Reminiscing

[CouchCoach]

What do you miss in your past? Reminiscing isn't about being unhappy about today but what about things in your past that bring a smile. Doesn't mean you want the same today but you do have an appreciation for what was.

I got to thinking about this today as I was interacting here as the radio was playing. It's a AAA station out of Austin and not a very good one but it did bring to mind the magic time of radio.

It is the early 60's and I am a teenager and the British Invasion is just about to launch. American rock & roll rules the AM airwaves, because FM's not a reality yet, along with Motown and soul music and an assortment of instrumentals and one hit wonders. But radio as I know it is about to change because the Brits are coming.

This was the magic time of radio with so much new music and the variety and how it all fit together was amazing. It was almost sensory overload with so much variety and so well produced. And the radio actually had personalities.

The next move is the one that changed my life and opened up a whole new world of buying albums. Ya see, albums didn't sell well back then, it was a 45 RPM world and mainly a lot of short songs. The Beatles epic Sgt. Peppers changed everything and began to turn fans into album buyers and record companies began to pay a lot more attention the B sides. And rock was born on the FM dial.

Album Rock was born in San Francisco on KSAN and was the first shot across the bow of record labels from radio. Stations that adopted this format were no longer slaves to the singles controlled by the labels. And no one noticed this more than the artists within that genre, They began to look at the entire album as the project, not the lead single and the 70's were the greatest movement in rock music in history and that changed the industry and the beneficiaries were the listeners. Program Directors and consultants were going 2-4 cuts deep on a album right out of the chute.

I am not complaining about radio today, as I spent 25 years in that industry, but it has changed from an art that brought business to a business attempting to create art and I am so glad that I was around for the 60's-70's music and that best friend that never slept and was always ready when I was, radio.

 

[Donut]

Me and Betty White rollin in the hay was fun. Bout all I got on this one.

 

[CouchCoach]

Me and Betty White rollin in the hay was fun. Bout all I got on this one.

Thanks, now I have another reason not to reminisce.

However, that explains how she got her potty mouth.

 

[Donut]

Were you a radio personality coach or did you re-roll 8 track tapes and play 45s backwards or what? I always figured you wrote for Johnny Carson or something.

 

[Runwildboys]

Were you a radio personality coach or did you re-roll 8 track tapes and play 45s backwards or what? I always figured you wrote for Johnny Carson or something.

Don't be ridiculous. Johnny's show was only an hour!

 

[Runwildboys]

CC, I reminisce nearly every day, now that I have XM radio, and stations such as The Bridge, 70's on 7, Classic Vinyl, etc.

There's nothing that can bring back not only the memories, but the actual feelings of those days the way music does....Just ask Karen Carpenter....Okay, that'll do no good, since she died long ago, but every jinglelingleling that she started to sing will make you miss your youth a bit more.

James Taylor's Fire and Rain always invokes a calm feeling of family, while Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album brings back "party with my friends" memories. (More of a feeling, since memories of those parties are scarce.)

 

[Donut]

It' more than a feeling. Oops...

Don't be ridiculous. Johnny's show was only an hour!

That's how he retired so early...overtime hoarder.

 

[CouchCoach]

Don't be ridiculous. Johnny's show was only an hour!

Beg your pardon, hour and a half...but still far too short for me.

 

[Blackrain]

I remember playing a lot of Jim Croce 45s back in the day Bad Bad Leroy Brown , Don't Mess around with Jim, Time in a bottle . I would crank them on after out running the cops on my dirt bike to the little path that went to the school yard . Cant believe they never put a car on the other side . Probably didn't really want to catch me just addicted to the thrill of the chase like me .

 

[Runwildboys]

Beg your pardon, hour and a half...but still far too short for me.

He'd still be reading the monologue!

 

[CouchCoach]

He'd still be reading the monologue!

Naaaaaaah, I can do thirty minutes on what the monologue is going to be about and how much the audience is going to like it. I could have done 15 minutes on Ed's "Heeeerrrrreeeee's Johnny". 14:50 between Heeerrrreeee's and Johnny.

