Flashes of History
About a month ago I took the time to scour through my mother's storage unit looking for old reel to reel audio, VHS home videos, and hopefully I will locate the super 8 reels soon. It's been a weight on my head to get these precious recordings on digital as soon as possible to preserve whatever is left of them.
Just finished copying over the reel to reel audio tapes to my computer last weekend--it was a very long weekend. However, the tapes were probably some of the most amazing recordings that I have ever heard. They're mostly recordings of my mother when she was in her early 20's and touring with a major hotel chain as a lounge singer/guitar player. The voice has the same pitch and depth that I've come greatly familiar with, but the songs are different--cover songs known but I've never heard them sung from her soul before. I believe that I fell into a trance hovering over that reel-to-reel player for a good 10 mins while I heard her fall into a hauntingly beautiful rendition of California Dreaming. Then turned into a three song medley of Billie Holiday.
My goal of transferring these old audio recordings of hers is to correct the timing and increase the sound clarity; compile the songs into a CD with some fancy cover art and give it to her for her birthday in August. I don't know, but it's been bothering me for years that the tapes are sitting in a garage and not being shared with family and friends....I just hope that she's not mad that I touched them! HA!
The next major undertaking has been transferring VHS home videos to .mp3 files. The tapes document vacations and major family events from the very late 1980's. AKA: Kimmy's hot years!
Are you kidding me? 80's fashions were HORRID! Worst ever. Pre-braces me...ugh.
Regardless of my cuteness, words cannot describe how very unusual it's been to sit and watch videos of myself at the age of 8, 9, 10, etc. spending time with a my very young looking siblings and family friends that who have either been loooong gone or passed on--then go to work in 2012. So very strange indeed. The upside to having this time of my life sooo heavily documented are all the details that I have forgotten over time. How each room of the original house looked, the artwork that hung on the walls, every single Christmas ornament, the names of ALL the dolls and family pets, aaaand the fact that when I had the opportunity to use the video camera how I loved to film 20 minutes and narrating my pet(s) sleeping! I'm sitting here updating my journal while watching my nine year old self sparring in a karate tournament. My mother's voice yelling from behind the camera "come on! go for the face!"
"Twenty years from now this film will be interesting to you," my dad says while filming my 10 year old birthday party.
Strangely enough, these memories may have passed but they have never been forgotten. Sad? Surprisingly not at all. History is something to cherish and not remorse over, even though the films include a dad who has been long gone from this dimension--it's quite alright. :)
Just finished copying over the reel to reel audio tapes to my computer last weekend--it was a very long weekend. However, the tapes were probably some of the most amazing recordings that I have ever heard. They're mostly recordings of my mother when she was in her early 20's and touring with a major hotel chain as a lounge singer/guitar player. The voice has the same pitch and depth that I've come greatly familiar with, but the songs are different--cover songs known but I've never heard them sung from her soul before. I believe that I fell into a trance hovering over that reel-to-reel player for a good 10 mins while I heard her fall into a hauntingly beautiful rendition of California Dreaming. Then turned into a three song medley of Billie Holiday.
My goal of transferring these old audio recordings of hers is to correct the timing and increase the sound clarity; compile the songs into a CD with some fancy cover art and give it to her for her birthday in August. I don't know, but it's been bothering me for years that the tapes are sitting in a garage and not being shared with family and friends....I just hope that she's not mad that I touched them! HA!
The next major undertaking has been transferring VHS home videos to .mp3 files. The tapes document vacations and major family events from the very late 1980's. AKA: Kimmy's hot years!
Are you kidding me? 80's fashions were HORRID! Worst ever. Pre-braces me...ugh.
Regardless of my cuteness, words cannot describe how very unusual it's been to sit and watch videos of myself at the age of 8, 9, 10, etc. spending time with a my very young looking siblings and family friends that who have either been loooong gone or passed on--then go to work in 2012. So very strange indeed. The upside to having this time of my life sooo heavily documented are all the details that I have forgotten over time. How each room of the original house looked, the artwork that hung on the walls, every single Christmas ornament, the names of ALL the dolls and family pets, aaaand the fact that when I had the opportunity to use the video camera how I loved to film 20 minutes and narrating my pet(s) sleeping! I'm sitting here updating my journal while watching my nine year old self sparring in a karate tournament. My mother's voice yelling from behind the camera "come on! go for the face!"
"Twenty years from now this film will be interesting to you," my dad says while filming my 10 year old birthday party.
Strangely enough, these memories may have passed but they have never been forgotten. Sad? Surprisingly not at all. History is something to cherish and not remorse over, even though the films include a dad who has been long gone from this dimension--it's quite alright. :)