I have been enjoying the posts of "What Got Me Started." I'd like to use them, with the author's permission, in the upcoming In The Groove. I wrote my "What Got Me Started" as the President's Message for the December (Christmas Special Edition) of In The Groove in 2010. See below:
Ask anyone who knows me, and they will confirm I have always been Christmas's biggest fan. For some, this season is celebrated by the sharing of abundance. Others embrace the traditions of Christmas with visual displays of light and art. I was born with that singular defective gene that causes my soul to resonate through music, especially at this most magical time of year. One of my earliest and fondest memories was having my mother sing to me before bedtime. You see, my family was not musically inclined. I don't recall any family member volunteering to sing aloud in public. We were the "move your lips to hymns at church" variety. I remember it took great persuasion for this miracle to occur, but when it did; my Mother's voice would silence the world around us. Her song played upon my heartstrings and its memory has never grown dim. Of course, being a non-musical family, the only song she knew, or at least the only song I ever requested her to sing was, "Pony Boy". That recollection is always called forth at this time of year for one of my most memorable Christmas gifts was a spring suspended rocking horse named, "Pony Boy". It has become a personal Yuletide tradition that I dig out my two-minute Oxford cylinder #1198 of "Quartette" performing this most joyous of all Christmas Melodies, "Pony Boy" in honor of the season. Cindy and I were married in 1979, so it must have been fall 1980 that I fell in love (for a second time) with my first Victrola. John Houser was fifty years my senior and a wood working craftsman with no equal in my eyes. One day he was showing me the different wood projects he had created when I was taken aback by the interesting cabinet used as a display table crowded with assorted items. I asked if he made it. He just smiled at me and explained that it was a Victrola from his childhood. He told me that he used to play records on it at Christmas for his grandchildren, so he thought it should still work. I convinced him to clear away the years of clutter from its top so we could see inside. Once the lid was raised on this VV-215, I knew I had no recourse but to acquire one for myself someday. John could see that I was smitten and sold me that Victrola for a bargain price he knew I could afford, bless his heart. That VV-215 became the furniture centerpiece in our meager living room. During the rest of the year, it displayed photos of our family on its alligatored lacquer top, but at Christmas it was the perfect location for our miniature nativity displays. It quickly became our family's annual tradition to play Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (over and over) on it as we decorated our Christmas tree. Once Jessica and Timmy advanced past the toddler stage, the White Christmas tree decorating ceremony would end and our children would once again be reminded that we had a Victrola right there in our living room. "Let's play more songs", they would plead. Not being one to deny my children the simple pleasures of life, and given my propensity to corrupt their innocent little minds, we would play Frank Crumit's "Show Me The Way To Go Home" (Always good for a letter home from the daycare center the following day). For sentimental reasons, we would follow that up with Crumit's "Oh, How I Wish I Were In Peoria", the city Cindy and I spent the first night on our multi-state honeymoon adventure. Our next-door neighbor was a retired Wabash College German language professional that migrated from Germany in 1936 as Hitler was gaining power. Dr. Planitz gifted me with several of his classical music 78 RPM album sets that he brought with him to the United States. After the kids were tucked in bed, I would play Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, 4th Movement (in German) and Bach's Brandenburg Concerti while admiring the newly decorated Christmas tree in apology to the Victrola for playing Bing Crosby's White Christmas 23 times in a row. The children have grown, and so has my antique phonograph collection, but there will always be a special place in my Yuletide heart for that VV-215. Now if I can just find a copy of "Pony Boy" on 78 rpm. Thanks, Tim McCormick _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org
