[78-L] Thanks to All for Telling Me Why 78's are Special to You

[DKing]

Hello,

Thanks for telling the group why 78’s are special to you.

I’m struck by how vivid some of your memories are of
78’s in your home when you were young.

I don’t have the same memories of hearing 78’s
at home because my parents didn’t have a record
player, and because I was born in the early 1950’s.

So music was something I liked on the radio, now &
then, but nothing in particular.  I began to come of age
in the late 1960’s and The Beatles turned the music
scene upside down and I was bitten by the music bug.
They began to open my eyes to rock & roll, and later
with help from The Animals, Steppenwolf, and others.

And I can’t forget the wonderful Ike & Tina Turner
back then.  Musically, a great time to come of age,

Into the Army in late 1971, and stationed at a place
in Texas.  The local cowboy music didn’t interest me
much at the time, but there was one station in town
that played rock & roll.  It was like a single oasis in
a desert of music.

But a little later - what electrified me and opened
me up to really explore recorded music was the 1st
time I heard “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” by
Steely Dan.

It was afternoon in an apartment that a friend had
in Munich (1973 or 1974) and he put the “Pretzel
Logic” album on the stereo.  I literally felt that
electricity you feel when you’ve heard something
amazing.  Probably the way some of you felt when
you first heard a great singer or musician on what
would become one of your favorite 78’s.

In the early 1970’s I was stationed in Germany
and I miss Bavaria to do this day.  I can still taste
the Zigeuner Schnitzel at one place.

After mainly washing trucks & jeeps, and painting
them when it wasn’t raining, I took the option of
getting out in Germany and traveling around some
of Europe by train.  While in Amsterdam I heard
and saw live jazz for the first time and that night
I was bitten by the jazz bug.

During my late 1974 stay in Amsterdam, posters
advertised an Ike & Tina Turner concert in London.
To conserve funds I didn’t travel to see them, but
I know it was great if you were there.

Got distracted by work after the Army, and finally
got a stereo system around 1976 or 1977.  There
was a record store very close to where I lived and
I sometimes haunted the “cutout” section there.

Canonball Adderley and other greats were found
sometimes in the cutouts, along with some rock
& roll that I liked.

Like many of you I was a philatelist, mainly up to
the late 1960’s and have a decent U.S. collection
but stopped collecting because the blank spots
in my stamp album were going to cost the kind
of money I didn’t have, lol.  I still have the stamp
albums  & never did get a US #1 or #2 in Scott’s
stamp catalog (along with many other stamps).

Many years passed and I found myself retired
with plenty of time to indulge my musical tastes
and explore music.  iTunes was a godsend once
I became connected to “world wide web” here
at home.

And the “genius” function in iTunes helped me
find and listen to all kinds of music that I’d
never heard before.  So honestly, my tastes
are so varied now when it comes to music, it’s
difficult to say what kind I like the best.

Then a few years ago I saved that large batch
of 78’s which I mentioned before.  Saved them
mainly for the history they represent and had
no idea if I’d like the music on any of them.

Those 78’s are a twofer - pieces of history that
someone collected and left in a house bought
by a young couple.  Nothing rare I think.  But
with the wonders of the Internet it’s surprising
much of it is easily found and listened to “online”,
esp. since my record doesn’t play 78’s

Enjoyed all of your stories, and was about
to have a heart attack when I began to read
Rodger’s story where his mother was going
to melt a bunch of old records to make candy
dishes.

And Donna, your remark about old records
and how they help to keep the memory of
your parents alive, reminds me of things here
and there that remind me of special people
who are no longer with us.  I have a few things
that belonged to my parents and can’t bear
to part with them - it’s like they represent a
piece of my parents’ world that I want to keep
alive, even though I know they’ve been gone
for awhile now.

And I’m struck by how clear some memories
are, including the details like time of day, what
a bunch of old records looked like to Rodger
when he got home from school floor and where
he placed his books while he found his mother
in the kitchen plotting to commit sacrilege.

Before i forget, recorded music is still a part
of my life, even though a lot is found “online”
these days.

To me it represents history, a musicians’s skill
or singer’s voice quality.  And when it strikes
something deep inside me, but was recorded
in the early part of the 20th century - it helps
me to imagine what my grandparents & parents
must have felt when they heard it at a dance,
or on the radio, or on a friend’s record player,
long before I was born.

Thanks again for responding to my questions.

- Dave King