 

[CouchCoach]

I remember playing a lot of Jim Croce 45s back in the day Bad Bad Leroy Brown , Don't Mess around with Jim, Time in a bottle . I would crank them on after out running the cops on my dirt bike to the little path that went to the school yard . Cant believe they never put a car on the other side . Probably didn't really want to catch me just addicted to the thrill of the chase like me .

You provided a service by breaking up the monotony and if they'd caught you that would have just led to more work.

 

[CouchCoach]

Were you a radio personality coach or did you re-roll 8 track tapes and play 45s backwards or what? I always figured you wrote for Johnny Carson or something.

I tried that 45 backwards thing when I was 14 and became 13 again. Never did that again except I am considering it now.

 

[Runwildboys]

I tried that 45 backwards thing when I was 14 and became 13 again. Never did that again except I am considering it now.

All things considered, you should use a 78 now.

 

[Blackrain]

You provided a service by breaking up the monotony and if they'd caught you that would have just led to more work.

Yep they built a Dunkin Doughnuts and soon after they lost there drive to even chase me . That was until I moved up to the 500 3cyl 2 stroke Kawasaki H1 . Then it was like a scene from Dukes of Hazzard . Music taste changed a bit also Stones , Aerosmith, AC/DC and uncle Ted fueled my need for speed .

 

[nobody]

I miss the ignorance of being a kid. When you truly didn't understand how the world worked and everything seemed simpler. I miss when everything was black and white and there were no shades of gray...not even 50 of them.

I miss when kids would play outside all of the time. I miss when politeness was a lot more common. I miss when compromise wasn't a dirty word.

 

[Roadtrip635]

My friends and I reminisce about the old KISS 99.5fm in San Antonio from back in the 70's, early 80's Joe Anthony would bring in all this cool music that wasn't being played anywhere, not just in our area but in the United States. He was finding great music coming out of Canada, UK, Germany, new acts from the states........ he helped make San Antonio the Metal Capitol of the United States. They didn't have the set rigid playlists, he just played what he liked and new stuff he thought people would like. He would play whole albums or album sides, he would give everyone a heads up when he was about to play one of those heavily requested, but more obscure songs, so people could set their cassette players to record. He helped bringing all these great acts to town, saw a lot of cool shows and shows didn't cost an arm and a leg to go see. Good times......

 

[GMO415]

I liked when we didn't have mellinials

 

[SlammedZero]

There's nothing that can bring back not only the memories, but the actual feelings of those days the way music does

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Music truly is a powerful energy. I love music, and sometimes I feel like it might keep me trapped in the past a bit, but I also view it as a time machine of sorts.

I loved my 20s. The world felt bigger, brighter, more conquerable. You could be responsible but stupid at the same time. Now, I am in my late 30s, staring down the barrel of 40, and I just wonder where the time went. While I understand I am only 8 years removed from my 20s, I just realize how fast it went and how fast it is coming. One piece of advice I continually pound into my daughter is to take her time in life. Never wish time away because you will never get it back and one day you will look behind you and wonder where it all went.

 

[CouchCoach]

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Music truly is a powerful energy. I love music, and sometimes I feel like it might keep me trapped in the past a bit, but I also view it as a time machine of sorts.

I loved my 20s. The world felt bigger, brighter, more conquerable. You could be responsible but stupid at the same time. Now, I am in my late 30s, staring down the barrel of 40, and I just wonder where the time went. While I understand I am only 8 years removed from my 20s, I just realize how fast it went and how fast it is coming. One piece of advice I continually pound into my daughter is to take her time in life. Never wish time away because you will never get it back and one day you will look behind you and wonder where it all went.

Good advice and I am quite a bit older that you are and have some regrets but none more than my inability to live in the now. I was an "if only" person. "If only" I had this or that and that evolved into "if only" I had known what I had then.

I was all about getting up the rungs of the ladder and not stopping when I reached one to look around, I was looking up instead. Eyes fixed on the prize only to realize once I had it, it wasn't that great.

Someone I just recently met asked me "have you enjoyed your life"? I had to think about that a moment as that's a very deep question. I replied "no, I haven't. I look back on what I should have enjoyed while I was on my way to enjoying. I was making a movie when I should have been stopping to take in the stills".