I've been digitizing a bunch of old tapes and records recently on my terrifying Gordian-knot-of-wires stereo setup. In order to accommodate my potential desire to record from computer to minidisc or minidisc to computer or cassette to either of the above or vice versa, I set up a Radio Shack tape selector thing with a ton of wires sticking out of the back. Of course none of them match and most of them are too long; fortunately, I can hide the evidence of crazy behind a playpen. I would have used ye olde Sony Tapecorder Selector (as immortalized in song on Transcriptionists), but it finally gave up the ghost. Alas.
Anyway, lots of delightful things to be heard in my old tape collection. Lots of wonderful adolescent awkwardness (of course), a fraction of which holds up OK, and most of which I have withheld from the baby for obvious reasons. Currently I am listening to a tape I made of the Cannanes playing at the Huntington Beach Public Library (!) in 1996. Of course they are great. Something I had forgotten was how snarky and funny David Nichols' inter-song banter was. I would pay - well, at least a few bucks - for a "Having Fun with David Nichols on Stage" album. "We've released about 700 singles in the past three weeks. CDs are ten dollars. You all look stinking rich, so you should buy one." I also regret not buying the cassette version of their self-titled album with some Nichols doodle and the epithet "New Zealand Sound-Alike Band" on the J-card. Alas.
