Speaking of CD's and speaking of Steve Goff - because we simply cannot talk about music without mentioning my Da... I remember fondly, telling my friends in 4th grade that my Dad had a Sony 'discman'. It was 1988. Non-portable CD players still cost just shy of a 1000-bucks, and I remember bragging about my Da's hipness and of course no.one.believed.me.
This is not surprising.
What IS surprising, is that, upon hearing this story of doubters, my normally stringent 'don't-touch-my-stuff-with-you-guys'-grubby-little-paws-you-guys-mess-up-everything' Father, actually let me BRING THE WALKMAN TO SCHOOL the next day!!!!!! I know, I know... I'm still in shock 25 years later myself! Needless to say, I think that day hanging up backpacks before entering the classroom, and showing off the unfathomable to an 8-year old mind HUNDREDS of DOLLARs toy certainly used up a good 5min of my 15min of allotted fame. I was - for a moment - the coolest kid in school. Then as fleeting as the fame started, it was over, and I was back to my spiked-hair, bucked-tooth, Multiples-wearing nerdy self.
I understand that modern technology has now moved beyond the precious CD format. And I am not above being one of the haters who is so inconvenienced anytime someone sends me a cd ("uggggg now I have to UPLOAD this to my computer, just to DOWNLOAD it to my iPod and THEN it will FINALLY be portable and accessible..."). Plus, in 30 years don't you think they could have worked on the packaging for these things??? I think I've suffered several mini-strokes over the years in the attempt to remove the 'peel-here' sticker off of a new cd- which by the way, NEVER 'peels HERE'... And the case itself hardly fits the definition of a CASE... they are more like fragile eggshells, cracking and splitting at the first ounce of pressure. Then there's the little millimeter plastic tabs that tend to break-off upon initial prying opening 97% of the time, causing the 'case' to never lock-closed again. I think I can count on one hand the number of intact-non-cracked CD cases in my collection...
Despite all this, there is still no better SOUND quality than what you get on a CD. All you have to do is try playing your iPod at max sound at your next together, to see how truly garbled and crappy your favorite tune sounds. No one's going to jam to that! So until NASA develops a better method, do what Steve Goff would do. Lay out 20 of your current high-rotation CDs next to your CD player, open a bottle of wine and a 24-pack of Miller High Life, and let your guests play DJ. Opening (breaking) the cases and thumbing through the weird jacket-cover and artwork, scanning the play list and choosing a track or two to play as background to raucous laughter, story telling and good times. The CD may be past it's prime, but its still got a lot of life left. Play on my friends.
