Analog

A few weeks ago, the last Beatles song, "Now And Then" was released. The last time I was excited about a new Beatles song, new episodes of Friends were still being made, and America Online (AOL) was one of the few ways to get home Internet access. Vinyl was dead, cassettes were on their way out, and the only other way to get that new Beatles album was on CD. Some went to Sam Goody or Kmart for their CDs while others got a discount from Colombia House or BMG. Though, I don't think Beatles albums were ever offered at a discount.  I can remember listening to CDs on the family PC while popping in and out of AOL chatrooms. In just a few years, I would experience my first streaming radio stations while customizing my MySpace profile. That all changed in 2007 with iPhones and Facebook. After that, I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to sit at a PC or buy physical copies of music.  It wasn't until the first app release of SpaceHey this week that I realized the nost

The first time I can remember anyone making a big deal about shoes was the beginning of the 7th grade, 1989. Throughout the 90s, there were great colors. I remember Bugle Boy offering jean shorts in primary colors and wild "day glow" t-shirts. So imagine my excitement when I find these shoes at my local store store in 2022. I thought it was 90s-inspired, but I can't find any men's shoes from then that look like what I remember. For instance, the two most popular shoes in my 1989-1990 year were Nike Air Jordans and Reebok Pumps ... but they weren't colorful. I can't figure out where I got this idea. 30 years later, maybe my memory is fading. The two items I can track down are both from 1998, and by then, I wasn't a teenager: the Seinfeld 8-ball jacket and the Motorola StarTAC. So maybe the shoes aren't authentically 90s. And maybe my memory is starting to fade. And maybe, as my hair all starts turning white, I want to recapture those colors I thought

Whenever I log into SpaceHey , I can easily imagine that everyone else online is in a computer lab full of colorful iMac computers. The Internet is too new to be broken; it's just awkward . Everything was awkward then. "Awkward" was the catch phrase. The Internet was too slow to be "necessary," computers were too big to be portable, and cellphones were mostly for playing Snake. I can afford to idolize that era because it's behind me and glistens with nostalgia. Let's be honest: I kind of hated it. MTV mostly stopped playing music videos, playing reality shows instead. My iPod reduced my CD collection from an entire shelving unit to something smaller than a remote control. But downloadable music meant illegal downloads were wrecking the music industry. Record stores weren't places to find music ... if you went to them at all. The combination of computers and satellite feeds meant radio stations were automated or featured DJs from major cities, no one