But now and then a new device combines the best of old and new technology. That is where my new toy comes in. It is a USB turntable. It can convert the old vinyl LP’s into digital sound that can be stored in the computer. And if there is one thing that I have plenty of is old vinyl LP’s, what the old time DJ’s referred to as “stacks of dusty wax.”
After the turntable arrived, I dug into my half century accumulation of old records and came up with over 500 of them, mostly from the 50’s and 60’s. I will spend quite a bit of time sorting through, cleaning and converting these recordings to digital.
In the process, I am rediscovering a great deal of our heritage in them. The emergence of what we now call “rock” from the old gospel and blues music is clearly seen in the collection. The impact of the big bands comes through as well as the growth of Southern Gospel, bluegrass and other styles of music. I am highly eclectic in my music choices and that is made clear by my collection.
There was a single instrument that marked the popular music of the 60s, but has not been used much since then. It is the bongo drums. It shows up in all types of music of that age from folk music to major concerts. It is featured heavily in what is now considered to be the peak of Judy Garland’s career, her Carnegie Hall Concert.
My major concession to high technology is my computer. I spend a great deal of time with it, including researching and writing this column. I get most of my news from the Internet now, spend time sorting and arranging my many files of information, and exploring such things as my family tree and Southern history. Thus, with the advent of high capacity hard drives, it makes sense to have my music stored in the computer. The first thing I do when I sit down is turn on the music program and set it to play in the background as I work.
Not only will the project of converting all these “stacks of wax” into digital music keep me busy during my semi retirement, it will greatly expand the variety of styles and artists available. As I write this, I am enjoying light jazz. Earlier I had some Beatle music playing, and before that, contemporary Christian selections. Variety, as has been said, is the spice of life, and I use music for just that purpose. And variety was the hallmark of music from that era, not the monotonous sound alike noise that passes for music today.
I have to repeat a phrase that we have all heard from our parents and grandparents: when it comes to music, “They just don’t make it like they used to!”
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@msn.com. His website can be accessed at http://frankgillispie.tripod.com/
