No, not like Marconi.
In the summer of 1976 it was my good fortune to stumble upon college radio in the form of Dartmouth College's fine station WFRD. For the next 4 years until the quality of the station took a fatal nosedive and became an ultra-bland, ultra-conservative generic "classic hits" station around 1980 there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't have my ear glued to that station, guitar in hand.
Another "think of it" moment. Think of it! Having next to no exposure to the wide world of eclectic and progressive music to find one's snot-nosed self over night listening to folk, folk-rock, prog-rock, punk-rock, classical music, baroque music, renaissance music, medieval music, jazz music, jazz-rock, opera, rock-opera, easy listening, classic soul, & world music and more. God Bless that radio station in those brief 4 years.
It quite literally saved my life. Or is it "figuratively"? Or is that when....? No, "literally". "Literally".
This was my education in "what to listen for in music". Sure, I went to college not too long after this to study music, but without the discovery of radio, without Mr. Marconi and his magic box, surely I would have sunk like the Titanic.
Let me not leave off this post without honorably mentioning additional radio discoveries that took place around that time or soon after. My introduction to classical and jazz music was furthered greatly by also discovering Vermont Public Radio (WVPR) and by tuning in late nights to the far-off New York City station WQXR-AM (thank you, stratosphere!) to listen to the sweet voice of Nimet and her famous program "New York at Night". Oh, I'll need several more posts in the future to wax rhapsodic about Nimet and "New York at Night". For now, I'll leave it at that and only say I wish she would return to the air waves. If you ever had the opportunity to hear her program, you already know what I mean.
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6 comments:
Why'd you drop your recording of "garota de ipanema" from youtube? i liked it, back when it was up.
sorry about the crass alias attached to my account, no offense meant. the question about 'garota' is sincere.
Dear Tony,
I'd like very much to mail to you. My name's Paula, Portuguese, 50 years old. I play guitar.
I cannot reach using your mail address - don't know why.
Mine is info@aulabranco.com.
Could you mail me? Thanks a lot.
Paula.
Dear Tony,
My correct mail address is
info@paulabranco.com
Paula Branco.
www.paulabranco.com
Tony, would you like to hear a Portuguese typical guitar ? Please tell me, I’ll be happy to send you a sample or a even a CD …
An old friend put a video of one of our first rehearsals as a Band. It was a surprise for us.
Me (the rhythm guitar player), my twin sister (bass) and a friend (in drums) with Paulo (the solo guitar) who turned out to be my husband some years later.
If you want to watch this video, make the search in You tube by: THE FANCY ONE REHEARSAL 1984.
The sound is quite bad, I warn you.
Paula
I really enjoyed your Youtube videos. You especially did a great job on the Beatles!!
I think you need to be marketing yourself more because you are extremely talented...Get some free web marketing training at my site www.cashstreamsystems.com It would be great to have you on the team..Cheers for now...Marty
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