Day #18 – 13 days left and still only 6% of our goal reached. Yesterday was a pretty popular day on the website. A lot of you were responding to a post I put up last week featuring a sweep of Top-40 radio in Los Angeles on October 15, 1965. Nostalgic and lamenting the loss of that part of growing up in L.A., it also made a lot of you wonder why it changed, why radio stopped being relevant on a personal level; why it turned homogenized and sterile. Why it stopped making a difference.
You can point a lot of fingers in a lot of directions and arrive at many conclusions. But the bottom line is; things change, people change, tastes change, times change.
Past Daily isn’t about “the good old days” – sure, we run things from the past, reflecting a state of society which isn’t that way anymore. We don’t do it to lament the past, but rather shed light on a period of time where things were uncertain and change was in the air – just as it always is.
We can look at the past and feel a sense of nostalgia about it, because we know how it worked out – we have the gift of distance and perspective – and also, there are things which resonate with us because they represent our formative years – the impressionable times; pivotal moments in our transition from youth to adult. There are people right now, this minute, who will listen to Taylor Swift in 15-20 years and get dewey-eyed with nostalgia. The older among us will blanch and pretend to be sick. Just like our parents did when we played The Kinks – and their parents when they played Artie Shaw. Everybody has their imprint on time – and they are all different.
But that’s a roundabout way of telling you why Past Daily exists. History is looked at differently by different people – but it’s all relevant and all worthy of inspection. And that’s why I’m here. And that’s why I need your support. That’s why I need your contributions for whatever amount; it’s Tax Deductible and it all goes to keeping us up and running – repairing old equipment, getting larger space – improving and revamping the website. All things we need in order to keep giving you what we love best – History, News, Interviews, Music, Culture – the vast array of experiences we either were part of, or want to know more about.
And that’s why your contributions are so important. And that’s why I’ve been doing this Fundraiser – and why we do it a few times a year. To get your support, to keep us going – to give you back – to pass it on.
Click on the link in the box below and contribute what you can. It means a lot, no matter how much, because history means a lot.
Till next time,
Gordon
