Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Old Stuff


Imagine my shock last Saturday when Elijah came into the house in a state of euphoria, carrying what had to be the most common, unimpressive, "no-frills" record player I've ever seen--in fact it looked just one step plainer than the player we used for our Shakespeare records in English class aeons ago--when casette tapes were cutting-edge, high-tech inventions, and eight track players installed in a guy's van made him indisputably "cool".

He proceeded to upload his treasure onto the kitchen bar and extract an armload of old dusty records from a ragged and exhausted paper bag. They were mostly classical selections, but there were some popular fifties tunes as well. We were in for a treat--wow--the thing plays music!

Hmmm. I remembered hours of listening to the Exodus soundtrack, Montovani, Hall of the Mountain King, and even to our own family record--one my sisters and I had recorded in what, I'm sure, was an absurdly inadequate time session one evening years and years ago. It was a strange, nostalgic feeling, like a breeze blowing through the house. Still, this wonderful item didn't strike me as a "great find". How could something like that possibly be an antique? It's recent history to me...so I went off by myself and read a book.

3 comments:

Carina said...

It was almost archaeological, Mom!

aftergrace said...

Mark insisted on buying a turntable not too long ago much too my chagrin. I also own one of the records that you and your sisters recorded, hmm..I think I'll get it out and listen to your lovely voices.

Lilibeth said...

Well, be forgiving of the places where we mess up...it's funny. Some of the songs sound almost "in" again... at least that's what Elijah says. He says the harmony sounds "Indi" (Whatever that means)