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.

It's time for a random soundtrack thingy!

And now... for a thing to share with y'all!

You know the "stupidest short story" that is now a novella-in-training? It has a Latin title, but I don't want to reveal it all. Just the last word: Omnia. C'mon, language aficionados! I'm sure you know this one!

Okay, enough with the elementary Latin. Let's get to the random thing to share. How about the soundtrack to the novella? Yeah! I always wanted to do this, not just share the "official theme". Let's get to the beautiful list!

1. "Klapp Klapp" by Little Dragon
2. "Cannibal" by Silversun Pickups
3. "Somewhere" by Run River North
4. "Coming of Age" by Foster the People*
5. "Violet Hill" by Coldplay
6. "Every Now and Then" by Garth Brooks
7. "What the Water Gave Me" by Florence & the Machine
8. "Wanted (Dead or Alive)" by Strange Talk*
9. "Nowhere to Go" by Nite Jewel
10. "Gold Lion" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
11. "Seasickness (Part 1)" by YAMANTAKA // Sonic Titan
12. "Promise" by Wild Nothing
13. "Are You Okay?" by Dum Dum Girls
14. "Walkin' After Midnight" by Patsy Cline
15. "No Rest for the Wicked" by Lykke Li
16. "Don't Change" by Morgan Kibby [a.k.a. White Sea] (INXS cover)
17. "Very, Very Hungry" by Brian Eno and David Byrne
18. "My Silver Lining" by First Aid Kit
19. "People Help the People" by Birdy (Cherry Ghost cover)*
20. "[Animal]" by A Hundred Waters

*Thanks a lot, work. You're the reason these songs got to be part of the soundtrack.

I'm not gonna link to the songs for two reasons:
1) I'm lazy
and
2) I'm tired of linking songs that later turn into dead links

One more thing... the "official theme" to the novella is "Somewhere" by the excellent Run River North. If you haven't listened to their debut album, I'll forgive you this time for missing this excellence. But don't let it happen again!

ಠ_ಠ

Wow...

This meme actually relates to me. Believe it or not, that was how I got my job at the nonprofit.

Too bad it isn't last very long. And that's just the way it is...

Alright, I'm back!

Hey y'all, long time, no see. Just posted stuff about Retromania and vanished off into the woods. After getting lost and confused (mostly the latter), I have found my way back to my beloved blog. I have plans to finish up the "24 Reviews..." with a rant on a book for record-collecting gals, Jerry Harrison's second album, Lindsey Buckingham's new album, and wrapping it all up with Murakami's latest tome. Looks like the goal is a surefire finish!

I had also made a grievous error. The blog will have its fifth birthday in 2012, not this year. Whoops! I accidentally math.

Some fantastic news: my all-time favorite novel is getting a reprint! But why, when Google auto-completes searches, is there "a house like a lotus movie"? World, is there something you're not telling me? Then again, you can do this for The Secret History by Donna Tartt and get "the secret history movie". So who knows? Maybe there are curious folks such as myself. But man... I only hope that I will be the intrepid screenwriter of the adaptation. It's one of my biggest dreams.

In lieu of the big news about A House Like A Lotus (yes, its reprinting warrants a party, okay?), I will reread all of the Time Quartet and the O'Keefe Family series.

There you have it. Here's to actually doing what I'm gonna do!