I got sucked down the music rabbit hole very early this morning by a tweet about George "Harmonica" Smith. It was some dude posting an album cover of his, and on the cover I saw a track titled "Summertime". So of course I youtubed it and gave it a listen .... and that got me horribly side tracked.
My generation had it completely different to todays Millenials. One of the major differences was that when you turned 18 you were expected to 'get a job, get out the house and fend for yourself'
So, it was not unusual to have two or three people sharing a 'flat'/ 'apartment' with just a mattress each on the floor and sheets over the windows. And as time passed you added a curtain or two, then saved up and bought a second hand chair for the living room.
Summertime - George 'Harmonica Smith
Now what has this old lifestyle got to do with anything ? Well, in the very early 80's my friend and I shared a flat. We were both working as Computer operators but our salaries barely covered the rent and as such we had a home with a mattress on the floor in the living room for me, and he had a mattress in the bedroom for himself. The furniture in the lounge was a box of 100 toilet rolls covered with a cloth .....
and two state of the art High Fidelity (Hi-Fi) systems.
Yup, that was more important than furniture, second only to a fridge which we also had in the kitchen.
So in our spare time we would sit on the floor each side of our 'table' and play chess, drinking boxed red wine
Image Credit
Our vinyl selections were primed on each side of the table and we would take turns at playing an album on our respective sets
Probably the most played album was Janis Joplin ....her brilliant 'In Concert' ...
Image Credit
and this tune in particular ..... goose flesh memories.
Summertime - Janis Joplin
The power of music !!! An evening playlist would typically be ...from my friends side...Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Leadbelly .... from my side The Doors, Peter Frampton, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin.
Life was simple then... and should still be....
Have an awesome weekend, stay safe and love and appreciate your loved ones.