In the previous Vinyl Memories, I wrote about the music I brought to my college roommates. I became exposed to new music, as well. One of those slices of vinyl was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was familiar with tunes “The Time Warp” and “Sweet Transvestite,” through the Dr. Demento Radio Show I listened …
1980. High school now behind me, it was on to college. Though I had played the trumpet the previous seven years, as I wrote in Vinyl Memories #6, the instrument was behind me. But the music, not completely. Maynard Ferguson albums joined me on the journey to Eastern Michigan University. The popular trumpet players of …
This vinyl memory focuses on my senior year of high school; a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon in January, 1980, in sunny San Jose, California. No. The needle cuts deeper than that, revolving around a formative period of my life, which began on the threshold of entering the sixth grade at West Middle …
It’s the 1970’s. In the sheltered world of suburbia – Plymouth to be precise – I was growing up. Bicycle riding in the neighborhood, trading baseball cards with kids at school, and cutting the lawns of my grandparents and the homes of two other senior citizens on our block. Television was limited to two dials, …
The simple pleasure of the phonograph was introduced to me through my parents and grandparents. My maternal grandparents – Grandpa and Grandma Becoskey – had a cabinet stereo with phonograph and radio in their front room next to the television set. I don’t recall the music they listened to, but my aunt lived with them …
According to a recent article out of the UK, low-tech living is making a comeback. Books, records, typewriters, flip-phones and Polaroids are technologies that just won’t go away. I consider myself lucky to be in my early fifties at this time. I had the benefit of living in the era when these technologies were used …
Sherman Alexie, National Book Award winner and author of over twenty books, issued a letter on September 1, 2013 to authors to become “a superhero for independent bookstores” by spending Small Business Saturday (November 30, 2013) hand-selling books at their local independent bookstore. When I first saw the letter, I was intrigued, but The Y …
Do Haeng Michael Kitchen 