Unexpected Nostalgia Road Trip (or: My Dad's Plans to Save ALL THE BETA THINGS)

Unbeknownst to me, my dad was hunting for a Beta tape player on eBay for a while now. He found a used one but it wasn't working as well as the seller led him to believe. Thankfully, he was able to get a refund and purchase something even better: an unopened Betavision tape player. According to Dad, he said it's similar to the one we had back in the eighties and early nineties. Of course, his goal is to get home movies (yes, we actually have some. Shocking I know.) and some other recorded media converted to modern formats.

Of course, finding out he did this, naturally, I had to ask: can I watch the tape? There was one tape, full of live performances of the big country artists of 1985-1988 (shut up, this was a decent era). This Beta tape had Nanci Griffith (the perennial family favorite), the late Dan Seals, the Charlie Daniels Band, Randy Travis, some random band whose unknown name haunted me for YEARS, and Keith Whitley (apparently his "Miami, My Amy" was one of my favorite songs when I was a baby, well, besides the Troggs' "Wild Thing"). Some were from obscure shows (New Country) and even familiar ones that still air today (Austin City Limits).

As I write this, I'm watching the tape. Oh my God, all the nostalgia feels I'm having right now. I cannot even begin to put them into words. It's great. I thought I would never get to watch this tape again.

There was also one band whose songs I did like, but couldn't find for the life of me. Until watching this tape again, I finally figured it out. The band is Exile. Yes, the same band who made "Kiss You All Over" (which I loathe) but became a country-rock band in the eighties. Damn, that was a shock. I had one of the songs correct: "Fly on the Wall" (which was co-written by Bruce Hornsby AND Bernie Taupin!) but couldn't trace it from there. Apparently, that's a popular song title.

So, some new things I learned during this whole experience:

• It's scary how much of this I remember. From what follows what to which songs will play. Didn't I mention I watched this a lot? 
• Somewhere in this world, there are people with unopened Beta tape players. And one of those people did business with my dad.
• Dan Seals played left-handed, as did one of his band members. And his Texas accent just makes me grin like a doofus.
• Dan Seals played a mean sax.
• Lyle Lovett sang backup for the live performance of "Once in A Very Blue Moon". I never knew that he was there!
• The audiences for all these shows: they are either dead or damn... almost thirty years older than they were.
• Even with the limited monies they had back then, my parents were still badass enough to have the means to record things like this. 
• The commercials are effing lulzy. One was about some money-making scheme. Make that two. Now one about something called "The Great American Race". 
• People out of the mainstream loop didn't really dress all that awful. So, all that stuff about the eighties being a bad decade of fashion? That's focusing on the popular stuff, not what NORMAL HUMANS (who didn't give an eff) wore. 
• The only music video on here is the Randy Travis one for "Forever and Ever Amen". I wonder why that is the case.
• Whoa, TNN (The Nashville Network) doesn't exist anymore. I suddenly feel my age.
• I want Randy Travis to sing at my wedding.