Saturday, March 2, 2013

Music to my ears! Zhing-zhing!


Just stop and think about the sounds you can't forget, take a half a minute, you can hear them, right?....

You know what I'm talking about. The withery, vibrating, slapping sound of the old screen door swinging back into the doorframe as you careen into the backyard, while your mom yells "Don't slam the screen door!"

Another one I’d like to here is the sound of the little spring-loaded bell that we attached to the handlebars of the (one-speed, coaster-brake) bike, with the little lever that you operated with your thumb while you were riding…… Zhing-zhing! Zhing-zhing!....





or the spuddering fart-ish sound of the Pee Wee Reese baseball card that we attached to one of the wheel frames so the spokes would make it flutter as the wheel turned….

Or the irresistible notes of pixie music coming from the Good Humor truck as it slowly cruised through the neighborhood….(listen here)



OpenCulture.com calls these alluring audibles the "endangered sounds," you can click here for a brief collection: the sound of a manual typewriter and other such antediluvian stuff.

And here's a tip: my trusted advisor assures me that the Astronaut Hall of Fame near the Kennedy Space Center has an exhibit, nicely done, chronologically engineered, that "walks" you through each of the space-flight eras, and each display offers not only photos, but also tech memorabilia and audio sounds consistent with that decade. Don't miss it if you get there.
  
Zhing-zhing! 


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