Tuesday, July 27, 2010

"you're not gonna believe what I've done..."

...It was hard in '88 to go from vinyl and cassette to cd's. I mean really hard. I was one of those people that swore if you take the pops and crackles out of records it would ruin the music. Sure the sterile and pristine reproduction of music onto cd was great for classical, orchestra and adult contemporary, but rock and disco needed that "chet-chet" sound pre-empting (and during) the music. Liner notes and lyrics went away and you were lucky to get a picture of the band inside. What good were cd's to a dj? You couldn't cue them up, or change the pitch, let alone "scratch-mix." Good-bye Malcom McClaren, see ya later Fab-five Freddie.




Imagine my obstinance when music downloads came along. Wow, now you couldn't even hold the cd, look at the pictures, take it with you in the car. What was the point?

So, now more than a couple thousand mp3's into the 21st century, (and after converting a lot of vinyl LP's into mp3's)I find that I rarely give cd's a second glance. I have bought more records than cd's since about 2002. I will wander into a music store and see what's displayed, check bargain bins, see if there's anything in the dance/techno section that I haven't heard of... and usually, i walk out empty-handed with no human interaction at all.

BUT

Tonight was different. William and I ran to the mall with 29 minutes left before close to find a gift and you may find the following unbelievable:

First I was caught off guard by a great sale at Macy's. I found 2 Marc Ecko shirts that I could not pass up. I had two items price checked and had a conversation about an upcoming sale with the cashier. then ran into Hot Topic, bought a gift-card, discussed True Blood and Dexter with the Assistant Manager and was checking the points on my HT Card when William spotted a pair of shoes and asked if she had some in his size. She went to the backroom, found them, he tried them on, she rang us up, we chatted some more.

Leaving Hot Topic we strolled halfway down the mall, went down to the lower-level and William decided he wated to visit MAC in Nordstrom. While he was doing that, I went to the "e-bar" and stood in a line of 5 people to get a Mexi-Mocha frozen coffee beverage. (Delicious! Look out Starbucks). I found William and told him I had 5 minutes to get to f.y.e. to check out music. He said he'd meet me and I hustled off to see if it could be done.

The guy was closing the door but stopped when he saw me. He said I "looked like I knew what I wanted," and let me in. I explained I really wanted to look at the new Kelis "Flesh Tone" cd. He put it in my hand and I noticed it was alot cheaper than I was used to paying for new cd's. He assured me it was the full version and we got into a short discussion of music censorship and clean versus explicit and he was genuinely happy to talk. (more on the subject at a later time). The fact that he was friendly and not in a hurry to push me out the door amazed me.



Now 9:05 i walk right into Nordstrom and there is William and the MAC rep ringing him up. (and while 20 miles away, and in another city, she turned out to be our neighbor!) She stopped to answer another question and began pulling out product to show off. It was 9:28 when we got in the car and I played my Kelis cd for the ride home. It was an amazing experience that I would not have gotten from itunes.

The only thing that would have topped that is if the Kelis cd started with a crackle and pop, but I can add that in later.

... trust me, I'm a dj.

1 comment:

  1. I remember always hearing that crackle and pop on my parents records...such a comforting "when I was young" memory :)

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