Yesterday TCF and I went to Cheapo (remember?) and looked at Compact Disks (remember those?). Wow, what a flashback. When I moved here in 2001, to the heart of Uptown, I wondered what that huge yellow and red place was; Ma and I speculated it was some sort of discount clothing store akin to the ones we have in LA. Little did I know I would spend countless afternoons click clacking my way through the "new arrivals," looking for anything Thievery Corporation, Afro Celt, Peter Gabrielle, and anything 80s. Those were the days when eighties dancing was still easy to find, before texting, where people made eye contact more, Orr Books, before Facebook, before..."What a retro weekend we are having!" I sang joyfully, nostalgically, as we walked the quaint sunny streets of St Paul, Moby CD and (the original) Bad News Bears movie in hand. "Aren't we? A retro weekend!"
"Yes, honey," TCF agrees with a wide sunny smile; retro pace is his pace. "What else was retro, though?"
Here, I know TCF won't mind me disclosing that he still uses a record player, owns no microwave, becomes excited upon purchasing new kitchen tools like a dish-wand, and only recently bought a cell phone. He embodies classic retro and wears it well, inside and out. This is a man who appreciates watching the sparrows swarm the feeder, proudly proclaiming, "I could easily make an entire day of that!"
Still, he has a point. What is retro anyway? My bff Paula in Austin just told me that I'm the only who actually listens to and leaves voice mail. Is that true? Is voice mail now retro? I suppose if The Smiths are now in the Classic Rock section at Cheapo, then voice mail (never mind answering machines) are definitely a retro possibility (retrobility?)
Lately Jude and I have been doing Mad libs. Is that retro? Or is retro more of a psychology, an appreciation for watching the birds, lingering in the groove of the moment, no matter what the record player or boom box or player piano or campfire singers are playing?
Write with me? What retro activity have you been up to lately? What the heck is retro anyway?
I was just thinking today that there was once a time where we didn't have such constant change, where life was rooted in traditions... This retro stuff is such a modern phenomenom. Seems like it would have been a deeper soul, grounded life back in those days--- maybe hunter-gatherer days, not sure... Maybe that's why I hold on to those "old ways," the deep soul in a record player, or wiling away in the backyard, etc... Interesting that "traditional" things can be so hard to maintain these days...and yet that's what feeds us so much. And...community should never be seen as retro, but seems like that's happening in some ways...not for me :) Noah, aka TCF
ReplyDeleteWow, Doggy, you ran deep with this one. Deep grooves in a record, deep soul, deep roots, earth grounded. Thanks hon, love it.
DeleteSpeaking of community, today was also a "retro" day--- I visited a local, still operating, soda fountain, in a drug store. I sat and had a soda and talked to the "soda jerk-ette" a seventy-ish woman who had been working there for 40 years--- Rox would say this was an example of my folky ways... (also retro it seems!) She told me she spends half the year on the Texas/Mexico border. I told her I wanna do that too someday-- she advised me to "safe my pennies" and someday I could. Maybe pennies are never retro. Regards, TCF
ReplyDelete"Folksy Noah," that's what I call em. Every time I turn around he's talking to someone new. And "safing his pennies." Like writing with people, when we just sit down and talk to people, go deeper than the surface, there are so many gifts... from the soda jerkette, to the high powered suit, there's always a gift and a story. Thanks CF. xo
Delete