I have always wished I had a time machine so I could go back to 30s & 40s NYC, KC, and a couple of other big important centers, as well as the chitlin' circuit, and maybe some roadhouses, in the south a little later still, for the blues.
As I grow older I realise that the racism and other DEW values at work would have made it hard for me to stay long, but the music . . . the music.
True....so true. I just recreate my own little world with it, between living in a house that looks like a cross between a Bennigan's restaurant (but in better taste, mind you) and a theatrical prop house. Trust me, my family never quite knows what to think....Sarah just occasionally bitches that maybe having a kitchen appliance that was made sometime AFTER 1939 would be nice, someday. My life is kinda steampunk schizophrenic...a workable blend of the very old everyday items and furniture, and a lot of tech toys. I don't know if I'd like a time machine, tho. I don't view the past through rose coloured glasses. Life was not easy back then, much less complicated, granted, but by no means easy....just because a very nice meal in a restaurant cost about fifty cents, doesn't mean that you could afford the fifty cents to pay FOR it...rememver that once was a time that not everyone even HAD shoes, and if they did, they were only worn on very good occasions!! :) I always keep that in mind when I view the past. But the music...so true.....the music. My taste is in the music of the 20's-'50s. I like music now...IF it's good (which isn't so very often) The thought of technology being used to fix a bad voice paired with a pretty face so prevalent now....I'll take older music..with great voices and not-so-pretty faces, thankyouverymuch!). My daughter may get a little embarrassed by my time capsule home (she says I collect dust, not antiques), but at least even at her young age, she prefers the genuine to the fake, and the well made and timeless to the prefab and disposable(even in music).
Yes, yes. Our daughter used to stop her friends at the end of the driveway the first time they came home with her. She would turn and say "my parents are a little . . . different, okay?" I understand that bit. Our idiosyncrasies were not related to such exotic fare as yours but I understand.
I don't know about exotic....lol. I've just been around antique items for so much of my life that they just "took" over. In the kitchen, for example....you could buy a Kitchenaid Mixer for over $400, and what you get is a "foodie" high end mixer that is very nice...but pales in comparison to an original Sunbeam Mixmaster from the '30s-'40s. Go find an original...not museum quality...just an average one. Not really that expensive. Clean, rewire, get it running smooth. There are a lot of them out there, everyone's mom or Grandmom had one. I use mine almost everyday...from juicing oranges, to general baking. I have a few identical ones for parts, should the need ever arise (it hasn't in over 10 years). The attachments can be found lots of places, with a little looking. The Mixmaster has attachments for everything from grinding meat to making ice cream and butter...sharpening knives, even! I guess my point is this.....these items were well made, usually always better than now. Non-pristine examples still can be found cheaply. The same goes for my '30s Osterizer blender, and my original Vornado fans that I use in the summer. All are mid century works of functional and visual mid-century industrial art. The process is gradual, but satisfying, to me. I don't collect anything that I don't use. Maybe that is a tad exotic, but I like being out of the mainstream, and feel a bit sad watching people spend and spend on poor quality modern items that don't stand the test of time.
I have always wished I had a time machine so I could go back to 30s & 40s NYC, KC, and a couple of other big important centers, as well as the chitlin' circuit, and maybe some roadhouses, in the south a little later still, for the blues.
ReplyDeleteAs I grow older I realise that the racism and other DEW values at work would have made it hard for me to stay long, but the music . . . the music.
True....so true. I just recreate my own little world with it, between living in a house that looks like a cross between a Bennigan's restaurant (but in better taste, mind you) and a theatrical prop house. Trust me, my family never quite knows what to think....Sarah just occasionally bitches that maybe having a kitchen appliance that was made sometime AFTER 1939 would be nice, someday. My life is kinda steampunk schizophrenic...a workable blend of the very old everyday items and furniture, and a lot of tech toys. I don't know if I'd like a time machine, tho. I don't view the past through rose coloured glasses. Life was not easy back then, much less complicated, granted, but by no means easy....just because a very nice meal in a restaurant cost about fifty cents, doesn't mean that you could afford the fifty cents to pay FOR it...rememver that once was a time that not everyone even HAD shoes, and if they did, they were only worn on very good occasions!! :) I always keep that in mind when I view the past. But the music...so true.....the music. My taste is in the music of the 20's-'50s. I like music now...IF it's good (which isn't so very often) The thought of technology being used to fix a bad voice paired with a pretty face so prevalent now....I'll take older music..with great voices and not-so-pretty faces, thankyouverymuch!). My daughter may get a little embarrassed by my time capsule home (she says I collect dust, not antiques), but at least even at her young age, she prefers the genuine to the fake, and the well made and timeless to the prefab and disposable(even in music).
ReplyDeleteYes, yes. Our daughter used to stop her friends at the end of the driveway the first time they came home with her. She would turn and say "my parents are a little . . . different, okay?"
ReplyDeleteI understand that bit. Our idiosyncrasies were not related to such exotic fare as yours but I understand.
I don't know about exotic....lol. I've just been around antique items for so much of my life that they just "took" over. In the kitchen, for example....you could buy a Kitchenaid Mixer for over $400, and what you get is a "foodie" high end mixer that is very nice...but pales in comparison to an original Sunbeam Mixmaster from the '30s-'40s. Go find an original...not museum quality...just an average one. Not really that expensive. Clean, rewire, get it running smooth. There are a lot of them out there, everyone's mom or Grandmom had one. I use mine almost everyday...from juicing oranges, to general baking. I have a few identical ones for parts, should the need ever arise (it hasn't in over 10 years). The attachments can be found lots of places, with a little looking. The Mixmaster has attachments for everything from grinding meat to making ice cream and butter...sharpening knives, even! I guess my point is this.....these items were well made, usually always better than now. Non-pristine examples still can be found cheaply. The same goes for my '30s Osterizer blender, and my original Vornado fans that I use in the summer. All are mid century works of functional and visual mid-century industrial art. The process is gradual, but satisfying, to me. I don't collect anything that I don't use. Maybe that is a tad exotic, but I like being out of the mainstream, and feel a bit sad watching people spend and spend on poor quality modern items that don't stand the test of time.
ReplyDelete