Home Taping Is Killing Music

 

When I was young, O so many decades ago, I would race home from school on certain afternoons to record freeform radios shows on community and college radio stations (WYEP and WRCT) that would occasionally play music that would change my life. 

Punk had blown the doors open for me and my ears were (are) hungry for new sonic adventures. I would sit with my finger hovering over the "pause" button ready to twitch into record mode at the slightest aural stimulation. But this wasn't the killing that the record companies were warning us about.

Once I got a double well cassette deck, I could make mixed tapes for friends, they could make them for me, and we could then make request for more of THIS and less of THAT. We could easily fit two LPs and some bonus tracks on a 90 minute tape and this is exactly what we did and this was MURDER.

I was (am) a much bigger fan of a good mix than an entire LP. but even when records were cheap, I could never afford all that I "needed" nor was it easy to track down obscure or imported records in the pre-internet era. So, we had to kill.

Those of us who swapped (swap) tapes started to lose our trading partners to streaming and to overwhelming postal charges in the past decade or two. For me to ship a single cassette to England costs TWENTY DOLLARS! (under 8 oz: $20, 9 oz to 2 pounds, $30.45--so it is more cost effective to send a BUNCH of tapes) Sending a single burned CD is considerable cheaper as it is thin enough to travel as First Class mail.

I could go on for awhile, but will spare you...

I rambled on about all this because my pal T. Lehto sent me this great button that I wanted to share!

Ghost Squid

This ferry takes you from St. Marys Georgia over to the Cumberland Island National Seashore. My old pal T. Carey sent this card as he is well aware I enjoy postcards of boats, ferries in particular. 

The reason I decided to post it is the curious residual roller damage that the USPS machinery inflicted upon the card that appears to be some sort of Ghost Squid leaping from the sea before the ferry! 

 

Mount Shuksan Child Endangerment

 

I received this postcard today from my pal T. Carey. It features Mount Shuksan (9131'), one of the peaks of the Cascades here in Whatcom County. It is about 40 miles east of Bellingham. 

What intrigues me about this card is WHAT is this CHILD doing in the SNOW in jeans and a half buttoned shirt while wielding a double bit axe?!

Secondly, what is the ghostly image above him? At first I thought it was the usual USPS Mechanical Abuse, but upon closer examination, it appears to be printed on the card. I am befuddled.

The Horror Of Baseball

Generally when someone sends me a sports card I barely glance at it before tossing it into the Out Box as I do not follow sports. For some reason I took a closer look at this one and was amazed that THIS was the photo someone chose to represent this player! First and foremost, he doesn't look at all healthy. For someone whose job takes place outside, he seems astonishingly pale. He also looks painfully gaunt. Like borderline anorexia gaunt. I desperately want to buy him a cheeseburger or three. Lastly, due to the angle of the photo his left hand looks...wrong. What was Topps thinking?? I am definitely going to start looking at these things a little closer!

I cannot remember who sent this... F. Fortunata perhaps? Thanks?

 

One Million Dollars

 This one didn't arrive in the mail but rather was a Ground Score by Nancynance!

There is a lot going on here. One of the first things I noted is how Biden is depicted as looking much older and wrinkly than The Other One. It does look like they got the proper tint for The Orange Dufus, though. I tried to determine if there was some sort of code in the serial number, but I couldn't decipher one. I couldn't read the signature of the head of the Department of Eternal Affairs either. Great printing job! 

The reverse isn't quite as fun as a Chick Tract (which you can BUY online!) but is relatively similar. I like how it states Jesus' rising "...was seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses." which seems like a pretty good crowd for a weekend. It also recommends we trust Jesus, but he WAS a hippy... (SEE: "The Great Rock N Roll Swindle").