Cuba/dot matrix printers

Those of you who have had the distinct pleasure of receiving an actual physical Tape Mountain product in the past decade or so know how much I love dot matrix printers. I've got an ImageWriter II on my shelf and I've printed album covers on it from my Apple //c and, I think, my Macintosh Classic, from my high school and college years respectively.

Most of the millions of readers of this blog probably do not encounter dot matrix print on a regular basis, but I do, since at my job we get a lot of certificates from Cuba, which has continued to print official documents on dot matrix printers well into the 21st century. Sometimes you'll get a certificate where you can tell the functionary hasn't been able to reink the ribbon in a while:

Yes, it's that hard to read in the source. Hooray for "Sharpen More" in Photoshop.

People get really jazzed about the classic cars that continue to do everyday work in Cuba - where is the passion for the people who keep the dot matrix printers running????

RIP Hamish Kilgour

So sad to hear that the world has lost Hamish Kilgour (of the Clean, Mad Scene, etc.) A great drummer - his spirit of lightness took the Clean's Vehicle to another level - and a very underrated singer/songwriter.

Currently listening to Boodle Boodle Boodle on 33 instead of 45. It sounds pretty good that way. My boy and I recently picked that one up on clearance from the deeply unlikely record store in someone's converted garage a couple blocks from my house:

I will always have a soft spot for the Mad Scene too. They never quite reached their potential on record, but the one time I saw them live - I think maybe at the same show where I saw Wimp Factor 14 in NYC at at CMJ sometime in the 90s? It was just Hamish and Lisa on twin electric guitars. Warm, peaceful, totally unassuming, totally underattended. I think there were green lights. I remember that Hamish was playing a Gretsch Corvette (also my guitar of choice at the time), and I struck up a small conversation (not my strong suit, especially then!). He dealt with my awkward fanboying with ease and recommended some other music for me to listen to. I walked out into the New York streets at night, completely out of the world.

Now I'm listening to the Mad Scene's Blip, which kind of appeared and disappeared in 2012 a la its title. Its carefree inconsequentiality is very pleasing. Of course they do their best work a decade and a half after everyone stops listening.