I mean “needle” as in “needle in a haystack.” I am delighted and relieved to have found one of my previous Glenn Burleigh interview tapes last night after “only” a couple of hours of looking. Kathy was off seeing a play and then going out afterwards and my friend Marshall had already departed after having supper with me, leaving me alone in the house with my thousands of cassette tapes. I looked through three small boxes with 125 tapes each – plus a bigger box of 215 – and was about two-thirds of the way through the first of five big plastic tubs (each with about 400) – with four small tubs, one shopping bag, and one large wicker basket still to come, and starting to think that I was going to have to recruit a couple of people to help me in my quest. And then, just as my eyes were about to pop out of my head, I found it. . . one of my interviews with the late composer Glenn Burleigh. It was so nice to hear that warm, friendly voice emanating from my stereo speakers and know that my search was over.
Along the way, I didn’t manage to find the Star Trek tape with my mom’s voice in the background- that will have to wait for another day. But I did find tapes of Kathy’s “Oklahoma” production from high school, my performance with the RSO of the Copland Old American Songs, a couple of dad’s sermons from Luther Valley, a Good Friday sermon I gave at Holy Communion about fifteen years ago, dozens of Met broadcasts I had long forgotten I had, and hundreds upon hundreds of morning show interviews- – – including a couple of cool things that I had totally forgotten about, like my interview with Julie Nixon Eisenhower. (She got very testy towards the end when I said something about her mother selflessly tolerating the political life which her husband craved but she herself despised. JNE strenuously objected to my characterization.) There were also some disappointments like finding a tape marked “Julia Child” only to discover that her voice is no place to be found on it. ( I vividly remember interviewing her, but can’t imagine why this tape labeled with her name is blank.) One very fun surprise was to find several tapes from when I hosted the state network’s Saturday morning classical music request program. (The previous host very suddenly quit, and they needed someone to be able to step in on short notice.) I felt like such a superstar for those seven months, even if I had to drive two hours going and two hours returning to experience it. (And the tapes reveal that I didn’t always manage to keep myself from saying “this is WGTD. . .” rather than “this is Wisconsin Public Radio.” Ouch. ) It’s especially nice to have a few tapes from my first years in Kenosha, because I have next to no photographs from those years- and even my first married years with Kathy aren’t all that well documented, visually. But I got a lot of it on tape ! Just like my life itself, the tapes of my life are quite the interesting mishmash. But that’s me. . . the guy with the gigantic Haystack in the guest bedroom and the loving, patient wife who puts up with it all.
pictured: mis-search. Have you ever seen the Frasier episode where he reveals the complete collection he has of all of his radio programs, preserved on cassette tapes, lovingly shelved in air date order in a beautiful hidden cabinet in his bedroom. That’s one way to do it. This is another.