The times they are a-changin’

On my first trip to England when I was 16, the main attraction for me wasn’t Stonehenge or Big Ben or any such typical tourist hotspot. No, it was all about the music.

I came home from that vacation with more than 40 pieces of vinyl — everything from classic UB40 albums to a marbled grey vinyl 12″ single of Depeche Mode’s “Shake the Disease.” Then there were albums from the lost bands Strawberry Switchblade and Propaganda.

And I did more than just shop: I dragged my parents to the hallowed Duran Duran birthplace, the Rum Runner club in Birmingham. My sister and I even saw Paul Young play at Wembley.

Well, I just got back from another trip to the motherland (several jaunts — and a residency — in between then and now, though) and I am amazed to realize I didn’t buy a single album whilst there. Not a one.

Apart from the horribly unfavorable exchange rate and the fact that I just could not bear schlepping anything more around with me on the solo jaunt — my pack already weighed over 50 f*ing pounds — the truth behind the lack of buys is even simpler: I can download pretty much anything I want to hear. That seems terribly twisted and actually uncharacteristically practical of me. I think I am getting old.

Lacking a better pictorial subject during either of my two one-day visits to the UK this month (en route to France and Italy, you see) here I am last week in a self-portrait alongside a friendly postbox in London, near Oxford Street:

As if to prove my fondness for the download concept, you can see a little white iPod cord running along my neck in this pic. (Even though the pod itself is black, the thing came with white headphones. Go figure.) I think I was listening to The Killers at the time, and ads for Sam’s Town were all over London and Paris.

We hope you enjoy your stay
It’s good to have you with us
Even if it’s just for the day

It’s good to have you with us
Even if it’s just for the day

– The Killers, “Enterlude”