Sitting at my computer, looking up to my right, I see a 5 foot shelf of LPs. Behind me, on shelves in a hallway, LPs hold a 6 foot shelf hostage. A few years ago I began to turn my favorites into CDs but soon tired of the excessive time expenditure. I figured it was not worth the effort since there is so much wonderful current stuff to hear. That project was put on hold in favor of several others. 11 feet of LPs is really rather daunting!
I'm wrestling with myself, whether to just throw them out, try to find someone who might be silly enough to want them, or just let them sit there grinning at me as they squat on precious shelf space. Surely someone else must have liked what I listened to and loved. Indeed, that is so! Happily, I am finding many of my old favorites, digitally re-mastered, on CDs. Now they are being added to the 14 feet of CD shelf space.
Long ago, I listened to New Orleans Jazz and Dixieland. I've decided I no longer enjoy that and feed a far more eclectic taste today. One can still find a taker for CDs of any genre. As I cull these out, fortunately I can bring the oldies to a jazz club of old timers who buy them. The proceeds are donated to the club to help pay for a live group of musicians as a last program for the year, free to the community. I refuse to have a yard sale to rid myself of my past.
For several years I have started my day listening to PBS news. It has droned on in the background as I work on the computer, scarcely aware of the radio's content. Sometimes I listen to sounds of Nature on CD and watch the TV as I work. I've decided talking heads irritate me most of the time so I now I put on CDs of music I enjoy.
While I am making changes, I am ridding myself of the several hundred VHS tapes I have accumulated in the last 27 years. There were more than 100 family tapes I had filmed which seemed to have survived in rather good shape. I have converted those to DVDs. The wall of drawers that housed the 400 or 500 tapes has me singing "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho....and the wall came tumbling down." It's like doing the laundry. Put it in the washer and come back when it is done; more space gained. I have also discovered great treasures on VHS like Horowitz in concert, at age 81, in Moscow (1982); 1958 Newport Jazz Festival; Mary Martin and Noel Coward doing their 90 minute show in the 50s, saved by kinescope... the voices and songs are great!
These collections are the tip of an iceberg. There are all the unused, work-saving devices stuffed in drawers; reel-to-reel tapes; hundreds of audio cassettes in drawers and cases; and thousands of photographic slides to be digitized. Downsizing comes with change. As they tell me, shift happens and my head is full of shift as I contemplate my life changes.
1 comment:
Be careful what you toss...In recent years there has developed a (very snotty if you ask me) group of enthusiasts who have high regard for vinyl albums and "classic" analog recording equipment. I don't know if it is a reaction to the ubiquitous availibility of digital recording devices or maybe these people actually like tape hiss and an order of magnitude's worth of degradation with every copied generation..
Regardless, with these developments an appreciation for VHS can't be far behind. A case in point is the many collectors of 78 rpm records who support a very active resale market.
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