3,116
3,116 Pieces of Music Owned by Yours Truly
Two places greatly comfort me: a bookstore and a music store. When I travel outside of my home in Los Angeles, I seek out either a bookstore or a music store. On the surface, this may seem like I’m shopping for something new to listen to or read, but it is more of the practice of being in an interior with a favorite object, such as a book or vinyl record. Both mediums expand my world or, at the very least, redefine my passions at the time. Without them, I feel lost and drift into the darkness I avoid with all my might.
I surveyed my music collection and divided it into different mediums: 12” LPS (1,646), 10” vinyl (61), 7” 45 rpm (300), CDs (1,104), and five music-oriented DVDs. Thus, I have 3,116 pieces of music. I also listen to streaming music, but I’m not including that in the equation. I want to tell you that I play album after album, but the truth is that days can go by without using my turntable or streaming services. Still, listening to music is probably the most essential activity in my life. I don’t need to play a record daily, but I need to see my records on shelves or under the stereo system daily.
I must give the aural sensuality my full attention when I hear music. Ignoring music played in restaurants, shopping malls, and elevators is even hard. I also pay attention to music written for and played in films. I often have an opinion on the soundtrack over the visuals or whether the film is good. The other passion is reading, but in no fashion or manner can I have music in the background while reading. I would have to give in to the noise through the speakers or Soundsystem in the cafe or such settings. Stranger is I don’t mind hearing music on my headphones while writing on the computer. Certain music or sounds make me focus on the words on the screen or empty paper. My favorite piece of noise/music for writing is Symphonies of the Planets (Complete NASA Voyager Recordings). It is sounds captured by the Voyager spacecraft as it travels within our Universe. It is a drone-like but very ambient type of noise that is pleasing and very good for my kind of meditation, focusing on a blank computer screen or paper.
I have always been borderline anxious, but I knew how to hide the anxiety with a smile and have been able to dance around it. Lately, it is getting harder to deal with these issues of vertigo, phobias, and all the issues of aging that come with the package. As I get older, I feel everything gets more intense. I remember my mom telling me that she was looking forward to the Twilight Stretch of aging but that it seemed a myth. Things got more intense health-wise for her, and I feel I’m entering that stage of existence where I know every physical section of the local Kaiser Hospital by now. This perhaps explains my inner anxiety that one is waiting for the other shoe to fall, and when that happens, it will be deafening.
Music can help you embrace the fallout with a beautiful melody or any noise you choose. When everything else falls apart, and you have nowhere to go or run to, music is the ideal place to land and penetrate your soul with sounds that will embrace you lovingly. People have pictures of their dogs, cats, or favorite food dishes, but for comfort, I look at my photograph of vinyl album covers through the Discogs website or, at times, from pictures I have taken with my phone. The cocoon effect of being surrounded by sounds that warm a solitary soul or transfer themselves to another space and place through music.
As a writer, music gives me a canvas to explore my emotions and thoughts, and particular melodies set me in specific frames of mind. I have been going back and forth to Tokyo for some years now, and for decades, the Ebisu Station plays an electronic version of The Third Man Theme, which is perfect for a train station, but of course, we are not in Post-War Vienna, but 20th/21st century Tokyo. I have always loved the Third Man film by Carol Reed and the presence of Orson Welles as the gangster Harry Lime, but the music by Anton Karas has always taken me to a unique locale. So when I first heard the sounds of The Third Man in the Ebisu Station, it made me time travel to somewhere opposite Tokyo. But then that is one of the reasons why I love Tokyo so much: they reflect on culture outside of Japan and somehow make it their own. So much so that the Ebisu Beer brand uses the music of The Third Man for their commercials. For the Japanese, that melody is tied to the beer brand, produced and made in Ebisu, Tokyo.
Culture layering occurs when something personal to me becomes public. Music has a different meaning to a population that ties it to the pleasures of a beverage. Music can be for something distinct, but the listener takes it on their own and remakes it into a personalized work. My understanding of The Third Man has expanded into areas that I didn’t expect. So, with 3,116 pieces of music, I’m all over the map, or perhaps I’m the Map.
Interesting, no 78rpms. The first records I ever bought were 78s (Al Jolson and Maurice Chevalier) from a man on the other side of the lake. I was in grade school at the time. My buddy and I rode our bikes to his estate sale. I can still remember riding my bike back home, wind in my hair, with one hand and carrying them in the other at my side. I had found a buried treasure.
Like an old friend, I got away from them after a while, but in my later years, I found them again and since have found many more. Strangely, just sitting next to them brings me comfort.
Congratulations on not losing count of all of those LPs Tosh. I think I would be quite challenged to do the same only because I seem to have records stashed in different areas of the house and I might not remember where they all are. I find it interesting that you sometimes go for days without listening. I too am the same and for quite some time now, I've been letting go of certain pieces in my collection that I don't listen to often enough to justify owning. At some point someone will have to dispense with all of these great items and I don't want it to be too much of a task. Thank you for sharing your thoughts; they are much appreciated.