My musical awakening

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UPDATE: My cousin just posted an old pic on her Facebook page and unbeknownst to her I had written this blog. In the background was Sylvia!!! A flood of emotions rushed over me and I couldn’t wait to get home an update this blog.

Honey and I spend a lot of time looking for old albums at estate sales and thrift stores. We enjoy their rich sound (especially when the original owner took good care of them), the cover art and liner notes – all things that digital music collectors miss.

Several of our most recent acquisitions are albums by Julie London. We love her sultry voice and Honey seems to have some fascination with the sexy cover photos. Go figure.

It got me thinking of the first albums I owned: The Commodores, Donny & Marie, Elton John’s Greatest Hits and Shaun Cassidy – Born Late. I was just entering a stage in my life when music became important to me and my friends. Everyone had their favorite band or singer. It was around the time we lost Elvis and then the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever came out.

I am proud of the fact that, as a middle schooler, I earned that album by the dreamy Shaun Cassidy. Sylvia, a very nice lady that lived next to my Aunt Nancy, owned a record shop in Vikon Village (a true flea market that I miss deeply). After her husband died, she needed help carrying boxes and with other chores around the shop. She paid me in records – mostly promotional copies that she got for free – and I couldn’t have been happier.

My musical tastes have matured since middle school, just like all of you. But, I enjoy that I can revisit those old days just by dropping the needle on one of my old albums.