The old times 🎶

I’ve never been much of an embracer of modernity. Maybe because it’s too real, too contemporary but also because I like to have distance from all the problems of today. Consumerism of yore seems cute and boutique, crude and basic compared to the clever marketing that is far more manipulative then even the most clever tactics of yesteryear.

I really enjoy the simple melodies of yesteryear. Maybe because I grew up in a household of folkies and one-time homesteaders who where I grew up a steady diet of Peter, Paul and Mary and of course the oldies. In later years I got into country music, and there is nothing like the rustic old music of yesteryear. There is something authentic and raw about the simple world of music before modern electronics and recording techniques.

I am also fascinated by the history of the recent past – the electromechanical era – the one of the superhighway and ideas and ways of the 1960s and 1970s. Just before my time – I was born in 1983 – but I know today’s technology but I always wonder how we got here today. It’s interesting to see old photos of fifty or sixty years ago, as in many ways you can trace them to where we are now, even if much it lost to time and changes.

Moreover, it’s not always obvious that the changes of today are better, and that old tools and ways of doing things aren’t still valid and good for doing things today. Some really old computer programs and basic technologies, still work reliable and do their job well even if modern technology has gotten all the spotlight. AI might be good for some purposes, but you sure can do a lot of good things quickly with vim and awk.

Of course all this fascination in the way things once where, and the old music has people thinking I must be a lot older then I am. How many people in their 40s listen to things like Phil Ochs, Fairport Convention or Ian and Sylvia? Or even Creedence Clearwater Revival and our favorite one-eyed Dick Curless? I am not saying we should go back to way things once were, but I do enjoy some of those old songs, and using and learning about old tools from an older generation, even if it’s not my own generation.