What a great story and I love what you are doing to keep your father alive and listening to your playlist and loving it.
I often worry about the poor person that has to go through my collection of vinyl, CD'S, cassettes, live recordings, concert posters, ticket stubs, band t-shirts, record store bags, and massive pin/button collection not to mention music books, magazines, videos and who knows what else.
Thanks Wally. Yes, he still has a lot to give to others.
Same. Trying to purge what I can for now to what’s relevant, if for nothing else, for the sake of my archivist if there ever is one of my family members, etc.
This is a beaufiful story, and so well written. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Sometimes the best way to honour someone’s memory is to finish what they started. Brilliant effort!
Love this! Of course you know I've kept lists of my own Top Ten songs from every year of my life. So this story hits home. When my mother died we had to decide what to do with all the records she had. Most were in plastic storage boxes by that point and my siblings and I wanted few if any of them. Most went to the Salvation Army. I wish I would have saved more but I'm not sure what the market would have been for some of her Steve & Eydie, Ray Coniff, or Lettermen albums. Hopefully they found a good home!
My comfort for your loss. Quite the set to go through for sure. The market is so odd. I still ended up selling a slew of them to HiFi Provisions here in Brooklyn. He only recently moved to a larger space, but it's quite the record store.
If you don't wish to keep the vinyl I highly recommend going to https://www.discogs.com opening an account and cataloguing and selling vinyl there You might be amazed at the value of the collection.
Honestly, it breaks my heart that I had to give them up, but with an NYC apartment consider this:
Consider all of the time THIS took to catalog, to sell even in bulk, etc.
Now do that for the radios.
Now the films.
Now the antique cameras.
Now the newspapers.
Now the baseball cards.
Now the comics.
Now the antique fishing lures.
Now the tools.
Now....
You're probably starting to see the scope of the problem. Thus two 40 foot dumpsters for a rather tiny ranch house _after_ the estate sale. I was back for multiple full weeks working round the clock and this was basically my brother's second full time job with three kids. It was just an impossible scenario.
If you're reading this, consider this your perennial reminder to get your papers in order — power of attorney, healthcare proxy, WILL, creative trust — and to downsize now and prepare for your mortality.
And, if you can help it, don't die a week after you retire for your kids's sake.
Wow I loved this so much! From both sides 😂 I have been thinking for a couple of years that I really need to purge a lot of what I have been hoarding… and I really took to heart “it’s that you decide to do them however the hell you can. “However the hell” is the moral good, for you and you alone, simply because it’s better to do any one of them, to do said task halfassed, than to never do it at all. If it’s worth doing anything at all, it’s worth doing badly. And then less badly over the years.” I have that whole ADHD Perfectionist issue. I have over 70 drafts just waiting to be finished… I’m now determined to finish one today.
Such a wonderful story ❤️
Thanks Christopher. Grateful for you!
I can imagine my father doing something like that- he has more than enough records lying around the house to make that possible...
Let me know if he tries! I would love to see his riff on it.
What a great story and I love what you are doing to keep your father alive and listening to your playlist and loving it.
I often worry about the poor person that has to go through my collection of vinyl, CD'S, cassettes, live recordings, concert posters, ticket stubs, band t-shirts, record store bags, and massive pin/button collection not to mention music books, magazines, videos and who knows what else.
Thanks Wally. Yes, he still has a lot to give to others.
Same. Trying to purge what I can for now to what’s relevant, if for nothing else, for the sake of my archivist if there ever is one of my family members, etc.
This is a beaufiful story, and so well written. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Sometimes the best way to honour someone’s memory is to finish what they started. Brilliant effort!
Thanks Andres, for the compliments and the rest. It’s absolutely my pleasure and I’m grateful to Kevin for lending me his space to share it.
Indeed: finishing the great projects and works of art is itself a work of art. Consider Christopher Tolkien’s entire career!
Love this! Of course you know I've kept lists of my own Top Ten songs from every year of my life. So this story hits home. When my mother died we had to decide what to do with all the records she had. Most were in plastic storage boxes by that point and my siblings and I wanted few if any of them. Most went to the Salvation Army. I wish I would have saved more but I'm not sure what the market would have been for some of her Steve & Eydie, Ray Coniff, or Lettermen albums. Hopefully they found a good home!
Aw thanks, Dan. Do you have the list somewhere?
My comfort for your loss. Quite the set to go through for sure. The market is so odd. I still ended up selling a slew of them to HiFi Provisions here in Brooklyn. He only recently moved to a larger space, but it's quite the record store.
I actually wrote a memoir with them here on Substack last year: https://danpal.substack.com/s/the-playlist-of-my-life-a-top-ten
Oh rad I’ll save that. Thanks!
If you don't wish to keep the vinyl I highly recommend going to https://www.discogs.com opening an account and cataloguing and selling vinyl there You might be amazed at the value of the collection.
Honestly, it breaks my heart that I had to give them up, but with an NYC apartment consider this:
Consider all of the time THIS took to catalog, to sell even in bulk, etc.
Now do that for the radios.
Now the films.
Now the antique cameras.
Now the newspapers.
Now the baseball cards.
Now the comics.
Now the antique fishing lures.
Now the tools.
Now....
You're probably starting to see the scope of the problem. Thus two 40 foot dumpsters for a rather tiny ranch house _after_ the estate sale. I was back for multiple full weeks working round the clock and this was basically my brother's second full time job with three kids. It was just an impossible scenario.
If you're reading this, consider this your perennial reminder to get your papers in order — power of attorney, healthcare proxy, WILL, creative trust — and to downsize now and prepare for your mortality.
And, if you can help it, don't die a week after you retire for your kids's sake.
Wow I loved this so much! From both sides 😂 I have been thinking for a couple of years that I really need to purge a lot of what I have been hoarding… and I really took to heart “it’s that you decide to do them however the hell you can. “However the hell” is the moral good, for you and you alone, simply because it’s better to do any one of them, to do said task halfassed, than to never do it at all. If it’s worth doing anything at all, it’s worth doing badly. And then less badly over the years.” I have that whole ADHD Perfectionist issue. I have over 70 drafts just waiting to be finished… I’m now determined to finish one today.
You got this. It’s absolutely worth it. And it’s also okay having back burner projects! Letting things simmer and recording or capturing ideas.
But have one focus project and get it done however the hell you can (minus obvious moral infractions).
Check out MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN.
Thank you! I will definitely check that out!
My pleasure. Circle back with your notes on it. Would love to hear your take.
I recommend the version that doesn’t look like a workbook, just a book book, assuming you take good notes.