May 25, 2011

  • Cardas Cross, Part 3

    During the 80s, some people whined about pop music.  But when the crappy 90s came about, more and more people began to see the glorious 80s in a different light.  And, as there's been nothing good in the 2000s, people now fully embrace the 80s.  Thus, you see the proliferation of 80s stations and channels. 

    But what irks me is that these stations don't go beneath the surface.  For example, they keep playing Modern English's "I Melt For You."  But my favorite Modern English song is the infectious and criminally overlooked "Ink And Paper."  I first heard this killer song on modern rock radio, 25 years ago.  I couldn't find it anywhere, so I had to hold my nose, and buy the 7" vinyl.  Note that written on the sleeve is "5-11-86."  Heck, we still can't find it -- on any format.  Guess we gotta download it.

    Maybe it's their low-key, anti-corporate, "old school" persona, but Cardas make it seem like they'd still be using ink and paper.  Their Cross speaker cable, with its rubbery outer jacket, certainly harkens back to the 80s.  More importantly, signal should flow in the direction of the writing.

    At a recent party, the kids were dancing at the top of some stairs.  And that sight conjured up memories of the very last time I heard a broadcast of "Ink And Paper."  You see, in June 1986, I was a freshman at Lowell High School.  At Lowell, we students picked our classes, on so-called "self-scheduling day."  The way it worked was, the privileged "Shield And Scroll" members picked first, ahead of everyone else.  That ensured that they got the easiest classes, the easiest schedules, the easiest teachers.  Everyone else picked by last name.  Alas, during my freshman year, my last name (Lum) was part of the group which picked last or next to last.  Thus, I ended up with shitty class times, shitty teachers, and shitty grades.  But anyway, while 90% of the school had already gone, my group was waiting in the auditorium.  Some girl had brought a small boombox.  On came Modern English's "Ink And Paper."  The girl just got up, and started dancing (all by herself), in that cramped space between the wooden seats.  That, my audiophile friends, is what music is about! 

    Sadly, that would be the last time I ever heard "Ink And Paper" on the radio.  Screw that.  Those of you who know me, know that I play killer "alternate" songs, such as "Ink And Paper."  But also during that spring of 1986, I read Stereo Review magazine, and learned that there were other speaker cable connectors, besides bare wire and pins.  In fact, it was Monster Cable's X-terminator, which not only introduced some of us to the banana plug, but got us hooked on it.

    Well, once we "graduated" from Monster Cable, and discovered brands like Cardas, we learned that there were myriad banana plugs.  Accordingly, we ordered Cardas' bananas on the amp end of our Cross speaker cable.  You can twist the barrel at the base of the banana, to give extra tightness/looseness.  But fundamentally, this really isn't a locking-barrel design.