"Magic Pulled From Thin Air" - Time Out #190

The magic of music to my ears sometimes is beyond wonderful.

It has been that way for me as long as I can remember ?

Growing up in Our Town, I was exposed to my older sister, Beverly's, radio, and her 45-rpm records, playing on her portable record player. As the calendar reached the late 1950's in our home, I usually could manage to save a dollar or so, and purchase my own Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, or Johnny Rivers plastic 45's. When my sister wasn't around, I would spin the small plastic discs on her machine, and pretend I was in Philadelphia, PA, alongside Dick Clark, hosting American Bandstand. Wow, those were the days!

I would also broaden my music base, occasionally, and play my father's larger, 78-rpm records, which were mostly the so-called big band sounds of the 1940's. Both decades of tunes were entertaining to my young ears, as I remember simply loving music.

So, here I am growing up on the far southwest side of Our Town when the 1960's arrived, and the music recording industry starts to produce to those lovely, unique (?) 8-track tapes for a home player, or to play in your first teenage automobile. Remember, folks, those contraptions that you paid your hard-earned money to have for your very own, only to have the tape totally mess up in your player? The end result was the recorded tape unraveled EVERYWHERE in your car, or in your room at home! I'm sure you probably didn't get nearly as angry as I did when your prize tape was quickly trashed?

Next along was the musical cassette, usually much smaller than it's former cumbersome, older brother, the 8-track tape. I even remember some conversion kits you could place inside your 8-track player, and it would accommodate this "better mouse trap" product, the new cassette. However, being another brown tape apparatus, these newer gadgets were still prone to being "chewed up" and ruined, just when you didn't want that to happen to your music treasure. Did you ever try to Scotch tape the broken brown tape pieces back together? Yes, I tried, but repeatedly it didn't work! The end result, the trashcan.

O.K., now let's talk about the CD, aka the compact disc, as the musical recording industry continued to present new consumer products. This venture began as a single play device, only to quickly expand into multiple play CD devices.. Some of these "dinosaur" CD's are still around, and if you really search around, there are a few brick and mortar stores that today handle cassettes, 8-tracks and records. Of course, the limitless internet has all these items for purchase somewhere on Planet Earth, and they simply are only a few electronic clicks away for your purchasing pleasure.

Well, being the "old school" guy I am (NO surprise there to anyone?), I remain a usually radio-listening person. Currently, I have joined the real world by subscribing to the Sirius-XM services, both in my office and automobiles, but I don't have a personal device and a play list.. However, I might (?) wander down that path as time rolls forward, and join the 21st century, in that regard?

For me, it is so much fun to be driving down the road in Our Town , have my vehicle radio turned to Sirius-XM Channel 6 (1960's tunes), and a favorite hit from over a half century ago, takes me way, way back to simpler/gentler times. To me, it's almost like reliving that special time in my mind's eye, and, for that moment, it is utterly priceless. It certainly makes me want to put another quarter in the jutebox!!