Vinyl Nostalgia

On their last trip down to Houston, my folks brought me the stack of records that, while once spun sound, had been relegated to the second shelf of the bathroom closet for many years. The times change, as does technology, but that doesn’t mean we get rid of stuff – we are Eckers. As I type this I have a stash of cassette tapes (both purchased and mixes) in a plastic tub under my bed, a couple of CD storage books full of live shows from the b+p days, and let’s be honest, a hard drive full of music that would take months to listen to (if that’s all I did in life). Did I mention that minidisc player? Yea, that’s probably in a shoe box somewhere with a couple of shows that I attempted to tape. Oh, and iPods? More than one.

Well, I think you see a pattern here – that I like the music and the technology. So why revert back to those shiny black days? Nostalgia. Amongst those records were several that I remember listening when I was a child – “Rubber Duckie” and “Tiger Hunt” with Bert and Ernie (and his trusty, rusty telescope) and “I’m a Pink Toothbrush” by the Smurfs. While the sound might not be the clearest, neither are the memories but coupled together, everything is a bit more vivid. As an adult, there’s also the added bonus of discovering some of the other music in the collection – Pink Floyd, The Band, Jimi Hendrix, and the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate. Oh, and now I can finally listen to that Guster “Keep It Together” album that I bought to hand on the wall as art years and years ago as well as Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons’ album “Death Won’t Send A Letter” – purchased last weekend, the day after I turned 33 1/3.