Monday, March 31, 2014

The End of March

Yesterday was a spring day--sunny, warm, slightly breezy, and beautiful.  It's funny how the weather makes a person feel different, feel like doing other things, changing.  Just like the lilacs bursting their buds, or the rhubarb pushing its way up through the thawing soil, so do we change and begin to grow different ideas and moves.  "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," Frost says.  "Spring is the mischief in me," he says, and likewise in me.  It's time to clean the porch, clear away the leaves, prepare the soil, plan the garden.

Yesterday we took a drive out to the park, ran and walked a few miles, and enjoyed the sunlight.  I think I sunburned my poor unprotected scalp!  We cleared the porch out, getting it ready for company, thinking what a great day it would have been to have people there.  Instead, we fired up the grill and enjoyed some good burgers.

Then we watched over some friends' baby, just a month old, and, with a little schoolwork in preparation for the week, we called it a good day.

The only thing is, now we're looking at a few more inches of snow tonight.  Blah.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

Goodbye to All That (Loud Noise--AKA--Kick Ass Rock and Roll)



After 38 years, I'm letting go of my big-ass stereo equipment, the stuff I bought when I was a teenage soldier in Friedberg, West Germany.  These served me well over the many years, rattling the windows of many homes I had hither and yon.  After I let these go, only my Marantz turntable will be left of the powerhouse stereo I carefully assembled over the course of a couple years, doing my research and saving my money.

What you see here are, first, my big and heavy (50 pounds!) Teac SX4300 auto-reverse reel to reel.  This baby would play music for seven hours uninterrupted.  It had a clean and clear delivery, especially at 7 inches per second (it's a two-speed).  I've still got many reels of music, some (like Larry Hosford) that I have not been able to find since 1978.  So it goes.

Then there is the matching set of Kenwood amp and tuner, a KA-8300 amp and a KT-8300 tuner.  They were excellent components, especially that kick-ass amplifier.  What a beast.  I matched these up in 1976 with a pair of Pioneer HPM-100 speakers, and they would rock the house.  The sound they made was a beautiful thing, and I loved to hear The Edgar Winter Group rocking "Frankenstein" turned way up loud.  Sometimes too loud.  I had to have both the speakers and the amp repaired after too vigorous play.

These components were a signature in my barracks room, my bachelor pads, my dorm room, and my several homes.  Now they're heading to new homes via eBay.  

Check them out if you're interested.  It would be good to see them go to new homes (at high prices!).  


Go ahead.  Bid.  Then you too can be rocking to this: