Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Echoes of Past lives

When I first began to blog...I found this amazing site "Pictures Poetry and Prose". No longer active now...while it existed it provided the perfect combination of an image prompt with a suggested writing topic. By the way, there is now a site that carry's on the legacy of PPP...
"Write with Pictures" . If you have the desire to write...check it out and try your skills.

One of the posts that inspired me was of a vinyl record spinning on a turntable. The post I offered was inspired by the old 2nd hand record shop above. While I was in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago I took a picture of it with the post in mind. Below is the post:

V for vinyl... include a record, scratchy needle sounds and all,
in your writing today in any way you like creatively.

____________________

Walking through the doors of Vintage Vinyl, a small 2nd hand record shop, the mix of patchouli incense and the scent of old moldy record jackets filled the air. As I was thumbing through my life alphabetically, Tea for the Tillerman, Threshold of a Dream, Led Zepplin, Uriah Heap, Tom Rush, Tommy and all the others help dust off the corners of a life long forgotten.

Then I heard a familiar sound that caught my attention...the hiss-pop anticipation of a needle on vinyl. MP3s go from silence to the music with no anticipation...a vinyl always builds to the song because you know when that hiss-pop starts...music will follow.

Francois Hardy..."Je t'aime" began to play. Francois Hardy was the hottest artist that summer in Europe. Everywhere there was music playing...there was Francois Hardy. I was back at the Cafe du Monde in Paris...1972 with my traveling companion, a French Canadian from Nestor Falls, Ontario. This was the departure we both dreaded. After 3 months of hitch hiking the Gold Coast of Spain to the hash bars of Amsterdam, she was headed back for school. Just like that Jackie Dumont walked out of my life just as she came in...no fanfare...just gone...

The song over, I gathered my composure, paid for my teenage son's White Stripes album and left the store. Once outside, I looked back once more. I could swear I saw the reflection of a French Canadian I once knew in the window.

Dan


As I looked at the participant list I realized that many of the followers of my blog came from that site early on. We all got to know each other through our writing. I am sure each of you who have a blog can remember certain sites that you visited as you "grew up" in the blogging world and will remain with you forever even if they no longer exist.


Here's to the memories.


Dan











5 comments:

Sunny said...

I really enjoyed your post. I love your description of the hiss-pop anticipation, something we no longer hear.
Sometimes I wish I had held on to all my records, I had hundreds at one time!
My Grandmother had an old Victrola that you had to crank, I remember the needle touching the old 78 and then skidding across the record.
Sorry...I seem to be rambling down memory lane!
☼ Sunny
I am repeating my answer to your question regarding how I found the Dreaded Aunt, in case you didn't see it...
The eyes and nose looked like a monkey to me so I Googled 'black monkey white face', then I clicked on images until I found a picture that looked like your picture. Well not YOUR picture - you know what I mean!
Regarding your Big Chill post...did anyone ever tell you that you looked a little like Ron Howard?
Okay...I'm done! Haha!

dianne said...

Lovely story Dan,I'll bet you set those European girls hearts on fire, I still think you are cute, but stop blushing. :) xoxoxo ♡

Dan Felstead said...

Sunny thanks for the great comment! I read it three times. So much here. It seems that vinyl records are making a comeback. Zach is 24 and he has dumped the CD scene and now has all of my old albums plus new albums (vinyl) of the new artists. He says there is just something about the quality of sound from vinyl that you just don't get with digital mp3's. I don't know if I agree but to him...a vinyl album is the ultimate.

Thanks for the heads up on the Monkey and search terms. I tried to find it but came up short and then I tried your search and Boom...there it was!

Brad Pitt, Christian Slayter, The Rock, Sean Connery...that is who most people think I look like...but Ron Howard??????

Just kidding of course...yes I have been told I favor Howard a bit.

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Dianne you're killing me! Thanks for the kind words...it does this old heart good!

Dan

DawnTreader said...

Music does bring back memories, doesn't it. (Tea for the Tillerman rings a bell with me... Cat Stevens, right? I don't have the record but I might have had a tape of it...)

I think I first came across you on the One Minute Writer Blog... and then again at Soaring Through the World.