cool

 I was at Walmart and noticed they had record players for sale. The one I saw was a small self contained deal, looked like an attaché case. I've heard that vinyl records are making a comeback. I still have a few in my attic from years back. I can't see myself buying a player however, those records are just old memories now. I mean, it's cool to have them but I most likely wouldn't play them. But seeing that player in the store did remind me of my teenage days. most notably when  I was sixteen and seventeen. That's because I had a portable record player back then.

 Now when I was a teenager growing up on the eastern end of Long Island I didn't have a lot of shopping choices. The nearest department store of note was 25 miles to the west. Twenty five miles was a good drive back then. But there was a store in Riverhead, a big town by my standards, and thats where Billy Blakes was. Billy Blakes, in case you have never heard of it was a large department store. It was a lot like Walmart. Both stores started in 1962, Billy Blakes in New York and Walmart in Arkansas. I was, of course totally unaware of Walmart which didn't expand out of the southern states until the 1980's! I know it seems like Walmart has been around forever. Well, it has survived unlike Billy Blake. But Billy Blake sold a record player in a attaché case. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. 

 I purchased that player when I was sixteen. It played 45 and 331/3 records. It was stereo, of course, and the two speakers could be removed from the case and set on the table. It came with a regular power cord you could plug in, or it would operate on batteries. Now that was pretty cool. You just didn't have portable record players in those days, talk about your high tech. And I carried that thing with me for a while. I can remember having it in the car. Whoever was riding shotgun had to hold that player in their lap. Hey, it worked pretty good. No more waiting for your song to come on the radio. I had no tape player in my car and the radio was AM only. I had many a good road trip with that thing. I have absolutely no idea where it went after I joined the Navy. I expect it went to the dump at some point, just a piece of junk. Well, eight track players, cassette players and eventually cd's replaced all that. We've come a long way Baby! 

 I am amused that what I once thought of as high tech is now nostalgia. I do remember using a pay phone when it was a dime. I also remember just telling the operator the number because we didn't have dial telephone yet. Yeah, we've come a long way. I remember when the television and radio had to warm up before use. I remember getting my first CD player. Now that was something else. The first computer I ever used had a green screen with white characters. It was DOS and you had to type in the commands. I didn't know many, just a few I had been taught. High tech, you bet it was. How many remember DOS? Well, I saw the record player and it sure brought back a lot of good memories, memories of living on the cutting edge! It was " rad " man.