It's Tuesday, July 10th, and back in the day of rotary phones, radios and record stores, Tuesday was not just the day after Monday or the night when we could watch first run episodes of "Cannon." Tuesday in the music world was and still is, "New Release" day. The day when we would rush to our local record shop and purchase "Frampton Comes Alive" without having to sample a $6.00 venti Gazebo Blend. (that's a large coffee for you laymen)
When I was a kid, I would spend most of "Tuesday" morning speed-dialing (very difficult on a rotary phone) every record store in the city, obsessively asking, "Did the new Dylan come in yet? How about the new Floyd? Call back in an hour? I will. I WILL!" As a matter of fact, I called Crazy Eddie so many times during what was supposed to be dinner time, asking if "Todd Rundgren's Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect" had arrived yet, that my mother lost patience while frying up something Italian for dinner, and exploded with the now legendary (in my household) "WHAT IS THAT S**T YOU KEEP SAYING? HANG UP THAT PHONE, SIT DOWN AND EAT!" Ah, the good old days.
The new Prince CD, "Planet Earth" is dropping soon. If this was 1984, specifically the Monday before "Purple Rain" hit the shops, thousands of Prince fans would have been glued to their radios waiting patiently to hear "When Doves Cry" as often as they could, while they waited with bated breath for its official release. Now, you can listen to "Planet Earth" immediately with just a simple bit torrent program and a mouse click to one of many websites. It's easy, sort of. It's also WRONG, yet tempting. And if you choose to accept this mission, you will find that on July 24th, when the record is officially for sale, you won't care. You would have already heard it; most likely on your cute little computer speakers and/or iPod, compressed down to Ham Radio fidelity, and filed away among your "On The Go" and "Muh-Muh-Muh- My Pilates" folders.
Today, July 10th, some records, or what we now like to call CDs, are being released, just like every Tuesday for the last 50 years or so. But there is something that isn't the same. There is no fanfare.
No anxiety. No buzz... really. No mother trying to understand why I was sweating bullets, as I attempted to reach that Tuesday goal; being the first on my block with the new Be Bop Deluxe CD. Or maybe it was the ONLY one on my block. (and my mother is still alive. she just cares even less now...about Be Bop Deluxe, that is.)
There are at least a half dozen CDs hitting the...uh...cafes today that I'd like to own, including a new Crowded House CD, an unreleased 1968 session from Stephen Stills, and a recent acoustic live set from the Brothers Robinson, better known as The Black Crowes. At one time, that would have been enough to bring people out to the record shops on a Tuesday afternoon. In the good old days, "Mom & Pop" didn't have to serve croissants in their record store. A little burning incense, and of course the product, was enough.
This is why I don't like Tuesdays anymore.