Posted on 05/01/2021 6:49:30 AM PDT by SamAdams76
ATM's seem to have gotten very sophisticated since I first started using them back in the early 1980s. Back then, ATMs were a simple affair, you stuck in your card, punched in a four digit code, and out came a little bit of cash depending on the numbers you punched in. It seemed a magical thing at the time.
I would rarely take out more than $40. Back in those days, it was a lot of cash to have in your wallet at one time, at least for me. On rare occasions when I took out more, I would furtively glance around me, making sure that I was not likely to get robbed with all that cash on me. It seemed quite dangerous pulling all that money out of an ATM and I always feared that the machine would malfunction and not spit out the money and yet my account would get charged as though I did. That never did happen though. Nor did I ever get more cash than what asked for. The machines seemed pretty reliable in that respect. They never seemed to make a mistake in dispensing cash and never jammed up (why can't they make copy machines as reliable)?
And for years and years, I would never dare deposit money into an ATM. I just didn't trust them to take my money. What if I deposited cash and then the bank tried to say that they never received it? How would I be able to prove to them that yes, I did stick cash money into their stupid machine. I guess there must have been cameras but back in the 1980s, security cameras were still mostly primitive and probably wouldn't deliver a decent picture even if they were actually turned on. Does anybody remember those Patty Hearst bank robbery stills? Not the best quality though Patty did look sort of hot with that weapon slung over her shoulder.
So I just didn't trust ATMs back on those days to take my money (or even checks) as deposits. Like a chump, I'd have to go into the bank (during banking hours) and wait in line between those velvet ropes like you see in fancy movie theaters. I'd even fill out the deposit slip trying to use that cheap pen that was always chained to the tables. I always wondered about that. Why couldn't banks give away free pens to their customers. Pens with the bank's name stenciled on the outside? Free advertising!
Well now I don't worry so much about putting cash deposits into the ATM. Those machines do an excellent job of sucking in all that cash and finding a way to count it properly so that it can go right into your account. Though not without a big show of whirring noises that go on for as long as 90 seconds. I must say that I hold my breath every time as the machine does whatever it does with my cash while it's being sorted out. I wonder if the guy behind me withdrawing money will get some of the very same cash I just deposited? Or does deposited cash go into a separate bucket than the cash that is dispensed out? I just don't know the answer to that question but I aim to find out one of these days.
Well anyway, I like to listen to the Yacht Rock station on Sirius/XM from time to time (Station 311). Pretty much all the time, it is male singers. Bertie Higgins, Rupert Holmes, Michael McDonald (a lot of Michael McDonald by the way), Christopher Cross, a band that call themselves Poco, Little River Band and Steely Dan. All guys.
Well that it until I heard "Chuck E's in Love" by Rickie Lee Jones on the station. Well that was a treat. I'm a big fan of the jazzy rhythms of Rickie Lee Jones and her 1979 debut album was just outstanding (it also yielded the Top 40 hit "Youngblood"). But I never considered her music to be part of Yacht Rock.
Anyway, it was almost like the Yacht Rock station read my mind because over the next few days, they inserted other songs sung by women into their playlist. I heard "Lotta Love" by Nicolette Larsen (written by Neil Young I believe) and then "Sara" by Fleetwood Mac (written and sung by Stevie Nicks). There were a few other female sung songs that I now cannot remember. But the females appear to be finally making some inroads with regard to Yacht Rock.
Speaking of Rickie Lee Jones, I've been rediscovering her music and she actually has a lot of good stuff out there. You just need to be in a mellow mood to really get into it. She's right up there with Emmylou Harris in my opinion with regard to consistently good albums over a long period of time. If I wasn't married already, I would consider marrying either one of them because I think they are mighty fine women. (Please don't post their politics here, I don't know where they stand and don't wish to know).
I enjoy that station too but for some unfathomable reason my wife hates it. The only thing I don’t like is the Thurston Howell wannabe dj. Just get a regular guy or girl.
Sorry, I’d rather have a tooth extraction than listen to yacht rock.
Ironically my dental hygienist plays Yacht Rock while she is cleaning my teeth. My next appointment is May 19. Please remind me.
I rebel at the whole yacht rock concept. It started as a pejorative used by idiots to dismiss music they couldn’t bother to listen too. Then some people who liked those bands accepted it. I don’t. It’s really not a scene. It’s a randomly applied label.
Two words; ear buds.
Well, she is a notorious bitch, for one. But then Darryl Hall is a notorious prick, so.....:)
I dunno. Not sure we should even allow some of the best bands of all time to be classified as “ yacht rock.” — seems sacraligeuos to me.
There is not aa single Steely Dan song that I don't like. Now a few of them get overplayed like "Reelin' In The Years" and "Peg" but even those do not ever get tired.
The solo stuff by Donald Fagen isn't bad either.
Why the ATMs with that title?
I forgot to include my super awesome experience at the Big Y supermarket in Bethel, CT yesterday afternoon. I am going to prepare another post about that at some point in the future. That is an awesome story and it also includes technology!
Steely Dan is awesome. And one of the best reasons to reject to yacht rock label. Their music isn’t actually easy listening (which most yacht rock falls under) just watch any clip of the drummer playing Aja. Lyrically when you get right down to it Steely Dan is a punk band. More “junkies winos pimps and whores” in their music than in most punk catalogs, including the guy who gave us that wonderful phrase Mike Ness. Nothing yacht about it. A surface listen would make them seem similar to Chris Cross, and others in that “category” but they’re just not.
Also, a dog that likes to run in the yard and catch frisbees. Well at least TRY to catch one!
I hate lazy labels. Especially when they’re used to dismiss. I mean I do respect that fans of the music have taken control of the term. That’s always a good thing. But the term still bugs me. Certainly a lot of music under that label is summertime afternoon music. Nothing goes with BBQ and alcohol like Jimmy Buffett.
One of really higher ups at the office sounds a lot like the yacht rock announcer. Ironically, the office guy is a self proclaimed super cheapskate.
I love Steely Dan music.
I liked this station but I thought Sirius got rid of it.
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