Posted on 05/09/2014 5:55:39 PM PDT by SamAdams76
It's amazing how quickly technology is changing. When I was in my teens and started having some extra money, I would buy those vinyl LP records. At the time, I thought it was an investment. I used to carefully take those vinyl records out of the sleeves and ensure that the needle was ever so carefully placed on the outer grooves of the record (if you did not own a auto-cueing record player). I had visions of handing these vinyl recording down to my kids and then my kids handing them down to their kids.
Yes, I actually thought that my grandchildren would take pleasure in playing "Frampton Comes Alive" or "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player" on their own turntables in the year 2027.
Then during the late 1970s to early 1980s, we had the audiocassette format. It cost around $7.99 for a cassette album of say "Candy-O" by The Cars or "Breakfast In America" by Supertramp. And I bought them, thinking they would also last for generations to come. Until the cassette player in my 1976 AMC pacer started eating them. One summer, I had "Hi Infidelity" by REO Speedwagon stuck in the tape player and I couldn't get it out. So that's all that played that summer in my car. People thought I was really into REO Speedwagon but I wasn't. It was my girlfriend's tape. Seriously. Eventually, my brother got it out with a butter knife.
I kind of missed out on the whole 8-track thing. My father had one in his car and he always played Johnny Cash and Wanda Jackson on it. Maybe Glen Campbell too but I'm not sure.
Then in the mid 1980s, the compact disc came into fashion. Now that was the thing. We all thought compact discs would last forever. So I ended up mostly buying all the music again that I already had on vinyl and cassette so that I could have the same songs in a pristine digital format. In a weird retro way, I would then dub cassette "mix tapes" from my growing CD collection so that I could have the songs I already had on cassette (and CD) on a cassette in the order that I wanted.
I ended up buying hundreds and hundreds of CDs over the years. Then they started with the MP3s and suddenly I was converting all my CDs to MP3 and then re-burning them on blank CDs so that I could have the songs in the order that I wanted them. I used to get the blank CDs in spindles of 100 and I'd have to throw half of them away because I would get errors burning them and the whole CD would be useless at that point.
Then Apple came out with those "iPods" and suddenly I could have all my songs in my pocket and I could set up playlists so that I could play the songs in the order that I wanted. But once I finally had that capability to play my entire library of music in the order that I wanted, I no longer use that feature. Instead, I just hit "shuffle" because setting up playlists is a pain in the neck. Meanwhile, all my CDs, cassettes and LP records are up in the attic in boxes gathering dust. I tried selling them on Ebay a few years ago but I was getting crap money for them. In fact, it would cost more to ship the damn things than what people were willing to pay me for them.
Now even MP3s are getting obsolete because everybody is pulling their music "down from the cloud" with Spotify, Pandora, and whatnot. I
It's crazy how fast everything is changing.
So anyway, I went to this steakhouse a few months back and I can't remember the name of it. What I do remember is that it was crowded and you had to wait like an hour to get a table. But that was okay because they had this large waiting area with benches and a big barrel of peanuts that you could grab a handful of while you were waiting.
The best part about this is that they let you just throw the peanut shells to the floor. I thought that was such a great idea! You didn't have to be prissy neat about it. Just crack the shells, pop the peanuts in your mouth and toss the shells to the floor. Just like you were in your own backyard except you were surrounded by strangers doing the same thing.
Eventually they called us to our table and the peanut fun continued. Each table had a small pail of peanuts on it. Except they didn't want you throwing the shells to the floor in the dining area so they gave you an empty pail in which to toss the shells in - which was okay by me because the pail was right there in front of you. So it wasn't that much extra work.
The steak was unbelievable, it melted in my mouth like butter, and they brought me glasses of beer in 22 oz glasses.
Peanuts, steak and beer. It doesn't get better than that. But I can't go back there because I can't remember the name of the place and I forget where I was when I went there. It wasn't Outback or anything familiar like that. In fact, I don't even think it was a chain even though it looked like it could be a chain.
I loved Ground Round. Yummo.
In Palo Alto (CA) it’s Antonio’s Nut House on California Street.
Yep! The Texas Roadhouse here puts a big galvanized bucket of peanuts on every table. Shells all over the floor.
My first real job (late 70’s), I was a techie for a company that did computer systems for credit-unions. There was a client in Boston - the Boston Telephone Workers C.U. that I had to be on site with for some reason or another, and the sales-guy came with us. Of course, that meant entertaining the client with dinner and drinks. The client offices were in an old bank building on Milk St., and a few blocks’ walk from there was a place near the old Boston Garden called Betty’s Rolls Royce. I remember the steaks, the Guinness on tap, and the peanuts on the floor. YUM times 3!!!
Visited Jacks or Better many times as a kid. My Dad loved it.
There was a place in VA I used to go to called Lone Star Steakhouse that had the shells on the floor. LOVED that place.
‘Jacks or Better’ in the St. Louis area used to have free bowls of peanuts and you threw the shells on the floor.”
Jacks or Better was the sponsor of my son’s junior high YMCA football team in Overland Park, Kansas, during the middle 1970’s. We played every Saturday then all the parents would head over there to drink beer and the kids ate a ton of peanuts. Best part was throwing the shells on the floor. They had the best cheese dogs and hamburgers in the world. Had forgotten all about this place - thanks for the reminder.
We also had a place on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City called the Levee. Peanuts and bourbon and water was the meal of choice for many a dinner after working all day on the Plaza.
Clearman’s North Woods Inn
I believe Colton’s Steakhouse has peanuts.
By the way, do you know how many grooves there are on a vinyl LP? There’s one. It starts at the beginning and goes all the way to the end.
Except the Kansas City Blues. Don’t ask them. They’re too clean cut. But ask any member of one of the other rugby clubs. They might even accompany you to the Irish pub (with peanut hulls all over the floor...and tables), if it’s the night of a rugby match. You might even get to witness an initiation (nudity), human bowling (nudity) or other interesting spectacles (nudity).
Roadhouse Grill.
There are 2. One on each side.
Gave all my vinyl to the vets. Couldn’t even sell mint elvis never-played records in box. Needed the space in the closet.
Difficult to give up the reel-to-reel tapes though. Have recordings of my Mom when she was 20, their wedding, Dad’s band from the 50s etc.
Lone Star did that about 20 years ago.
LOL!!!
Very funny...
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