{"id":10232,"date":"2021-10-19T12:22:19","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T12:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=10232"},"modified":"2021-11-20T16:11:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T16:11:48","slug":"memory-lane-that-time-before-everything-was-streamed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=10232","title":{"rendered":"Memory Lane: The time before everything was streamed"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 Living, as I do, in turn-of-the-century London, it\u2019s easy to become nostalgic for the long-ago 1900s. I know we\u2019re just a few weeks into 2000 but it seems like forever.<\/p>\n

I recall the first single I ever bought \u2013 Little Richard\u2019s \u2018Long Tall Sally\u2019 on 78 rpm. And the first album \u2013 the soundtrack to Doris Day\u2019s \u2018Love Me or Leave Me\u2019. A ten-inch vinyl on 33\u2153 rpm. The first twelve-inch \u2013 Johnny Cash\u2019s \u2018Now There Was a Song\u2019. The first 45 rpm \u2013 Elvis Presley\u2019s \u2018Don\u2019t Be Cruel\u2019. I had eclectic tastes even then.<\/p>\n

I remember thinking what a wonderful thing it would be to have a jukebox that had every song you wanted to hear any time you wanted. Never gonna happen.<\/p>\n

I recall my first time at the movies \u2013 to see Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby in \u2018White Christmas\u2019. Then every Roy Rogers picture that came to town. And then every picture that came to town.<\/p>\n

I remember thinking how incredible it would be to actually own a movie that you could run any time. Or, to have a collection of them, all your favourites, so that your living room would become your own movie house. Not in my iifetime.<\/p>\n

Then came videos and CSs and suddenly you could buy almost anything you could afford. But you can\u2019t have everything because, as Stephen Wright said, where would you put it?<\/p>\n

Now, there\u2019s an answer to that: cyberspace.<\/p>\n

Pretty soon, so they say, we won\u2019t need videos or CDs. Television sets will be computers and telephones will be video terminals and computers. Every song, every TV show and every movie will be out there available at the touch of a button at our digital demand.<\/p>\n

There will be no need to line up for the eight o\u2019lock screenings of the newest blockbuster; no need to hassle with the clerks at the record store to find the latest Randy Newman album; no need to check TV Guide for the airtime of \u2018The Sopranos\u2019.<\/p>\n

It will all come streaming through the Internet and it will all be magical. And effortless. And too much. Be careful what you wish for.<\/p>\n

Am I alone in wanting to see a movie in a crowd? Am I the only one who likes to stack CDs and wishes they were twelve-inch vinyl with beautiful covers and graphics and liner notes?<\/p>\n

I know, those days are gone. So very Twentieth Century.<\/p>\n

Pity.<\/p>\n

A version of this appeared as an On the Beat column in The Hollywood Reporter on Feb. 8 2000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 Living, as I do, in turn-of-the-century London, it\u2019s easy to become nostalgic for the long-ago 1900s. I know we\u2019re just a few weeks into 2000 but it seems like forever. I recall the first single … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,1263,8],"tags":[5142,5143,5144,3032,5145,5141],"class_list":["post-10232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-film","category-memory-lane","category-music","tag-long-tall-sally","tag-love-me-or-leave-me","tag-cyberspace","tag-doris-day","tag-internet","tag-little-richard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10232"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10237,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232\/revisions\/10237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}