September 7, 2006

Remembering Records.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 9:23 pm

45 Records.jpgA couple weeks ago, I was in a nearby mall and decided to visit Sam Goody’s to pick up a couple CDs. The store was no longer there.

I have since learned that the parent company of Sam Goody filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code, and that the company’s financial distress was, in part, the increased number of people downloading music from the internet. Sorta sad, methinks.

Seeing as how I have never used an ATM, I never could program a VCR, and I gave away a DVD player when I couldn’t figure out how to hook the damned thing up, it should not be all that surprising that I don’t download music from the internet. I buy CDs at places like Sam Goody’s and sometimes from Amazon.

However, before the Digital Age, I bought “records” at a “record store”. Indeed, as kids, we would gather up some of our “spend money”, catch a ten-cent bus ride into Newark and spend a wonderful hour or two in a store called Park Records. Park Records was a narrow but deep place, which had an amazing inventory of 45s, LPs, and even a rack or two of 78s. In addition to always having an ample supply of the “hits”, the owner stocked an absolutely amazing array of past hits soon-to-be-hits, and non-hits as well, and, as I recall, he kept track of all this in his head. If you managed to come up with a tune that he did not have, you could rest assured that he would have it the next time you schlepped across the river to shop for records.

I cannot recall the price of a 45 record back then, but it was less than a buck. We would spend loads of time sifting through hundreds of records, and wanting to buy dozens, but having to settle for however many records five bucks (or sometimes less) would buy.

After everyone finally completed their purchases, we would take the bus home and invariably convene at my parents’ house where we would play our precious purchases on a humongous Motorola console “Stereo”, which had a couple big-ass speakers and a power tube in it that was roughly the size of a small eggplant. We played those records loud, and we’d argue about discuss (also loudly) the relative merits of each. After we played hell out each of the new records, their owners would carefully return them to their paper sleeves to be brought to their respective houses and played some more.

As I got older, 45s and LPs from Park Records and that gorilla stompin’, mondo Motorola provided me (and the neighborhood) with the music I used to learn to play drums and guitar. Fortunately, I had tolerant parents and friendly neighbors.

I think that kids who get their music with a simple mouse click are missing something.

Thanks for the idea go out to Steve, a reader and Jersey Guy who has somehow ended up in California.

10 Comments »

  1. I don’t download my music either.

    Comment by Bou — September 7, 2006 @ 10:39 pm

  2. I refuse to download music also…..but, really Jim?… no ATM….no DVD??…really?…..seriously?

    Comment by Jean — September 7, 2006 @ 11:56 pm

  3. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Jim. We must be close to the same age, I’m 52. I had forgotten how we reverently handled and cared for those old 45’s. I recall how, when one got scratched and would skip, we would tape a coin or coins to the arm until it hopefully stopped.

    Do you recall your first 45. recordS? I THINK mine was “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”.

    Comment by Rantin' Ron — September 8, 2006 @ 9:23 am

  4. Welcome to The Bank of Jersey ATM! Please insert card and enter PIN now . . .

    JIM, hello! And welcome back to your Bank of Jersey ATM! Now personalized for better a customer service experience.

    To withdraw cash for your sock drawer, JIM, in ENGLISH, press 1.

    To program your VCR, JIM, press 2.

    12:– 12:– 12:– HA HA JIM. Just kidding.

    Comment by dogette — September 8, 2006 @ 9:26 am

  5. Years ago when the reel to reel tape recorders were popular we young GIs would spend hours taping music from each others record collections. I would spend the 3.95 for an album and tape it and it would probably get taped by at least forty others..who all did the same

    Comment by GUYK — September 8, 2006 @ 10:06 am

  6. I couple of years ago, I transferred several of my albums to CD. I listened to them while recording them into the computer. There was a certain warmth there that didn’t carry over to the digital media.

    I still have two boxes of 45s and a crate full of albums.

    Comment by Thomas Pfau — September 8, 2006 @ 5:35 pm

  7. The ATM stuff is the unvarnished truth, as is my inability to program a VCR. The DVD thing is more complicated, as there is a TV in the house (albeit not THE TV) that has a DVD built into it. The thing about giving away a DVD player — True. I gave it to daughter TJ, after I concluded hooking it up was giving me seriously painful hair.

    Jimbo

    Comment by Jim — September 8, 2006 @ 8:00 pm

  8. Ron,

    Yeah, I believe at times we needed as many as three pennies on the arm.

    As for the first 45, I believe it was Bill Haley and the Comets’ tune called “Razzle Dazzle”. Shortly thereafter, there was “I’m in Love Again” by Fats Domino.

    Comment by Jim — September 8, 2006 @ 9:39 pm

  9. I should post a photo of it sometime, but I have a pretty cool, highly-functional “Realistic” brand 3-speed phonograph player / 8-track / cassette player / receiver all in one with … (drum roll) … Big-Ass Speakers.

    I don’t think, in 30 years, I’ve ever downloaded a song … maybe the odd tune, here or there, back in Napster’s free days … and I don’t own an iPod …

    I do, still, listen to records – I have about 200, in the genres of classic rock, country, jazz, classical, standards, et al – and I even have a handful of 45s by Tony Bennett, Dolly Parton, Judy Garland, Glen Campbell, etc …

    If it at all tickles your fancy, there’s a dingy record store – a “REAL” record store – in Brooklyn on 5th Avenue between 8th & 9th streets.

    Sadly, it’s the last of a nearly dead breed.

    Comment by erica — September 8, 2006 @ 10:08 pm

  10. I will never forget that stereo. I think we played “I Get Around” at full blast on it a dozen times in a row one Saturday.

    Comment by Jack Bog — September 14, 2006 @ 1:42 am

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