Rant #3,347: Every Picture Tells a Story

I am having so much fun with my birthday gifts!

I received a Monkees jacket from my wife, and I have worn it each and every day since I received it ... but not yesterday afternoon, when it was 82 degrees in my neck of the woods.

I actually put the air conditioning on in the car when I picked my son up from work--

And I think that ended up being a good thing to do, because it seemed a bit weak.

When I go for my inspection, I will definitely have that checked out.

And as for the other gifts I received from my son and a few relatives, I poured that into my record collection, and filled some holes in my collection as well as added some other things that are just  so much fun to have.

I mainly bought some Beatles singles ...

I could have sworn I had some of these, but maybe I didn't--I guess it is possible that some of these 45s were "misplaced" when we moved, but whatever the case, these are records that I didn't have, but now have them.

Some of the things I purchased were truly outside the box.

I have always enjoyed the music of the late Lesley Gore, and honestly, why she is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is completely beyond my comprehension.

She fits all the criteria for enshrinement, but it hasn't happened yet, and might never happen.

I have a good amount of her LPs and singles, but I found one--"Summer and Sandy"--that I didn't have, and it was fairly priced with a nice picture sleeve, so I bought it.

The 1967 song wasn't one of her biggest hits, but it is a perfect song as we get closer to summer, and I am glad I now have it in my collection.

I listen to a couple of podcasts related to music, and I can't recommend enough "Come to the Sunshine," which is hosted by musician/singer/songwriter/producer/Jack of all musical trades, master of all.of them Andrew Sandoval.

He plays 45s that he buys for his personal collection, getting them from right here in the U.S.A. and also from around the world.

I have listened to this podcast for several years, and I have heard music I would have never heard if not for this show, which you can find at https://wfmu.org/playlists/CZ

One such song that was played on the show was "Midnight Confessions," not by the Grass Roots, but by an act called Ever-Green Blues.

I thought it was an interesting rendition of this tune--imagine the Rascals singing this song--and after I heard it, I figured that I would look for this single--

Lo and behold, I found it right away, it was fairly priced and came with a picture sleeve, so I bought it, and now, this 1967 single is in my collection.

I digitize everything so I can listen to these records in my car, and I have had so much fun doing so, in between work and the other obligations I have now that I am feeling so much better.

A couple of records have not been delivered yet, nor has a book I ordered, but they should all be coming to my home really soon.

With everything going on in our world today, everybody needs a respite from these dire situations, and my hobbies have always given me a place where I can go where I need to relax and have fun.

It doesn't make the bizarro world we live in get any better, but I would rather delve into my hobby than cover the more serious stuff any day.

And it makes me love this music even more.

I don't think kids today can possibly get the same pleasure that Baby Boomers do when they listen to their generation's music.

You can pick any record I have in my collection, and for just about each and every one of them, I have a story to tell ... and I just told you two stories about two of the newest entries in my collection.

You simply cannot do that with a sound file which you download/stream off of iTunes or some other such service.

Just as every picture tells a story, every record does, too, and let me tell you, I have 10,000 stories that I can tell, based on my record collection.

Sorry, an MP3 file is good for what it is, but it simply cannot duplicate the experience you get when you hold a real, honest to goodness vinyl record in your hands.

The kids today are missing this part of their lives, even though they don't realize what they are missing.

Some younger people are getting into vinyl records, so all is not lost with these young kids.

And that's a good thing ... maybe it is something so small, but something that can bring us all together.