Friday, December 18, 2009

Wrappin' It Up for '09

the 45 that got me going on 45's again...

My audio format du jour...dead in 2009?

12-18-09 Wrappin’ It Up For '09


This is my last blog of 2009. A pretty good year; a new gig, some good travel, lots of records – nearly 1,500 new titles for me this year. Definitely going to cap the collection at 25,000 titles (which I could reach in a year or two, at this rate). Still convinced that the way for me to go is by just looking at 45’s for the foreseeable future.


A few fads for me in ’09 – SACD, how many are there? 45’s – all it took was Dorothy spotting that ACR 45 at CD trader and – BOOM! – I’m away. I saw Philip Glass twice this year; also saw Grace Jones, The Necks, some Gamelan music, some Indian music etc. Didn’t buy very many DVD’s this year, however.


Still buzzing around L.A. / California in my 2009 Suzuki SX-4 (‘Copper Sunset’ color). Only thing I miss about my old car? The Minidisc player. Suzuki-san has a CD player, so I’ve had to make do with that.


Very shortly, we are off to Singapore and Malaysia for our winter vacation. I’ve been to Singapore twice before, but it’s been 20 years (or more). Doubt I’ll find any 45’s there – but I may come home with some Bollywood CD’s! Bottom line: I’m going there to check out the bird population. Hornbill time!


My usual thanks to regular readers Jim D., Chas M. and Brian W. – we’re all still here, men! I await any comments / reactions etc. Definitely going to keep up with the “Time Machine” series from Strange Days magazine next year – I hope they continue it! If not, I still plan on writing about the1970’s a lot next year – what with it being the 40th anniversary of it, an’ all.


Thanks for allowing me to wax nostalgic about Spike Jones and Harry Belafonte this week. Those two artists are definitely where my music consciousness begins – before The Beatles, even!


Our band got to record again this year – we finished a new album, but we’re still waiting for it to get released. The album is called “Aquarium”, and we have worked on it for the last 5 years. I’m really happy with it. 98% instrumental, we all sound like we “really grew up”. Believe it or not, it’s almost the 40th anniversary of our band! Maybe I’ll get to take a nice photo in Singapore or Malaysia that will end up being on the cover of the LP / CD.


So, my very best regards to everybody. Keep listening! Keep collecting! Together, we will understand this stuff.


4 comments:

chas_m said...

What an awesome year!

2009 has been pretty good to us too, though we could do with more money of course. Next year should be even better!

Have great holidays, particularly abroad, and thanks for all the great reading I've gotten from this blog!

Anonymous said...

2009 has seen us in excellent financial form. The fallout has been the cash on hand to buy the records I have most wanted for 10+ years. Soooooooo many collections have reached finality and lockdown it's not even funny. What I now need is the free time to work with this music!

Next, I need to work on the CD want list, which has been taking a back seat to the vinyl.

Ron - I figger the SACD failed because of the oh, so 1974 logo. It looks like something designed to promote SQ Quad. Thoughts?

The live highlights were Hubert Sumlin/Bob Margolin, Matt&Kim and the incomparable Leonard Cohen. Additionally, Southern Culture on the Skids were nothing to sneeze at even after over a dozen or more concerts attended over a 17 year period.

Brian Ware said...

2009 has been pretty sucky financially as my entire industry (landscape installation) has been hugely impacted by our current economic climate, but we're still standing and certain that the worse is behind us.

Much new music came my way and a major chunk was from my always generous friends. My sincere thanks guys!!

Ron, thanks for this ongoing project and I very much look forward to continuing the conversation in 2010....

Ron Kane said...

Back from Singapore and Malaysia - posts resume next Monday.
- Ron