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45's
(I'm feeling nostalgic)
When I was a little girl, one year for Christmas, I received one of those tiny portable record players which is one of the most extravagant presents I ever got. You know the kind...with a lid, two latches, and a handle on the front where you could close it up and carry it like a suitcase. Well I loved that record player and what was even better was that I could play all those hand-me-down 45 records from my older siblings who had already upgraded to LP's.
I can still envision one of my older brother's shiny pioneer turntables in which I was NOT ALLOWED to touch. He would carefully remove the platter from the sleeve and lightly place it on the turntable. Then he would take this thing that looked like a square lint brush...would place a few drops of some type of magical oil and smooth it over the record as the turntable began to spin. Then after examining for lint and the perfect sheen, he would pick up the needle arm and delicately place it on the record which was followed by sounds of the 70's. I was in awe of this ritual because I knew that had to be the only way it was done. The sound that came from his stereo could only be in my memory and no CD or MP3 could ever duplicate the magic of listening to music in my big brother's bedroom. I was 6 or 7 years old and knew the words to every song that was played on that stereo. From Styx to Jethro Tull. I get chills even to this day when I think back at that time.
My little portable turntable was not as marvelous as my brother's but I practiced the record playing ritual. I had an old piece of felt from my mom's sewing room and an outdated bottle of eye drops and would pretend that those 45 records were just as precious as my brother's "big records." I would sit on the hardwood floor in the middle of my bedroom (because the sound echoed really good there) and would clean them till they shimmered in the sunlight and then would play those records over and over. Elvis, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Neil Sedaka, Johnny Cash, Rosemary Clooney, Ricky Nelson, The Mamas and The Papas, Queen...just to name a few. That was the time where music first sparked something in me that nothing else could. It unlocked my imagination, it sent to me to other worlds, it made me think that anything was possible as long as I had a music track playing. Plus, I loved to sing along.
It all started with 45 records. I miss those darn things...
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