New Year

One day back in elementary school the teacher did a poll of the class and asked everyone their favorite genre of music. I don’t know if she thought she was teaching us about music, or about statistics, or was just bored. But I answered what any 5-11 year old kid from suburbia would answer: reggae.



I was in my Beetlejuice period, and I thought Harry Belafonte was the coolest guy in the music world. I was incorrect, because that would be David Bowie. I was also incorrect in believing that Harry sang reggae. He sang/sings calypso primarily. Before I move on with my actual point, some Belafonte trivia:

He won a Tony.
He took acting classes with Sidney Poitier, Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur and Walter Mattau.
His appearance on The Muppet Show was Jim Henson’s favorite episode.
He is from New York, though spent part of his childhood in Jamaica.
He was bffs with MLK and supported King’s family financially as King didn’t make much money for his preaching/civil-rights-ing.

Anyway, I bring up Mr. Belafonte because I bought my first record this weekend, Belafonte at Carnegie Hall. I did this as part of my 2 New Year’s Resolutions.

1. Start a Vinyl Collection.

Technically I guess I have already accomplished this resolution, in that I now own a vinyl. But I will get some more, as well as a record player. This is impractical and not remotely cost effective, but I feel like doing it, so I’m going to. I’ve been a little hobby light in recent years, and this will bolster my eccentricity and elitism quotient.

2. Write more

There’s actually a good chance that this will be my last post for January as I’m looking to eliminate distractions for the next few weeks. But come February, I want to spend more time writing. This writing may make it online, and may not. I want to get back to some short stories, essays and maybe even a novel. These may pop up on my blog, but may not. But the goal is to write more, and write more creatively.

So until February, keep an eye out for some vinyl for me.