So in this age of over driven MP3 micro-processed sounds squeezed through minuscule ear buds, sometimes I like to  saunter over to my hulk of a 5 channel "stereo" system and listen the old fashioned way: 45's!

Yup, I still have my Onkyo Direct Drive turn table from long ago. The integrated amp and speakers are new. Well comparatively in the last decade. But I'd give anything to have something tube driven. That's pricey sound. Yet, I understand tubes. I could bias a tube type multi-stage super-heterodyne tube radio when I was a kid. And a phonograph is easy to understand. I've even made my own stylus when I was a kid with a safety pin. Not to mention my own telegraph and electric motor! Ah! Those were the days when the world seemed so understandable and I was ready to contribute big things!

These days as I work the 8 to 5 shift I'm thinking my chances of making any real impact is quickly passing in the rear view mirror as I blitz down the road of life. The good news is that it looks like all the bills are going to get paid on time, I have a roof over my head, and I had some extra cash to replace my 15 year old clunker. She was an old faithful, but one too many services recommendations made me decide it's time to move on.

I must apologize, I always get somewhat nostalgic when I listen to those old tunes:

David and David "Welcome to the Boomtown"
The Art of Noise "Peter Gunn"
Bobby Pickett "Monster Mash"
Jive Bunny and the MasterMixers "Glenn Miller Medley"
Level 42 "Something About You"
Journey "Don't Stop Believin'"
Steve Martin and the Toot Uncommons "King Tut"

Quite an "assorted mishmash" to paraphrase Douglas Adams. Just stuff I collected over the years. Most of it from thrift stores. What a trove of memories those places can be! Most of my LP's are gone. I just kept the really special ones. But I still have my 45's and any others I come across from time to time. It's just great to kick back in the Stereo Center and listen to those old tunes 3 to 4 minutes of bliss one at a time.

I expect I'll eventually digitize all those old tunes, pops, clicks, hiss, and all. So when I'm really old and in wheel chair in some corner staring nowhere, the attendant can cue up my favorites from the central computer and what's left of my plaque ridden brain can pull back those last shreds of my humanity out from background noise.

It's always bliss!