On this Father's Day eve it is really too hot outside to do anything, even taking pictures, which is a hobby that has kind of taken over as the number one hobby, bumping music down to maybe the 1.5 hobby. That being said, my children decided to by me a suitcase style record player for Father's Day this year. I've been picking up records here and there over the last couple of years as they have been popping up in antique stores places like Coconuts in Evansville, Indiana. There's even Hard Copies in Marion and Carbondale to look for new and old vinyl alike.
When I was buying these records, I'm sure part of it was trying to recapture a bit of my past, I know looking through them with one hand toward the front catching the albums while your flicking through them with your pointy finger brought back some memories. I just like albums, the vinyl, the packaging, the inserts. It makes me remember that music is much more than what you hear. I know that sounds funny, because you have to hear music, hell, it's the name of this blog. Music has always been a big part of my life, and in many ways it still is. Somewhere along the last few years I've went from, "Hey, you still playing in the band with Rob" to "Hey, I like your pictures". It's not that I lost my interest in music, it's more that it lost me. I'm in my mail vehicle six days a week. and I have a SiriusXm radio, which I listen to a lot of different things, but over the last few years I've listened to NFL radio and talk radio much more than music. The new music just didn't reach me, country, well forget about it, and classic rock radio, as much as I love classic rock it seems to me the radio stations haven't progressed from thirty years ago, with the exceptions of maybe Pearl Jam and Nirvana, they still play the same 50 songs.
Over the last couple of days (my kids gave me my present early) I've actually sat down and dropped the needle on the record and listened to it, from the first track until I have to turn the record over and start again. I wasn't worried about fast forwarding it, I just sat and let it play. This is a fairly big accomplishment for me, because when it comes to radio stations I suffer from ADD, as I'm constantly hitting the scan button on it. Since the advent of the internet I believe music, like many other things have become disposable. I don't know what most kids think of music, my kids love it. They listen to everything, and although it may be hard to believe I've not pushed any music upon them, they've developed their own musical tastes with a bit of mine and Mandy's influences thrown it, but mostly it's theirs.
Which brings this back full circle, my gift (record player) from my greatest gifts (my kids) reminding me of my past and my great love of music, listening to this music over the last few days have been a wonderful experience, and it will continue as long as my wife lets me add to my vinyl collection.
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