Yesterday and today 6 old friends celebrate birthdays. Pook, Di, Rick, Art, Bobby Cohen and Mike Moore.. They are all in their 60s now, and I met them all as teens. At 63 I have come to realize that I have bought more books than I will get to read, bought more movies than I will ever watch,...and when it comes to recorded music , be it cd, vinyl or cassette I have more music than I could listen to in a lifetime.
So why did I collect it all. Did I become a history student because I was a collector; or did I become a collector because I fashioned myself a historian. At this point i would have to say the later. I enjoy answering questions about music and film. The internet has caused me to feel less of a need to possess everything . Easy access to books, records, films and nothing to store... no special shelving to store them on.. It's all on the cloud. I still hold onto a few thousand albums and I find i am more likely to pick one up to read the credits than to put it on the turntable. Nothing can transport you in time better than an old song. Especially one from your teens or 20s... The passage of time can even make the ones you didn't like seem quaint.
I have been retired for a half year. There have been entire days lost to Facebook. The day to day pressure of running an advertising sales staff for radio stations is in the past. Some days I feel relieved, some days I feel lost, some days I feel both ...
My purpose for this blog is to empty my brain and see how it looks on the page... I hope to give a piece of my heart... and soul, to these endeavors as well. Hopfully you will enjoy and join in. Initially I thought I would try my hand at fiction. I furtively wrote two pages.. took a deep breath and erased them after i realized they were crap. I remember reading Stephen King's On Writing , which is partially an autobiography and partially a guidebook for writing fiction. Actually I listened to it on disc read by King himself; which gave added impact to the process. He said that he does not sketch his characters. He leaves the house and walks to his barn where he has built an office and he puts in between 5 and 8 hours a day writing .He does not know where his characters are going to take him today when he starts. When the day is done at 5pm he closes his desk like a normal working stiff and leaves it all behind. Plus...he has written every book on the same typewriter. Why do I share this story here? I guess because I miss the continuity of projects that went on for days, weeks, months etc. I am involved in fund raising for Vassar Hospital and it is purposeful work... but I am still looking for more.
I play a bit of golf I play my guitar .. I even threaten to put together a few sets of tunes with friends for the purpose of performance... but it doesnt happen...and now I will play my hand at this blog business. I am uniquely unqualified. I don't follow any other blogs... unless you count facebook.... I hope you enjoy and join me.. and throw ideas and opinions back and forth...
It's really beautiful out on this, the last day of spring . I hear mom saying turn off the tv and go play outside.
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