I’ve discovered there are unexplained things that happen after a loved one dies to remind you their spirit surrounds you. It usually comes at a time when you are really missing your person (which can happen everyday) or it can come just randomly for no reason at all. Now almost five years later I still crave and hope for those moments. Tears still hit and my love for BMF is just as strong as ever. I call these the signs of 57 and I write it about it a lot and I think about it all the time. It thrills me and makes me smile. I had one of those signs happen today.
Naturally Jeff had lots of music equipment and in 2006 I gave him a Olive Musica server with a 160GB hard drive for his birthday. The Musica is a wireless media hub that connects to the digital music library on your computer and has capability to rip and burn CD’s directly to the machine. It was considered a break thru technology in 2006. Jeff wrote lots about it over time and he loved it’s capabilities even though now it’s pretty obsolete considering today’s technology. The company who produced it is now defunct and I laughed when I saw their original website is for sale for $9995. Olive was a small company selling expensive equipment that could only be purchased directly from them. Jeff was very grateful for his birthday gift that year. He spent many hours sorting and moving downloaded MP3’s and burning his collection of CDs to it and I think it holds over 10,000 songs. It’s one of those items I’ll always keep because it holds his vast digital music collection and he loved it so much. (Article about the Olive Musica)
Unfortunately the Olive Musica had problems from the get go. In fact Jeff had to send the Musica back to Olive to fix technical glitches more than once. But he remained a loyal fan and was still using it when he died in 2016. He had recently upgraded his sound system during a remodel at the punk rock house and the Musica was a favorite component. He liked being the expert on the sound system and he controlled the music around our home. I liked most everything he liked except maybe Unknown Hinson. I knew little about how to use the system even though he tried to show me many times and he put together detailed instructions in the months before his death. Still it has been pretty much over my head.
After Jeff died the time came that I moved and everything was carefully packed and put into storage. When I had a system installed at the new place, I told Ben the sound guy that it was very important the Musica be carefully integrated. Ben understood and installed the Musica but warned it might turn tricky since it was an outdated piece of equipment. He was right. It has rarely worked properly. Disappointing for sure but with so many resources to play music I finally just stopped thinking about it. Until this morning when the Musica came on without assistance and played four BMF hard core songs to remind me to never forget. I wished it would have played all day but I’ll take what I get. Thank you 57. I love you. ~mc #57bmf4ever
