I have my favorites

[pbray]

A new entertainment center arrives tomorrow, so this weekend I cleaned out the old one, which meant going through the collection of LPs (vinyl, for the unenlightened), and cassettes that were stored in the cabinets. I was surprised by how many albums I owned in three formats--vinyl, cassette (for car trips) and ultimately on CD, including almost anything by Steeleye Span, Silly Wizard, Battlefield Band, Dougie Maclean or Altan.

There were other surprises in my vinyl collection. Not only did I have the soundtrack for The Empire Strikes Back, I had the complimentary album featuring the actual spoken dialogue from the movie, with a narrator to fill in the action. Yes, back in 1980, when no one I knew owned a VCR, fans like me could listen to the album to relive the movie experience. I'm thinking next time I'm at a con that wants something to auction off, I should package up the two albums, along with my vintage edition of the movie novelization, and it would make a nice set for a true fan.

Comments

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Silly Wizard was great. I still miss Johnny Cunningham.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that I had the opportunity to see them perform live, during one of their last US tours.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I never got to see them play; they'd gone their separate ways by the time I got into Celtic music. However, I did get to see Johnny play as part of the Celtic Fiddle Festival tour, and as part of Nightnoise.

True story:

My wife and I drove up from Cincinnati to Dayton to go see the Celtic Fiddle Festival at Dayton's Victoria Theater, but we had gotten stuck in traffic. We managed to park on the street and ran the last couple of blocks to the theater just as the show was about to start. As we pounded up the carpeted steps in the foyer, a man in his thirties limped by us, heading for the bar.

"Is that..." my wife began.

Sure enough, it was Johnny Cunningham. Judging by the empty glass he had in his hand, he had already gotten started on the evening.