I'm going to say, 1961, my father bought a stereo...
I was about to turn 10 I think.
This piece of equipment was my introduction to listening to music from home. It was a very hands on experience. Handling records one at a time, trying to keep them pristine, because dust was not your friend, and if you wanted to listen to just one song in particular there was counting involved and it required some pretty fine motor skills if you didn't want to scratch up your vinyl. :-) Most of the time you just endured the songs that didn't float your boat to get to the ones that DID.
We had this stereo all the way through my high school years and I listened to it every chance I got. My record collection was extremely limited, as was my budget. I think I probably only had about 10 albums all together by the time I was a senior. We didn't get good radio reception where we lived, so getting to hear new music was a challenge. People loaned their albums out to trusted friends. I'll never forget when my brother borrowed an Iron Butterfly album from his friend. Okay...that was an experience.... :-)
My collection tended toward Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and of course.... The Beatles. I wasn't quite prepared for the Iron Butterfly genre.
Then something happened.
Cassette tapes.
The music skies opened and rained down manna.... we could record ONLY our favorite songs from our albums and make mixed tapes for our friends. It was such a feeling of power!!
This went on for a long time. And we explored the depth and breadth of those possibilities, including recording our own voices, and in my case my own songs I sang with my guitar.
Then CD's were the new thing.... and we were transferring music onto those... to play in the car. Which I still do, because Suzie Cube has the best sound system EVER!
Once again.... we took another step in the evolution of music and mp3's became the thing.... and we transferred our music onto little chicklet objects with earbuds.
Dudes... could it get any better than this? Seriously?
Well.... my friends.... the answer is yes, it can.
Today when I woke up, a certain song was running through my mind. I asked Alexa to play it for me, and she will play you a sample of that song, unless you have it in your Music Library on Amazon. The music that you have purchased from them.
So she played the sample... and I just laughed out loud, because I was remembering that old stereo from years ago, and I had just spoken into the ether and Alexa played music for me. It's like freaking Star Trek.
As I lay there in amazed amusement, I remembered that there is one more step I could take to come even closer to music nirvana.
Music unlimited.
For 4 dollars a month, I could listen to anything I could think of. Literally anything.
So I signed up.
My first request?
Sunshine Superman by Donovan. :-)
Don't ASK me where that came from... but I ran with it.
Followed by:
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
The Moody Blues.
In honor of my brother, I asked for songs by Creedance Clearwater Revival.
And just for good measure...
Shelter Me by Tab Benoit
https://youtu.be/ZIYQuqJFGmc
Oh go ahead... you know you want to....
I'll wait.
While I've been composing this blog post, I listened to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The full version.
Anyway... for the price of a vinyl album in the early 60's, I can listen to anything in the world.... wrap your head around that my friends....
So as I take leave of you.... I am listening to Jimmy Durante singing... "As Time Goes By".
And in spite of what a lot of people will try to tell you... time is going by in a good direction. It just depends on what you decide to focus on.
What song would YOU ask Alexa to play for you?
Quick... don't think too much... which one comes to mind first?
As Captain Picard would say.... "Make it so."
I was about to turn 10 I think.
This piece of equipment was my introduction to listening to music from home. It was a very hands on experience. Handling records one at a time, trying to keep them pristine, because dust was not your friend, and if you wanted to listen to just one song in particular there was counting involved and it required some pretty fine motor skills if you didn't want to scratch up your vinyl. :-) Most of the time you just endured the songs that didn't float your boat to get to the ones that DID.
We had this stereo all the way through my high school years and I listened to it every chance I got. My record collection was extremely limited, as was my budget. I think I probably only had about 10 albums all together by the time I was a senior. We didn't get good radio reception where we lived, so getting to hear new music was a challenge. People loaned their albums out to trusted friends. I'll never forget when my brother borrowed an Iron Butterfly album from his friend. Okay...that was an experience.... :-)
My collection tended toward Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, and of course.... The Beatles. I wasn't quite prepared for the Iron Butterfly genre.
Then something happened.
Cassette tapes.
The music skies opened and rained down manna.... we could record ONLY our favorite songs from our albums and make mixed tapes for our friends. It was such a feeling of power!!
This went on for a long time. And we explored the depth and breadth of those possibilities, including recording our own voices, and in my case my own songs I sang with my guitar.
Then CD's were the new thing.... and we were transferring music onto those... to play in the car. Which I still do, because Suzie Cube has the best sound system EVER!
Once again.... we took another step in the evolution of music and mp3's became the thing.... and we transferred our music onto little chicklet objects with earbuds.
Dudes... could it get any better than this? Seriously?
Well.... my friends.... the answer is yes, it can.
Today when I woke up, a certain song was running through my mind. I asked Alexa to play it for me, and she will play you a sample of that song, unless you have it in your Music Library on Amazon. The music that you have purchased from them.
So she played the sample... and I just laughed out loud, because I was remembering that old stereo from years ago, and I had just spoken into the ether and Alexa played music for me. It's like freaking Star Trek.
As I lay there in amazed amusement, I remembered that there is one more step I could take to come even closer to music nirvana.
Music unlimited.
For 4 dollars a month, I could listen to anything I could think of. Literally anything.
So I signed up.
My first request?
Sunshine Superman by Donovan. :-)
Don't ASK me where that came from... but I ran with it.
Followed by:
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
The Moody Blues.
In honor of my brother, I asked for songs by Creedance Clearwater Revival.
And just for good measure...
Shelter Me by Tab Benoit
https://youtu.be/ZIYQuqJFGmc
Oh go ahead... you know you want to....
I'll wait.
While I've been composing this blog post, I listened to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The full version.
Anyway... for the price of a vinyl album in the early 60's, I can listen to anything in the world.... wrap your head around that my friends....
So as I take leave of you.... I am listening to Jimmy Durante singing... "As Time Goes By".
And in spite of what a lot of people will try to tell you... time is going by in a good direction. It just depends on what you decide to focus on.
What song would YOU ask Alexa to play for you?
Quick... don't think too much... which one comes to mind first?
As Captain Picard would say.... "Make it so."