Classic Plastic by Cooper St. James
Cooper host Random Acts of Radio first Sunday 7PM on WLUW. Chicago’s longest running and only all audio documentary program.
So I’m standing there minding my own gosh darn business…when I remember a game we used to play. You know (I forget the name) but it goes like this…Somebody starts a tale and the next in line adds their spin…and so on and so on. Can you dig that? Here’s what I am thinking…lets play this game...NOW! But since this is an article about record collecting and junk …lets make that the focus. Let me tell ya this.. some good entries will be published right here in Classic Plastic…..and I promise, if we get enough and the story goes well…I will create an audio version to play on my program “Random Acts of Radio”. So sharpen your pens, Pals! Send your story continuations to me at: randomactsofradio@yahoo.com
OK…I’ll start with this….
She collected records. Her name was Dina…some friends called her the Queen of the Rodeo! She was whip smart and lovely. She would escape to her roof when the weather beckoned. “To dance in the moon light on your own roof, playing DJ to the world” she would say. She liked the classics. What she called “Music, when music was music”. That would be: Cole Porter, Bing Crosby, Betsy Smith and Jelly Roll Morton. She admired this about herself.
He collected records. He would introduce himself to strangers by any other name than his own. Some knew him as Cooper. He bought his underwear at Sears. He loved the classics, or what he called “My top 5”. Zappa, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Clapton. “Not in that order” he would say under his breath. He hadn’t worked in months.
His collection was covered in plastic, placed inches away from the walnut cased BCI 90-K turntable he stole in a card game. She lovingly looked upon her auto crank 1930’s Victrola as an heirloom or even as a piece of furniture. Her albums where more plastic, almost like glass, than vinyl it seemed. It pained her to purchase replacement needles by the box, but was happy she found a source. His friend once vomited on his BCI 90-K. Years later the friend admitted his error. She still wrote and mailed thank you notes. She made Sloe Gin Fizzes by the glass…and never finished one…he drank booze…by the quart. They both loved their record collections.
That year, on the last cold Saturday of the winter, their eyes finally met at Al’s Discount Records. Dina had to walk pass him twice before Cooper noticed her presence. His first words to her were….
So my babies with that said…lets see what you can do. As I say… we will print good entries, and award a winner on the B-side of this little experiment. Perhaps in the future we can put them all together and create an audio version of our little story…to play on “Random Acts of Radio w/ Cooper St. James” the first Sunday night of every month on WLUW 88.7FM 7pm central time…so don’t forget to send your continuation to: randomactsofradio@yahoo.com and read Classic Plastic to find out what happens to these two collectors lost in the big c
Thursday, December 9, 2010
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