what isdisappearing fromaroundus.
Perhaps in50yearssomeonewillcollect
songsabout their iPodsorWalkmenor
the lost romanceofNapster.And
perhapssomeonewillwrite linernotes
likethesewaxingnostalgicaboutthose
simple timeswhen their favoriteMP3s
weretherefor99ceachorcouldbe
downloaded for free.Maybe they’ll
reminisceaboutthoselegalbattles
betweenpublishersormultinational
musiccorporationsand thedaring
consumerswhoviolated their
copyrights.
But fornow,weare the transitional
generation.Werememberhow itwas to
holdrecords inourhandsandsavor their
coverartorlinernotesorlabeldesigns.
Most of usmiss those things and
lamentwhere it isheading.TheJuly16,
2006 ‘NewYorkTimes’featuredan
articlecalled‘TheGreyingoftheRecord
Store.’It’s true.Record store shoppers
aregettingnoticeablyolder.Yet,weare
not so frozen in time thatwecannot
navigatearoundCDs.Werealize that it
wasn’tso longago thatBearFamily
wouldhave issued thiscollectiononan
LP.NowourLPandCDcollectionssit
sideby side.Most of us still ownLPs,
45s,andeven78s,althoughfewerand
fewerofushave themeansor the
inclination toplay them.Whatmatters
most for themoment is thatwehave
kept upwith technologyenough tobuy
andplay thisdisc.Wearenotalone.
Everyindividualinvolvedinthe
productionof thiscollectionand
everyonewhobuys thisdisc ispart of a
family.Wemaygrowsmallerinnumber
andoldereachyearbutwearestilla
visibleminority. Justbyowningand
playing thisrecord(CD)wecelebrate
thevaluesandexperiencesweshare.We
help tokeep themalive.
HankDavis
July,2006
