Ciao everybody. I was always a music lover. Likely due to my Dad who played a lot of classical music and opera--though I did not appreciate classical until decades later. When I was real young in the 1950's, Dad had a mono system with one speaker and this wicked turntable that played both sides of up to 6 LPs automatically without user intervention. I still have it, and it is a mechanical marvel--close to a Rube Goldberg device. About 1963, Dad moved to stereo and had speakers installed in the living room ceiling, like a bachelor pad. But likely done to accommodate Mom’s Baby Grand.
I started purchasing 45's at around 11 yrs old. Around that age I'd sneak in a AM transistor radio to bed to surf stations from Iowa to Boston for hot new songs that I could not get enough of. Once I got to high school I started purchasing LPs which I have yet to stop acquiring. I recall in high school trading a Jan & Dean 45 to a friend for the Kinks 45 of "You Really Got Me." At that time, the songs heavy opening guitar riff was mind blowing, so out of the ordinary from the music popular at that time. So, who got the better of that deal?
I've always gone to live concerts, typically many within a given year. When living in Boston, I was an active techy at a theatre that did 2-3 musicals a year. I could have cared less about musicals until I heard some of them live. During that time I heard all of the live performances and most of the rehearsals. It was at that time I grew a fondness for Sondheim and Cole Porter. Did I tell you that when my Great Aunt was young she'd turn on and off something in Harold Arlen's home (google him) on the sabbath? At the time I lived in Boston there was an amazing quite intimate venue for rock, blues, soul and jazz located in Cambridge. Among many others, I saw Etta James, Tony Williams, Spirit, a short-lived Little Feat incarnation active after Lowell George passed. At one concert I was surprised to look up and notice Bonnie Rait standing next to me. It was that kind of place. And the BSO was not a shabby band to hear live in their magnificent music hall.
In the Bay Area, I worked for a symphony orchestra for 6 years. This mostly but not solely volunteer work, such as writing a (humorous) trivia column for their website that focused on forthcoming concert programs. During that 6 year period I went to at least one concert of every program they performed. Also, went to the SFO and SF Opera. Jazz in that area flourishes as does many other types of music including of course rock and bluegrass and about everything else. In my current location, I've gone to many wonderful chamber music concerts, to a bunch of symphonic concerts including some quite avantgarde-ish gigs, and to see local rock groups, more or less blues and Americana music performed by outstanding players, some known professionals.
I enjoy rock music mostly from the 1950's-70's. Also, lots of folk music, some world music including Indian classical and Brazilian from the samba/bossa nova period, soul and blues primarily from the 1950s-early 1970s, and jazz. I was lucky to see many of the known rock bands from the mid to late 1960s/early 1970s. And where I lived in the Bay area many of those rock acts, and other well-known superlative musicians, live and still perform. And oh yeah, I went to Woodstock and actually remember some of my experiences.
My audio system has been mostly dormant subsequent moving from CA to the northeast some yrs ago. Sold my big Basis turntable and my wonderful Avantgarde Duos as there was no suitable way to move the speakers cross country. What I currently own is a hodge-podge of components acquired over many years that were not intended to work together.
I have found some deals on several classic used speakers in my new location--deals that I could not refuse. Will have to determine if any are long-term keepers and fiddle with the rest of the system, acquiring some components in order to create a synergistic system that floats my boat. Hoping to commence rebuilding my system soon.