Me, my pants, the front hall, the piano I miss. 1974-5ish
Jules in our kitchen, Easter. As opposed to Passover, which we celebrated too. Confusing, but festive.
Jules on horseback, me riding shotgun in a bouncy thing. Jackson Heights, 1971.I've mastered my scanner. I love it when things work.
Tonight we heard the above-named song, which has become an iconic one, due in part to its brilliant placement in the Sopranos' finale. One of the first MTV videos I saw was by Journey -- the one with the quick angle changes, that appears to be set in a warehouse. The Buchwalds were latecomers to the cable TV trend -- among the last on our street to install the faux-wood contraption with the three-tiered switch and the stubborn push buttons. My very first cable experience was an HBO presentation of Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet -- of which I have vivid childhood memories. I had a crush on Tybalt.
As long as it took us to get cable, it took us double that to embrace the answering machine. We held out for years, the yellow wall phone in our kitchen echoing aimlessly through the empty house. When the four of us would come back from dinner, my sister and I would play a rousing game of Pretend Answering Machine. One would beep and deliver the outgoing message, the other would re-enact messages from family members, our parents' friends, and all those cute boys whose calls we were certain we'd missed.
We finally got a machine and left the requisite outgoing instructions, that the caller leave his name, his number, the time of his call, and that he wait for the tone before doing so.
I got a care package last week from my new friends in Moab -- a book, some sagebrush, a piece of local artwork, and the water bottle I'd left in somebody's car after spending the day on the river. It's a beautiful gift and memento of that strange, mystical, life-changing day.
I wish that I had time to see the whole world.
3 comments:
...and the flashy pants make their first appearance!
Right? You had no idea their roots were in childhood, didja?
My family was really the last to get cable. We actually got something called WHT which was a station that showed nothing but movies. It was like one huge movie channel. It was a big brown box with a huge dial that sat on top of my parents TV. We didn't get cable till I was in college.
Oooh and our 1st ansering machine was gigantic. With those huge giant push bottons on the old fashioned tape recorders.
OK those pictures made me way too nostalgic. I have to go home and watch my schoolhouse rock DVD.
Ed
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