Bio

Hometown:	santa barbara' CA
School:	santa barbara city college
Employer:	self employed sand sculptor

As I ponder 50 years of history and it's pursuant perspectives, it is with regret that I bid farewell to varying aspects of my/our culture. One of these is the record store.
I actually didn't go to the record store to peruse and/or buy music. Sure, there was that. There was not an iconic status to it then. We've built that up in retrospect. We did so because, like the old barber shop, it was so much more.
I went to the record store because it was one of the few places in town where people like me were allowed to congregate.They wanted us there. Yeah, we listened to cool music, met each other...it was a cultural hub for MY CROWD (everybody has one).
As a budding young artist (until now, untrained- i'm a 55 yr. old city college Art student), I spent hours examining album cover art. I was (am) significantly inspired by the art of the 60,s and 70's popular culture. The first visual artists that affected me and my particular perspectives were, besides Disney and movies in general, initially viewed on album covers. Some artists' sole general exposure was through that medium. In fact it was a subculture all it's own. For a white, middle class kid who wasn't interested in sports, was artistic and who would ultimately make a career in art, the record store offered a statement about me simply by my attent and attendance.
Being influenced by the music of my generations, I often wish I could hear one of those I haven't heard in O so long. Pandora gives me the opportunity to enter an era... to cast back so to speak and see what comes up along certain lines. The old hippie days ( Pink Floyd, It's A Beautiful Day, Jefferson... and Crosby...), later days in the ministry (Amy Grant, Micheal Omartian, Phil Keaggy...),or in between (Steely Dan, Donald Fagan, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel),are all available musically to me with Pandora.
I even listen to what my kids are up to culturally. It,s all available to me without taking a trip to town.