Nougat 45's

Much of yesterday was spent obsessing over a pice of obsolete machinery. Something that only a debilitatingly nostalgic person would pay the slightest attention to. And it is that nostalgia, and also my interest in the past that made the day so fun.

A friend of mine has a vintage Wurlitzer, Americana III Jukebox. And with it are boxes of very eclectic 45's from the previous owner. Everything from Christmas music from the 50's, Rock and Roll from the 60's, Disco Music of the 70's and Pop hits of the 80's. Then of course, nothing newer than the mid 80's. The day was the second time we opened up the system to swap out 45's. The Jukebox was hardly used before we first looked into boxes surplus of 45's months ago. The original selection wasn't much to listen to, but once we found 45 after 45 of classic hits we loved, the juke box became a hit at the house.

The Americana III isn't the prettiest of Jukeboxes, but to open it up and see it's inner workings is still completely fascinating. Everything functions mechanically, and has done so for 4o years. Gears spinning, dials clicking, and rotors turning. It was a symphony of noise and analog technology. As we went though record after record, we kept getting faked out. There might be one or two 45's from a band or singer we liked, but none of them had any of the hits or songs we liked. There were Bands from a similar era and style, but classics we hoped we would find were not there. The fun was the exploring of a cache, even though if we wanted to we could get any MP3 to any song we wanted instantly. The juke box had space for 110 45's, or 220 songs. The boxes had a few hundred other 45's, but many were repeats or something few could appreciate today. Now days, you can get all the MP3's you can fit onto an iPod, and have a way better selection, quality, and capacity. Still, the fact that we were limited in selection didn't matter. It was again, the tactile experience, and exploring the treasure of old songs. These 45's are real, they may be obsolete, but they are Real. While the digital age may way out preform, I argue that keeping the aesthetics of the mechanical and the sensory dynamic of a tactile medium has its value.

Just today I saw this (probably staged) youtube video a young girl puzzled by a Vinyl LP. Even I had an idea of outdated technology as a kid, but maybe I watched to many old tv shows and movies. Already all these (not so) old technologies are a mystery to These Damn Kids Today, but hopefully some of them with a passion for the obsolete might also one day have an afternoon exploring old boxes of 45's get a kick out of playing the music from generations past on an old Wurlitzer Jukebox.