At one point I think I had over 300 cassette tapes.
… I belonged to Columbia House … Several times over LOL 
I was beyond thrilled when I could afford a cassette deck with a fancy equalizer … watching those lights go up and down was a major highlight. I also had mixed tapes for every occasion and emotion 
I never had anything nearly as fancy as that though.
I remember Columbia House. They evolved and switched over to CDs. I don’t have any cassettes at this point, but I still have some Columbia House CDs.
There was a Graphic Design Book Club, too, that was a similar deal.
Good times.
I still have some CD’s as well
I finally ditched my cassette collection a few years ago. I hadn’t had a working tape machine for over 15 years. It hurt but we needed the space, and I took notes by keeping the sleeves of treasured recordings, which I am slowly replacing with digital access of various kinds. I have already recreated my favourite party tapes with Spotify Playlists.
I have no idea how may tapes we had, but it filled 7 large black bin liners. We thought we might need a skip because they would have taken weeks to get rid of one at a time in our normal bins. In the end the council made a special collection and took them away.
My very first part time job was an after-school thing where I painted weekly special signs for a small grocery store. Being something like 15, I immediately decided to spend the money by signing up with Columbia House. I’m not even sure if cassettes were a thing then. I think it was still an 8-track world for tapes. Anyway, I signed up for vinyl LPs and ended up collecting around 300 of the things over the following 10 or 15 years. Every now and again, I’ll listen to some of them, but listening to the same thing on Spotify is a whole lot easier.
I had a Tower Records about 100 yards from my place. I picked up one the CD display cabinets for $10 when they went out of business. I’ve got all my CDs on there, plus about 100 cassettes and 60 8-tracks. All of my gear to play that stuff is busted, so it’s strictly decoration, but it’s a great conversation piece. EVERYONE laughs and flips through the CDs when they come to visit. I wish I had picked up a cabinet for my vinyl.
Dick Hoyt passed away at age 80. If you don’t know about Dick and his son Rick, you should. It is a truly inspirational story — and that’s not hyperbole. Here’s a short article and video about Dick and his son.
I have not seen a lot of his work, but I did enjoy the 90s sitcom Just Shoot Me.
The film “Quiller Memorandum” leaps to mind.
One of my favorite movies he starred in was The Duchess and the Dirt Water Fox. Such a funny movie.
RIP George.
George Segal on The Goldbergs a few seasons ago. Love this one. The creator of the show said Segal called him up late one night just to pitch this scene, so it was added to a show. It’s a riff on Abbott and Costello’s famous Who’s On First.
That was the movie we were trying to think of!
I just read is Prince Philip has passed at 99. How very sad. What a long and magical life he has led. My deepest sympathies go out to the Queen and her family and to all my UK friends. I’ve always admired both the Queen and Prince Philip. You always know this day is coming, you just never think it’s going to arrive. May he rest in peace
I know he’s been quite ill recently, so it’s not surprising. I just looked it up and the queen will be 95 in just a few days. Then again, her mother lived to be 101.
I’m assuming Harry and Megan will return for the funeral, which ought to be awkward.
It’s puzzling how so many Americans follow the exploits of the British royal family. Despite the war that was fought to get away from them, I’m guessing more Americans have better feelings toward them that most Brits.
Aww
Some people make the world a better place, and humanity benefits from them having lived. Bernie Madoff was not one of these people.
I wasn’t particularly heartbroken when I saw that he passed.
