Spinning Holiday Memories

It’s the vinyl that brings you back. In retrospect of victrolas, you know those hand-cranked musical deliverance machines of the early 1900’s, now a days one does not require the patience it took to actually listen to a diamond needle skate across a vinyl surfaces that having grooves, channeled sound from phonograph to ear . . . Right up until the crash of 1929, born out of the Victor Talking Machine Company in operation for 28 years, was the coolest type of transmission of song to ear there ever was, from a nostalgic point of view.

In preparation for the holidays there must be a re-direction of the original Feng Shui we have going in the combo living and dining areas. It becomes the time to re-arrange furniture and empty closets from the upstairs of clothes that were winter put away while it as summer. Those boxes and bags get pulled out sorted through and then returned with summer clothes for storage will now lie till it is time for them to appear on the back of their owner.

In the meantime, pretty colors and creative covers off vinyl discs of 33 rpm played nostalgia lept out at me from a box way back in the corner of the upstairs closet. I pulled the top comforter in there away and swerved it up and out of the closet without toppling the vacuum cleaner. I sat down on the floor staring at the box of musical memories that flooded from the crevices between each album as well as the album themselves. Fingering the paper and the shiny cardboard I sensed a continuum of years growing through tears, turbulence and triumph–for me at least. What an amazing set of flashbacks of what hearing these songs for the very first time either in this very fashion or live, did for me. Usually the latter way was less likely to occur as I was underage when most of the favorites were ever performed, live but here and now twenty, thirty even forty years later for some songs, a reawakening occurs. It stirs in thoughts of universal harmony, true peace, no prejudice, fair and equal punishment but gracious extent of forgiveness so the cosmic soup is not confined to mediocrity.

Live on in the delivery of music through whatever medium is available and celebrate this holiday with tradition and nostalgia intact.

Happy Holidays 2009