My friend Jeff linked to this site on his Facebook page, and it reminded me of all the things us kids used to do to our dad’s “stuff.” For the most part, it was his beloved stereo equipment that was pretty much off limits, but because this was the days before the Internet, playing records and tapes was pretty much all you had when it came to listening to the music you wanted to hear (and not what the radio station was playing).
He had a really nice turntable that, well, no one could resist. Of course, we were all very careful when first putting a record on, but after awhile, laziness crept in and, well, that needle (which, at the time, seemed priceless) would skip across the record if you were dancing or playing air guitar too aggressively. My brother Steve couldn’t keep his hands off the record player or the reel to reel tape player, and while he didn’t break it, he was told a number of times to keep away. But did he? Nope.
And so with that, I hope all the dads out there have a wonderful Father’s Day, and that your kids haven’t done things like this to your stuff:
Lalapunci
June 21, 2010 at 7:39 pmI remember those days, and the days with the Danville home stereo. The Sears guy came out frequently to fix it after Steve "used" it. Pay back time came when my kids monoplized my stereo with Kermit the Frog and the like. Now they play their music; they have pretty good taste in music. Happy Father's Day Ted. I hope you had a good one.
Ted
June 22, 2010 at 3:00 amI was actually writing about the way in which we commandeered Danny's audio equipment when he wasn't home. 🙂
Lalapunci
June 22, 2010 at 8:04 amI do remember hearing the complaints about you and Steve messing with Danny's stereo. Mom would call and complain and ask Pops to talk to you and Steve about it. At 700+ miles I think his lecture somehow got muted over the phone lines and sounded like the teacher in the Peanuts cartoon (wawa-wawa-wawa). It's ok, one of my kids turned up volume on my amp, turned on the tape deck and then hit the power button on the amp. I had to have the Advents reconed. I also had to replace two diamond needles on my Empire cartridge. Life in the fast lane