Among the endless stream of frightening news about COVID -19 came a piece the other day that really stood out for me. Evidently the European Union has asked Netflix to slow down their streaming for fear of some type of Internet crash. With movie houses, museums, theaters, restaurants, bars and music venues all shuttered, millions of people are stuck inside, many of them binging endlessly on Netflix. I began to wonder whether this hypothetical crash would also effect music streaming platforms like Spotify and Pandora. Most people that I know have long ago sold off their vinyl and cd collections, so they’re limited to streaming music online or listening to what they’ve uploaded to their various devices. I do have much of my music collection on the hard drive of our Mac, but I’ve also held onto hundreds of cds and even 150 or so vinyl LPs. We have an old school audio set up in our living room complete with cd/dvd player, powerful floor speakers, analog amplifier and…a turntable! No Bluetooth or Internet connection required for operation. If the entire online music system were to temporarily crash, I’d still be able to bust out an actual hard copy of The Rolling Stones 1969 classic Let It Bleed. A world without hugs and real human contact is difficult enough. A world without Merry Clayton’s incendiary vocal turn on Gimme Shelter is unbearable.

There’s a real comfort in owning something tangible. If you’ve downloaded Let It Bleed, what do you actually have? A bunch of 0’s and 1’s, that’s what. With a vinyl or cd copy you own something that you can hold in your hands. Pop it in and hit “play” or drop the needle and be transported to the dark side by the haunting guitar licks of Keith Richards. Then of course there’s the cover, one of the most iconic in all of rock and roll. That wild “layer cake” consisting of, from bottom to top, the album master tape tin, a clock face, a pizza, a bicycle tire and finally an actual cake topped with figurines of the band members. Below all of this the actual LP sits on a turntable spindle waiting to spin its magic. If you own the vinyl LP you get the dust sleeve with full song credits plus the band’s instructions, in no uncertain terms that THIS RECORD SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD.

One of the reasons this virus is so scary is because of its intangibility. You can’t see it, you can’t touch it, you can’t smell it. It could nowhere. It could be everywhere. At this moment I am incredibly grateful for the real, tangible things in life; Carol and our children, our friends, the soft purr of our kitty when we rub her tummy, the smell of coffee in the morning, the avian traffic jam at our bird feeders, the solid wood feel and steel string jangle of my acoustic guitar, sunrises, sunsets and music, sweet, sweet music. I’m heading for the cd player right now with Let It Bleed clutched firmly in my hand and I plan on following Mick and Keith’s instructions to the T!