it was the summer of 2012, i was headed to my parents house early to meet my sister taylor for our morning run. i walked in to find my dad sitting at the kitchen table listening to some sinead o'connor performance that he found off of youtube. after our regular morning niceties, i asked him if he would like me to buy the album on iTunes for him, so he wouldn't have to watch youtube videos to get his sinead fix. i could even put it on his phone for him so he could have it whenever and wherever he wanted... blah blah blah, i was really trying to sell it. he said no. he said he would in fact like the CD, but a hard copy. not from iTunes, but the original. he went on to explain to me that our generation doesn't appreciate the tangible anymore. we don't really even take the time to appreciate the time and effort it goes into making an album; the cover design, the lyrics, the album art. he was right, i mean honestly, i probably have 10plus 'digital booklets' in my iTunes library. haven't looked at a single one.
he told me that when he was younger it was so exciting for a new record to come out & that he thought music was almost too accessible to us now. we click, we buy, we listen, we move on. he said with record players, putting that needle on made you feel like you were part of it. & even with CDs, you had to be there to push play.
now, for those of you that knew my dad, you know he was a talker once he got started on something & i had gotten him started! we talked and talked about the transition between vinyls, cassettes, CDs and now digital. how music has changed over time & how he wished he could find & sort all of his music collection, which was then collecting dust in the garage. I'm not sure if he ever made the time to get it done or if it's still dusty in an old red organizer in our storage unit.
it wasn't a conversation that was life changing. interesting yes, educational even. it wasn't until just the other day that i even remembered having it. shopping online at urban outfitters, i clicked on the tab that said music, out of curiosity & there it was. a record player. id been wanting one, but hadn't yet committed to the idea of starting a music collection from scratch when my iPhone is already full to the brim with onedollar&twentynine cent tunes. but i clicked buy.
a crosley. modernized, with a USB option, auxiliary option & more. husband helped me set her up, figure out the needle placement & correct speed setting. first up, death cab for cutie's 'plans' album - my favorite. seeing that record spin around and around and around brought me back once more to that summer conversation & reminded me of a time when conversations with my dad were just a short drive or a phone call away; but when the music is flowing from the speaker on this silly machine, its like he right here again. congratulating me on my venture into this whole new world & crossing his fingers that dan fogelberg is next :)
