Digital computers just do not know the joy of an inbetween state. Spinning the dial of my 1980’s analog Sherwood receiver exposed a soft chaos of static soon replaced by the strong signal of a Los Angeles/San Diego FM station. One fateful night, I spent 12 minutes going back and forth on the FM dial while recording the result to tape. The experience was as galvanizing as Jimi Hendrix’s “same old explosion, goin’ through my mind” (Burning of the Midnight Lamp). I finally lost my nerve to continue, but the recording was a time capsule of American Culture. Of course, this artifact is lost – would you expect less. But it was so cool.

Add to that, as a recording musician, Guitar Center, a Southern California music icon, has been a dream factory, where a credit card will get the next great version of a favorite musical toy. They also used to make the greatest radio commercials. Intense, end of the world. A driving music bed and a big voice narration. You had to buy, on sale for only 3 days. 50% off. And then next week there would be a new radio ad.

I loved the commercials so much that I began to record hours of FM radio to catch them. From that beginning, dubbing songs, snippets of dialogue and other commercials into a collage became a pastime. I played them while driving the highways.