The End of an Era

So the other night I made a pilgrimage, of sorts, and ran a bittersweet errand. I went to Nashville Used Musical Instruments and sold off the first "real" instrument I ever owned, my ancient Korg Poly-800 synthesizer.

Actually, "sold off" is generous. After lugging it around for the past fifteen years (the last time I seriously used it was 1996, for one song on the Feyerabend album) it had seen better days. It still worked fine, but was missing a power supply and a lot of its documentation. The upshot of this, however, was that the store was reticent to buy it off me, because the resale value was minimal given the work and parts they would have to put into it.

Now, you must understand, this was no mere piece of electronic junk in my universe. I had written my earliest songs on this thing, and (when I first received it, way back in 1984) it was a powerhouse of sounds and possibilities. While I no longer had a real use for it, I did not want to abandon it to some trash heap. It needed some sort of good home.

So we struck a weird sort of compromise. The Poly-800 had come to me, that Christmas all those years ago, with a pretty sturdy road case. The store agreed to buy that, and I told them I'd throw the keyboard in on the deal. So it goes (or rather, so it went).

In my fondest dream, some way or somehow this old synthesizer will find its way into a new home - maybe as the unit it now is, maybe as spare parts of some other keyboard - and some kid will get a hold of it this Christmas and more music will be made.

I'm sentimental, I know. But you must understand I hate, hate, hate parting with instruments. I form relationships with the things I make music with. They become a part of me. But in this case, it was clearly time to say farewell. Farewell and thank you. Thank you for "Keep Me Moving." Thank you for "Outside My Window." Thank you for "Renee," and for many many more songs through the years. Thank you.