ndiamone
600 Club - QQ All-Star
Replying to myself here, but oh well.
Went home to Michigan in the last few days in Dec and for the first week in January.
After the customary showing at Epiphany/Eastern Christmas dinner at the house,
I went over to Mick's house, since his wife was at her sister's for two weeks and he had the house to himself.
We talked some, I cooked over there for a few nights and FINALLY he takes me to his basement and garage.
I brought along facemasks for dust and debris and insisted he wear one as well.
Crusty old engineers like him of course hate to wear `em, but I said `I don't want either of us coming down
with Mick's Equivalent of Tut's Curse.' He chuckled and put `em on.
So he throws open the cellar doors with a flourish, and we're coughing and choking on the cloud of dust that was raised with the facemasks ON, so I comment `I hope (his son in law) is still a paramedic and brings donuts after the heart attack we are going to have.' He's laughing so hard now he's choking on that just as much as the dust.
So anyway we go through the cellar doors into the basement, and there must be thousands of reels of all types on shelves in the basement. I don't have time to pull `em out and read `em, but they go back to the 50's.
I tell him I'll take whatever he'll give me and he says `Take it all.
I'll never haul my big butt down here to listen to `em anymore, they might as well go to somebody who appreciates it'.
So I spend the next 4 hours emptying out the basement of tapes and gear, and then his daughter in law comes over with ter-duck-en. For those of you who've never been to Michigan or the rest of the Great Lakes, the dish is Heart Attack in a Pan, quail inside of chicken inside of duck inside of goose inside of turkey all roasted up together. We stuff ourselves to the brim, have a couple beers and find ourselves at breakfast time still sitting in the chairs we'd slept in all night.
After recovering from the feast, we repeat the scenario for the garage. Most of that stuff though is LP's 78's and recording wires, plus all the players which he says I can have too. My 8x10 cargo trailer is close to full, but I squash `em all in there anyway. I start to pull away in the truck and he looks so forlorn standing there like a little kid that I tell him to grab his gear and we'll go to my Dad's cabin for the weekend to go ice fishing.
Well, we never actually get out on the lake to fish, but he and my uncles and I all have a blast for three days up at the cabin just being men with no wives and kids, just like men did all the time in the 50's and 60's.
Then I dropped him off at his place, came in for a couple beers, and then it was time to go.
So we slapped each other on the belly and on the back like two football players, and I drove off, him waving to me, growing smaller and smaller until he was indistinguishable from the surrounding snow.
Four days later I'm back in Silicon Valley, now I just have to start dragging everything out and see what there is.
When I get time, I'll start posting tracklists of reels that say they are discrete 4 track or matrix-encoded 7-1/2 IPS for-radio-station-use-only tapes, and then get to transferring.
Hope everybody had a good new year.
Went home to Michigan in the last few days in Dec and for the first week in January.
After the customary showing at Epiphany/Eastern Christmas dinner at the house,
I went over to Mick's house, since his wife was at her sister's for two weeks and he had the house to himself.
We talked some, I cooked over there for a few nights and FINALLY he takes me to his basement and garage.
I brought along facemasks for dust and debris and insisted he wear one as well.
Crusty old engineers like him of course hate to wear `em, but I said `I don't want either of us coming down
with Mick's Equivalent of Tut's Curse.' He chuckled and put `em on.
So he throws open the cellar doors with a flourish, and we're coughing and choking on the cloud of dust that was raised with the facemasks ON, so I comment `I hope (his son in law) is still a paramedic and brings donuts after the heart attack we are going to have.' He's laughing so hard now he's choking on that just as much as the dust.
So anyway we go through the cellar doors into the basement, and there must be thousands of reels of all types on shelves in the basement. I don't have time to pull `em out and read `em, but they go back to the 50's.
I tell him I'll take whatever he'll give me and he says `Take it all.
I'll never haul my big butt down here to listen to `em anymore, they might as well go to somebody who appreciates it'.
So I spend the next 4 hours emptying out the basement of tapes and gear, and then his daughter in law comes over with ter-duck-en. For those of you who've never been to Michigan or the rest of the Great Lakes, the dish is Heart Attack in a Pan, quail inside of chicken inside of duck inside of goose inside of turkey all roasted up together. We stuff ourselves to the brim, have a couple beers and find ourselves at breakfast time still sitting in the chairs we'd slept in all night.
After recovering from the feast, we repeat the scenario for the garage. Most of that stuff though is LP's 78's and recording wires, plus all the players which he says I can have too. My 8x10 cargo trailer is close to full, but I squash `em all in there anyway. I start to pull away in the truck and he looks so forlorn standing there like a little kid that I tell him to grab his gear and we'll go to my Dad's cabin for the weekend to go ice fishing.
Well, we never actually get out on the lake to fish, but he and my uncles and I all have a blast for three days up at the cabin just being men with no wives and kids, just like men did all the time in the 50's and 60's.
Then I dropped him off at his place, came in for a couple beers, and then it was time to go.
So we slapped each other on the belly and on the back like two football players, and I drove off, him waving to me, growing smaller and smaller until he was indistinguishable from the surrounding snow.
Four days later I'm back in Silicon Valley, now I just have to start dragging everything out and see what there is.
When I get time, I'll start posting tracklists of reels that say they are discrete 4 track or matrix-encoded 7-1/2 IPS for-radio-station-use-only tapes, and then get to transferring.
Hope everybody had a good new year.
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