Hello. We are watching the rain fall softly on Chester County, PA this morning. I spoke with my Dad last evening and he is doing great. Thank God. Prince started his new medicine yesterday and as I was at work my good friend CK stopped at the Vet's to pick up his stash. I want everyone that I love to live a long, playful life but sometimes that isn't what fate has planned. When I was little, we used to fall asleep to albums that my Mom would play on the stereo at the foot of the bedroom stairs. 'Lettermen', 'Johnny Mathis', 'Neil Diamond', 'Tijuana Brass' and many more made sleep come more easily. These days I don't play music late at night when bedtime calls because it wouldn't be kind to my neighbors. I do play my IPOD at times but there is something about those vinyl albums in the cardboard covers that offered more satisfaction. An upbeat, polite and fun young woman came into my shop yesterday morning with a no nonsense attitude and a darling little girl in tow. She is also 8.5 months pregnant, it was humid outside and she had a million things on her mind. It never stopped her from being the perfect example of how people should be. I hope our paths cross again. It was a pleasure to be around her. Speaking of a 'round', on this day in 1948 Colombia Records introduced the long playing record album, in short, LP in a public demonstration at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The crowd, most donning IPODS thought this idea very clever and almost at once discarded their cassettes, 8-tracks and CD's. Wait. I may have gotten my history reversed. Anyway, I will hit the rewind button yet again. After all, it is Sunday. When I was of the LP buying age I tended towards Carpenters, ELO, Helen Reddy, Rolling Stones and Olivia Neutron Bomb. Carpenters record label, A&M, owned by Herb Alpert of the Tijuana Brass and Jerry Moss, the equestrian...had an art department that did clever designs for Carpenters album covers. The photos...not so much and to this day Richard Carpenter can be seen on interviews referring to the cheek-to-cheek photos as bulls$#t. Squeaky clean image? I think not. But the cardboard covers always held something unique and was a treat for the fan along with the great music. A&M had no idea how to market the siblings which didn't put a damper on record sales although it did dampen both of the artists in one form or another. Happy Father's Day and whatever path you choose today, try to do the right thing. Crank up the tunes no matter the source and long play all day. Today's photo is KBM's new path, and it is spectacular!
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Ralph Waldo Emerson
