Posted on 05/09/2014 5:55:39 PM PDT by SamAdams76
It's amazing how quickly technology is changing. When I was in my teens and started having some extra money, I would buy those vinyl LP records. At the time, I thought it was an investment. I used to carefully take those vinyl records out of the sleeves and ensure that the needle was ever so carefully placed on the outer grooves of the record (if you did not own a auto-cueing record player). I had visions of handing these vinyl recording down to my kids and then my kids handing them down to their kids.
Yes, I actually thought that my grandchildren would take pleasure in playing "Frampton Comes Alive" or "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player" on their own turntables in the year 2027.
Then during the late 1970s to early 1980s, we had the audiocassette format. It cost around $7.99 for a cassette album of say "Candy-O" by The Cars or "Breakfast In America" by Supertramp. And I bought them, thinking they would also last for generations to come. Until the cassette player in my 1976 AMC pacer started eating them. One summer, I had "Hi Infidelity" by REO Speedwagon stuck in the tape player and I couldn't get it out. So that's all that played that summer in my car. People thought I was really into REO Speedwagon but I wasn't. It was my girlfriend's tape. Seriously. Eventually, my brother got it out with a butter knife.
I kind of missed out on the whole 8-track thing. My father had one in his car and he always played Johnny Cash and Wanda Jackson on it. Maybe Glen Campbell too but I'm not sure.
Then in the mid 1980s, the compact disc came into fashion. Now that was the thing. We all thought compact discs would last forever. So I ended up mostly buying all the music again that I already had on vinyl and cassette so that I could have the same songs in a pristine digital format. In a weird retro way, I would then dub cassette "mix tapes" from my growing CD collection so that I could have the songs I already had on cassette (and CD) on a cassette in the order that I wanted.
I ended up buying hundreds and hundreds of CDs over the years. Then they started with the MP3s and suddenly I was converting all my CDs to MP3 and then re-burning them on blank CDs so that I could have the songs in the order that I wanted them. I used to get the blank CDs in spindles of 100 and I'd have to throw half of them away because I would get errors burning them and the whole CD would be useless at that point.
Then Apple came out with those "iPods" and suddenly I could have all my songs in my pocket and I could set up playlists so that I could play the songs in the order that I wanted. But once I finally had that capability to play my entire library of music in the order that I wanted, I no longer use that feature. Instead, I just hit "shuffle" because setting up playlists is a pain in the neck. Meanwhile, all my CDs, cassettes and LP records are up in the attic in boxes gathering dust. I tried selling them on Ebay a few years ago but I was getting crap money for them. In fact, it would cost more to ship the damn things than what people were willing to pay me for them.
Now even MP3s are getting obsolete because everybody is pulling their music "down from the cloud" with Spotify, Pandora, and whatnot. I
It's crazy how fast everything is changing.
So anyway, I went to this steakhouse a few months back and I can't remember the name of it. What I do remember is that it was crowded and you had to wait like an hour to get a table. But that was okay because they had this large waiting area with benches and a big barrel of peanuts that you could grab a handful of while you were waiting.
The best part about this is that they let you just throw the peanut shells to the floor. I thought that was such a great idea! You didn't have to be prissy neat about it. Just crack the shells, pop the peanuts in your mouth and toss the shells to the floor. Just like you were in your own backyard except you were surrounded by strangers doing the same thing.
Eventually they called us to our table and the peanut fun continued. Each table had a small pail of peanuts on it. Except they didn't want you throwing the shells to the floor in the dining area so they gave you an empty pail in which to toss the shells in - which was okay by me because the pail was right there in front of you. So it wasn't that much extra work.
The steak was unbelievable, it melted in my mouth like butter, and they brought me glasses of beer in 22 oz glasses.
Peanuts, steak and beer. It doesn't get better than that. But I can't go back there because I can't remember the name of the place and I forget where I was when I went there. It wasn't Outback or anything familiar like that. In fact, I don't even think it was a chain even though it looked like it could be a chain.
On a whim I bought a turntable about five years ago and it has turned me into a bit of a vinyl convert. My LP collection is now bigger than my CD collection. I look for vinyl first, then digital. A fair number of new bands are releasing their stuff on vinyl, which is cool.
Texas Roadhouse? That’s the place we have been to that sounds like the one you went to.
Texas Roadhouse and Santa Fe Cattle Co. are both goober-shucking friendly restaurants with great steaks.
You didn’t use a CC to pay for it?
Logan’s Roadhouse in Myrtle Beach SC. Great steaks and you can toss the peanut shells on the floor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1S8Lcm3Hdc
I waited tables at a place where we did a corny ritual for birthdays. Always thought it was kind of dumb, as did the other servers.
We have a Sagebrush here in Gaffney, SC. Used to be a good place for a steak, but since the fire a few years ago, not so much.
Dirty Nellies’ in San Antonio.
Like a lot of those Steak Houses they go great for awhile but over time slack off....then close. Sad.
In Southern California, the place is called The Northwood’s Inn. I loved making a mess on the floor.
I failed to mention, there’s a Sagebrush across the state line in Shelby, NC, which is pretty good. I wish for the old days when Quincey’s had the best sirloin tips ever. I think Quincey’s has gone the way of the Edsel, but I could be wrong. Just haven’t heard of them in years.
Chris & Pitt’s is a barbecue joint on Washington and Broadway in Whittier, Calif. that has been there since at least the 1950’s. I haven’t been there in some years, but their floor was always covered with peanut shells.
In the Los Angeles area it is Northwoods Inn.
There is or was one in Brevard, NC a couple of years ago, but haven’t been out there in a long time.
Shelby, NC ...I go through there to Charlotte on occasion. I’ll check out the one there one day.
There’s one huge reason why vinyl sounds better and it’s oddly not the vinyl. Records tend to not have normalization and the allow for better highs and lows. When CDs hit it was en vogue to apply filters to make the music sound more even. The result was more popular music with the audiophiles losing out.
You must live in a really upscale area if your local Five Guys serve steak.
In SoCal try Clearman’s Northwoods Inn
Best cabbage slaw and cheese bread in the universe
Chicken and steaks great also
Logan’s Roadhouse.
When my youngest daughter was 3, she called it “Da place what have da peanuts.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.