THEN

Before the Internet

Hope for a new record.
Ride my bike to the mall every week.
Dig through the bins at Musicland HOPING there would be something new…
Repeat
Repeat again
Hear a new song on the radio
Stay awake with a cassette player next to the radio hoping to hear it again and get it on tape
Ride bike back to Musicland
See it
There in rather bin
New photo on the cover…
Mystery tracks listed on the back
Ride home fast
Take it out of the plastic

Look at all the pictures
Listen to side one while reading the lyrics
Flip the album over
Listen again
Listen again
Wish you had someone else to talk with it about
The joy of new music

NOW

Hear about the final show thousands of miles away
Read that he says he’ll be back in 18 months
Listen in as he workshops new songs in small clubs
Save recordings of these unpolished gems and listen over…and over
Hear a title
Hear from the producer
It’s a new sound
It’s coming from a new place
Worry when there’s bad news
Watch him find himself in the west…
Watch his hair and his focus grow and change
Buy the concert tickets
There are teases and hints
Then one day…there it is
60 seconds
Finished
Polished
Honest
New
Get online…there are thousands to talk about it with

But still, the feeling is the same…

The joy of new music.