Here's a story...
I remember being about 7 years-old. It was
1998, in the summer. Piling into the car with my dad,mother, and
brother to head over to Bay Terrace to do some shopping was a pretty
big deal--it was a day spent out, at least in my 7 year-old mind. We
also stopped by the music store, called "The Wall". This wasn't long
before The Wall's parent company was purchased by another company. To
make a long story short, The Wall music stores became part of the
F.Y.E. chain. Sadly, these stores have nothing on The Wall--perhaps
it's just my nostalgia. This was always a fun time for me. Even at 7,
I was infatuated with music. I'd get a CD for one song and then play
it until it wouldn't play anymore. At this particular instance in 1998,
I picked up a copy of Fastball's "All The Pain Money Can Buy". I do believe it was the first album I ever purchased.
The darling on this album
was "The Way", a song I'd consider a 90's classic, about singer Tony
Scalzo's romanticized version of what happened to an elderly couple who
went missing. They were eventually found dead in a ravine, the result
of a car accident, but in this case, he imagined them running off to
have fun, as they had done when they were young. I played that CD to
death. I still own it and there's extensive and extreme scratches on the disc. I still listen to the
album and, for me, it's a ride down recollection road.
This
CD has a lot of sentiment for me. It reminds me of a completely
different time in my life--a good one that I miss. Yet, I can listen
to that song, "The Way", and like Scalzo's inspiration, I can feel more
optimistic, even about a pretty crappy situation. I feel that
downloading really takes something away from the experience of music.
Back then, buying a CD was a special occasion. Now, it's just another
13 songs you download along with 10,000 others.
Complicate my ways again....
Anarchy in the Zune Social! :-P
