a reason for vinyl

A few months ago a thought struck me -- now that the world is going digital and music is increasingly stored on hard drives instead of in your CD tower, the time honoured tradition of going through your parent's music collection is forever altered. It will consist of looking at file names in a browser window, instead of poring over big album covers. That weirded me out; the subtle way in which change asserts itself.
So I set about to reinsert some vinyl music into my life. Fortuitously, a guy at work was replacing his record player with a new model and offered me his old one. There wasn't really anything wrong with it, he just wanted a new toy. I wasted no time getting it home and hooking it up... And launched an afternoon of drinking beers, going through albums and playing tunes. Bloody good times! The hiss and pop was goddamn lovely. That is how the Who should be enjoyed.
I love progress in it's own way, but really, we should never be in a hurry to forget where we came from. So fifteen years from now, young Sawyer can paw through his old man's record collection and wonder who the hell are "Tones on Tail"? Well, let's put 'em on and find out!

musings of a new father

My son, Sawyer (see "Adventures of Tom Sawyer", not "Lost", arrgh), was born several months ago and recently I found myself experiencing nostalgia for things out of my past. I went on a purchasing frenzy for old movies that affected me back in the day (only widescreen of course), I sought out hard cover copies of books that I have not read in years, I picked up an old phonograph from a colleague at work (say it with me - phonograph) and bought a bunch of lp's (bowie, bauhaus, jazz, and some smiths, among others). Now I normally don't need an excuse to buy shite for myself but this was different. I felt driven. I felt a deep need for these things.
After paying my Visa bill, I had to wonder what the hell I was doing buying all this stuff. It struck me; I was archiving the various influences that had made me who I am today. I was subconciously trying to accumulate all the books I had read, and all the movies I had seen that had affected me in one way or another. But to what purpose? It dawned on me... I wanted to try and ensure that my son would be exposed to some of the very media that had formed my various beliefs. I wanted to make my son a clone of me (see "Boys from Brazil") by making available all source material.
Now I don't really want a clone of myself (would you?) but the idea of fostering some similar interests with my son underscores my feelings of distance from my own father (the Silent One). Not that our relationship is bad, just -- perfunctory. It seems so easy now to interact with Sawyer, I dread the day that I can't have a conversation with my son. May it never arrive.

and it begins...

So why bother? Why bother ranting into cyberspace? Well, a friend of mine gave me a great reason...just for the opportunity to write. No expectation of an audience, just pure writing as a exercise in itself. Man, back in the day I just assumed my "grown up job" would be something to do with writing. And then life happened. However, it is never too late to get back to it, is it? Let's hope not...
More rants and ramblings to follow. Babysteps.