Rediscovered !

This  grin on my face is going to be here a while. All those LPs I used to listen to but don’t much anymore -unless I’m feeling nostalgic- have a new lease on life at my house!

The records I used to stack on the record changer six at a time are one by one finding their way into digital form so I can play them on today’s equipment. How sweet~

Brenda and I were Christmas shopping the other day, and I was walking up and down this one aisle, kind of trying to decide what to do (Trying – nothing, I WAS deciding “should I or shouldn’t I?”)  when she said “This looks interesting” and pointed to an understated product on the shelf near her. It took me a few seconds to realize what she’d found. I got excited not long after, bought the thing and took it home!

Instant Music, it’s called, made by ADS TECH. It’s an interface that connects to the line out on our stereo, which still has a turntable, by the way, digitizes music from album, cassette or other analog source and feeds it to the computer via USB.  We found (‘scuse me – BRENDA found) ours at Sam Club for about $35. Not bad!!   It took a little bit to get used to the program but the software will let me record an entire album at once, then recognizes the segment between songs, will let me type in titles and burn it to CD or store it on my pc.  It pauses the digital recording after 20 seconds of silence (like when the record finishes) so I don’t have to watch it like a newborn baby or anything.

The album I’m recording right now is the one we used to make sure was on the top of the stack when we went to bed at night when I was growing up. Its gentle, soothing harmonies were some of our favorites. During waking hours I practiced singing bass with this quartet long before I knew I’d marry the bass’s cousin.  (Small world.)  Though I was always asleep long before the record player got to this album at night I know the last song on side two is “Steal Away and Pray”. We have sweet memories of that album at our house.

The very first song I recorded after cutting this thing free from its plastic package was from a cassette Bethany and I used to listen to on the way home from church on Sunday mornings. Brenda and little brother Jared would ride with Gramma ‘n Grampa (they lived right next door at the time) so Bethany could ride with me.  I’d let her stand up in the seat next to me (she was three, ok?) while we meandered the back way through residential streets toward a main street where she’d have to sit down and buckle up. We’d drive slow if nobody was behind us and sing at the top of our lungs “…the Looooord liveth! And blessed be the ROCK! An’ let the God of my salvation be exaaaaaalllTED.  The Looooord liveth!   …   I will call upon the Lord. ”  

The instant the song finished she’d ask “Again?”.  I’d hit rewind so we could sing it a couple more times before I’d finally remind her there were other songs on the tape; we should probably listen to them too.  She wasn’t interested in them; just “Call ‘Pon the Looord”.   Sometimes we’d turn the music off and ride home with the windows down, the wind in our hair, lovin’ life in Tucson and enjoying the Lord.

So when I saw opportunity to rejuvinate meaningful songs of a by-gone era and enjoy them again, I took it home! Here’s more about Instant Music if you’re interested.

Ya’ know, it’s funny – I never enjoyed history until I had some of my own.

And I never thought I’d savor good ol’ days and good ol’ songs like some older folks I remember. But I AM fifty, maybe I qualify now, hmm?  Anyway, it’s kinda nice!  Memories are a wonderful thing.   So are old musical friends rediscovered.

—PLR—