 Enduring
Winter Blues With a Pair of SpeakerCraft Rox
One of the things
I’ve always liked about this northern living is that you reach a point
in the winter when 25 degrees Fahrenheit feels normal. That’s the lowest
ever recorded in Jacksonville, yet here in Milwaukee, when it was zero
ten days ago, it feels pretty livable, helps build character. I don’t
paint my body in green and gold and take my shirt off, but I did shovel
six inches of snow off the patio in a sweater and jeans, good solid
shoes, a pair of gloves and a wool hat tonight. Had a fire going in the
chimenea and, here’s the kicker, Norman Blake playing on the
SpeakerCraft rock speakers.
I knew it was going
to take a while to get thepatio cleared because the snow needs to be
lifted over the knee-high wall, so it’s not merely a push-plow
operation, but a real, repeated feat of strength from which my mind
always wants diversion. First thing I did was dig the speakers out from
under their snow cover; then I aimed the Pronto remote control at the
sensor in the basement window. I have to admit, I was laughing in
semi-disbelief as New Century Hornpipe, the first track on Way Down On A
Georgia Farm, actually created an image out on my driveway. I leaned on
the shovel for a few minutes listening, and remembered someone at a
party last August asking when I usually took the speakers in for the
year.
Now, Norman is a
life-long Southerner, but he’s about as straight-laced and disciplined
as they come- I’m certain he’s never knocked back a Margarita with
Jimmy Buffett- and this music fit perfectly in the cold, crisp night
with work to do. When I was done shoveling, I thought about retrieving a
lawn chair and putting it by the chimenea to listen to more music, but
they’re all too deeply filed in winter storage. Unlike the SpeakerCrafts,
which I obviously leave out year ‘round. And if anything should go wrong
with that plan, they’re covered by a lifetime warranty.
So when you are
having us design your whole house music system, and you think it’s done
when we’ve bathed every room in music, remember the great outdoors. It’s
not just for summer anymore.
-Jonathan Spelt
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