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Hello Daniel and Kathy, It is about 15 to 20 degrees here in Detroit (brrrr). I've been pretty busy with my music. I just did an interview with a local podcast at www.detroitbeatz.com and I am starting to play out again . Just coffee houses solo to start with but it will be fun playing my own music instead of covers. I have an 8-track memory for you.
I just recently found out that my older sisters first husband passed away a few weeks ago. They had been divorced for a long time and I had not seen him in many years. He had been a big part of my life when I was a teenager. He and my sister were going steady and he became like another member of our family. He sort-of adopted me like an older brother which I did not have. I had three sisters and I was the only boy. Much of the time I spent with him we rode around in a green 53 Chevy that he had fixed up. The main thing I remember about it, other than the constant smell of gas, was that he always had an 8-Track player. That's all he ever played. No cassettes. It was always 8-Tracks. He had Beach Boys-Endless Summer, Eagles-Hotel California, and Steve Miller-Fly Like an Eagle. We used to play those tapes over and over. When I started collecting the tapes again those were some of the first ones I bought. He was quite a character and a big influence on me. It would have been much harder to grow up without him. I won't ever forget those times and I won't ever forget those 8-Tracks playing in the Chevy that smelled like gasoline.
Well, that's it. Thanks
alot- Dave LaPlante (Joe Pop)
When I had my little red
Bobcat, my children were ages ...maybe 9 and 5....My daughter is very musical
and really enjoyed any type of music.
I was a property Manager and spent a lot of time going to and from showings
etc. So we would pop in an 8-track tape and sing our hearts out. I home schooled,
so we spent a lot of time together...went everywhere together.
One especially neat memory was singing "The Yellow Rose of Texas"
at full throttle with the windows open. We did get some looks, but it was
fun.
I am older, so I remembered all the oldies. My daughter grew up being able
to sing about anything. People ask her...How do you know THAT song...she replies....my
mother.
Mike Hill wrote:
I recently found your wonderful 8 track web site! My memories of 8 tracks go back to the late 70s when I joined the RCA Music Service record club in junior high school. I bought many 8 tracks from there and to this day still prefer their special format/labeling to the original label's release format. There was nothing better than getting a new 8 track and keeping them stored in various handled cases. Recently I found a refurbished player on ebay and have now collected almost 30 tapes from ebay, mostly replacing all the ones (RCA Music Service editions, plus others) that I had in junior high and high school! I've also found someone who is very good at repairing old pads and splice breaks, which helps a lot. In this very high-tech world we live in there is something comforting about the 8 track format of music, being able to relive it 30 years later has brought me a lot of joy.
Thanks, Mike Hill
San Francisco, CA
I was looking through some of the memories, and I just had to tell mine. Around 4 years ago while I was in 8th grade, my family used to own this trailer in Monticello about 5 min away from Indiana Beach, and in it was a bunch old '70s appliances: a TV, furniture, stove, etc. Anyway in the "master bedroom" there was a big old thing on the night stand. I asked my parents what it was, and they were "Holy cow! That's an 8 track player!" I had never heard of 8 tracks, but I was extremely fascinated by it. I decided to keep it, and that was how it all began. I had already started collecting vinyl so I was like why not collect 8 tracks too. I went to a local antique store and on the 2nd floor, there were shelves and shelves of country, elvis, and gospel tapes, and in there, we found a treasure cove of some rock, folk, and pop tapes. I bought a few, but over the course of a few weeks, all but two (Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits and Styx Crystal Ball) crapped out on me. I still have these tapes and they still play perfectly. As the years went by, I gathered more and more tapes to include tapes by Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead (their debut no less!), Country Joe and the Fish, The Doors, and a bunch of others. Unfortunately my tape player needs a little bit of a clean up and fix up, but thanks to my 1978 VW Camper I can still rock out to these all but forgotten treasures. - Sawyer Lightsey
My very first 8-track was Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Mardi Gras'. This would have been about '73 or '74 (I was 8 or 9).
I guess I got it because it was very different from previous Creedence albums (way more Fogerty), and my uncle didn't care for it.
It was all good to me - I played the tracks off of it. I still love those songs...
