Musical Memories - Mike
MIKE
Were I to find myself stranded on a desert island, but allowed to have one single record album or CD which could play whenever I wished........my choice would be, and is...........
Wait a minute. This little challenge, to the extent preserved forever within the RFT website, deserve some context, some color. It deserves a narrative.
I never had a stereo system until my second year of college. That summer of 1972, I purchased my first from a fellow worker at Singer Corp. Did not own a single record, 8 track, or cassette.
My "music collection" was otherwise contained in the plug-in radio sitting on my desk, my cool little transistor radio, and on little reel to reel tapes with my tape recorder. To this day I can vividly remember having the radio set to WNDR, and the microphone of my tape recorder positioned adjacent to the radio speaker. When adequately warned in advance by the DJ of the next song to be played, or by swift move of my hand, the "tape" button was executed and I had captured a song for replay whenever I liked and battery power allowed. Quite the homework interference!
Nancy had her own portable record player. To my knowledge, not only does she still have it, she still has her collection of Beatles 45's. The player was a caramel covered case with carrying handle. It included a component part required to play the 45's. We would listen to those records but only in her room. Do not be bouncing around in that room while a record was playing. The needle might jump. the precious vinyl might get scratched!
Then there was the stereo in the good living room. It was a piece of furniture, with two speakers that could be pulled out and placed for better "stereo sound". Mom and Dad did not use it all that often and had but a few albums. I can still hear "The Mills Brothers Christmas Album; some Sinatra and Doris Day; and of course, "The Sound of Music". I also recall seeing and hearing the very famous "Kennedy Family" parody album. It ended up with some Kennedy memorial items they kept on the lower shelves of their bedroom......soon after the assassination. Now David is the keeper of that piece of nostalgia.
Back to my stereo. It was a nice little piece. 8 track with AM/FM radio. Two independent speakers. Nice wooden finish, metal hardware....no plastic. From that humble setting my collection of tunes commenced. It was never prolific. Obviously, I was hip and cool to be collecting 8 tracks. All long gone now. Marilyn and I had some albums of our own as she had, and brought with her to Milwaukee a year later along with her very nice little Panasonic stereo/radio.
Flash forward to my 40th birthday. You all had to be there. Party at Dogwood; tent outside of the garage; Patrick Thomas serving as bartender. No Labor Day storm yet; no pool. One of my gifts was my very first CD....."The Beatles Help". Since then, I have a very few albums, a few cassettes, and a rather random collection of CD's. My purchases tended to be from grocery store "for sale" racks. More often than not.....greatest hit CD's. My 8 tracks are long gone. Except for a select few, most albums are long gone. I keep the gift Bobby gave me...."George Harrison All Things Must Pass". Have only one cassette...."Miss Saigon".
Moving now into the world of technology, I have an I Pod and yes, I still use it. Some nice tunes that play through my Bose. Those same tunes are accessible through my I Pad as well as my Apple cell phone. I still have a few unused I Tune credit cards which I need to execute on. There was a time when Caitlin was there to babysit me through the technology of purchasing music online.
Other than that, I try to jot down into my semi-present moleskin pocket notebook, the name of a song or performer that catches my ear. SO......the stranded on an island CD I at age 65, would to take with me in hand or downloaded, is the product of something in the nature of a long and winding road:
Hearing Simon & Garfunkel on the radio singing "Homeward Bound" while I ate pizza after the YMCA at that tiny little Angelo's Pizza shop on Genesee Street in Auburn. Watching the older girls at the rec room of the old YMCA building, up on the stage together dancing to the sounds of "The Four Seasons".
Dancing with the Monohan girls to "Chubby Checker Do the Twist" in the basement of the Donovan's home on Steel Street, at the little party celebrating their purchase of Steel Street and our impending move to Owasco Street.
Listening to "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in Nancy's room.
Tape recording in my bedroom " The Lovin Spoonful".
Playing/drumming Dave Clark Five and Monkees songs with my "garage band mates, Cuskey, Donohue, and Ball.
Learning every word from Elvis Presley’s Cold Kentucky Rain.
Trying to figure out why Jack liked "Blood, Sweat, and Tears".
Realizing that "James Taylor’s Fire & Rain" would forever stay on my top five.
My Grand Funk Railroad era…
My Moody Blues era…
My Neil Diamond era…
My Emerson, Lake & Palmer era…
My Beach Boys era…
My Chicago era…
My Eagles era…
My Association era…
My Neil Young era…
My Steely Dan era…
My Harry Nillson era…
My Fleetwood Mac era…
My Elton John era…
My Noah and the Whale era (need to look that one up don't you?)…
My Imogen Heap era (gotta look that one up too)…
So, I have just arrived on the island. I miss all my brothers and sisters. Time to fire up nice and loud, " The Beatles Love".
Michael
