My first job was in Knoxville, Iowa. Knoxville is famous for sprint car races. I lived more than one mile away from the racetrack, but races came in loud and clear most weekend nights. I went with a work group once. There were dedicated fans. It was fun as a one off event. It wasn't my thing.
The freight train was within the block and the volume was a notch higher. It went by at midnight and five a.m. This "quiet" Iowa town was the loudest place I have lived.
There was a newsstand shop a few blocks from my house. There was a movie theater a block further. I was in luck if I wanted a magazine or was interested in "Back to the Future." There were also bars with occasional workplace happy hours. I didn't spend a lot of time in town outside of my place, the second floor of a house that had been revamped as an apartment. Instead, I drove in my van which held a CD player, refrigerator, sleeping bag and telescope. It was a mostly solitary time for me.
I would drive to Des Moines to the computer store or the "art" theater or the record store or to see a band. I would drive near Cambridge and look through their telescopes and mine-- I saw Halley's Comet in 1986. Those were my typical weekend activities. Often, there was a family event, as well. Parents were an hour away.
Driving the roads of Iowa required a soundtrack. My van had a CD player and I would listen to XTC or They Might Be Giants or Scruffy the Cat or Talking Heads. Sometimes, in a Sunday morning mood, I'd listen to Shut Up and Play Your Guitar by Frank Zappa. People's Music (record store) in Des Moines introduced me to the wave of bands that included Husker Du, The Replacements and Young Fresh Fellows as "The Breakfast Club" era faded away.
I am not sure how many GBs of CDs I have, but my compact disc collection is certainly much less than the 1024 GB SD cards (1 TB) that were available for $40, if you looked hard. I spent all day ripping the A's and B's and only got to 11 GB so I know it is all going to fit.
I understand that you can buy Google subscriptions theoretically to all released music. Spotify or Pandora is supposed to be able to figure out what I like. (Mid-90's, midwestern Indy record store is the closest thing to the category of my CD collection.) But, so much of what I have is something I heard once and liked. Something I bought at a show. Something Tom showed me at No Name. Maybe, something from People's. Possibly something I remember from KALX. Of this TB I am working to fill by burning every CD I own, the amazing thing is how much I still like and/or fondly remember.
Driving around Minnesota in the COVID era feels much the same as Iowa then, just less lonely with the wife and child. The van had CD and cassette. The car has SD and CD. Eight hours of Ralph's World, ten LP sides of Dr. Demento and lots of Danny Elfman entertain my child. (She would prefer the soundtrack to Nightmare Before Christmas over and over on repeat.) The Yep Rock catalog from the last couple of years, the Bert Records catalog and some of my other favorites entertain me. Beach Boys, INXS and Kinks keep my wife happy. (That's with less than 128 GB.) Properly mixed, we all stay entertained. 128 GB is itself a substantial chunk of music. Maybe, all we have fits there too. Possibly, the100 hours of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio still fits.
Soon my car will be able to play The Everything that the Man Had. Driving around Minnesota, listening to the music, looking at the stars and hearing bird stories and the occasional live music Facebook performance is a lifestyle. Have you heard of Comet Neowise? I'd rather also travel the globe and see live music. 1024 GBs of recorded music should keep me sane, though.
Much less was keeping me sane in noisy Knoxville.
No comments:
Post a Comment