Over the Labor Day weekend in 1992 -- back when the SciFi channel was somewhat new and fairly watchable -- they had a "Prisoner Marathon." You know, all 17 episodes of the iconic 1960's show starring and directed by Patrick McGoohan -- showing sequentially over and over all week end long.
Well, I set up the VCR to record each episode as I watched them with the purpose of filtering out the commercials that showed up seemingly after every 5 minutes of actual story-line.
Yes, I babysat that VCR and came out with a stack VHS's all purged of any the commercials. Couch potato all weekend. Broke away long enough to flip a few burgers for everyone else. Pissed away he entire weekend.
A couple of years later, you could buy the entire series now in DVD for ~$18 at Price Club, that became Costco.
Ya think I ever watched those VHS's? Nope.
Do I remember a wasted holiday 22 years later? Yes, I do.
Did I learn from that experience a little bit about the value of one's time - and the potential for wasting it chasing media and entertainment under the guise of preserving such things for future generations? Yes, I did.
That said, last month I got to see Gordon Lightfoot perform again in Norwalk, CT on the old High School stage. It occurred to me that the last time I had seen him perform, it was 26 yeas ago.
I was 3 rows from the front, dead center sitting with my wife. When he played "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," I recorded a ~45 second slice of it to send to my son up at UCONN because, it is his favorite song.
My boy wasn't even born yet, the last time I saw Gordon Lightfoot in concert, but for a 76-year old standing up there and giving it his best for 2 hours, one realizes why Lightfoot is such a musical treasure.
Lived the moment. Shared the moment.
All things in moderation ....
FReegards!
