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).
Poco, from the Buffalo Springfield tree
Me,too. Whenever I feel I might be hearing yacht rock, I play one of my Avatar CDs, and I feel better.
Sorry. I prefer Destroyer Rock.
I was referring specifically to Steely Dan as Jazz Rock.
I heard "Danny's All Star Joint" by Rickie Lee Jones on it.
Nothing wrong with The Little River Band (at least the incarnation with Shorrock/Birtes/Gobel)
One of my favorite albums in high school was their Live Album. “It’s a Long Way There” has a smoking guitar solo.
Steely Dan has so many great deep cuts that never got radio play.
My favorite Dan song is “King of the World”.
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