For The Record- 09. November. 2024

Hello, I saw you, I know you, I knew you

Welcome to another edition of For The Record, the weekly newsletter that brings the world of music news straight to your inbox. Part essay, part good old-fashioned link drop, For The Record is a benefit for paid supporters of On Repeat. This project is 100% reader-funded. You can back independent ad-free music journalism for less than $1 a week.

Thanks!

KA~

Note: I’m writing this first part on my phone at 6 AM (ish) on Wednesday morning. The odds are good there’ll be some typos.

Eight years ago, Americans woke up to an external shock to the system. I woke up in Pensacola. Florida is a strange enough place to be in the days leading up to a presidential election, and the atmosphere was charged, with plenty of noise everywhere you turned. But that morning, there was only stunned silence. Silence while watching the predawn news. Silence as we headed to the airport to catch an early flight. Silence as we crossed a couple of those interminably long bridges that seem to be everywhere on the gulf.

At the gate, it was more of the same, the only difference being that 4o yard stares were replaced by people craning their necks as they looked up at the piped-in feed on the TVs. If ever there was a day that people paid attention to those, it was then. Nobody knew what to say, and even if they did, it would’ve taken too much energy.

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Growing up, I was taught all the same things most of you were. That America is