GenCon '03

I've been to one GenCon in my lifetime and that was in 2003, the first (?) in Indianapolis. There were two things I distinctly recall from the 11-hour drive out there. First, the severe thunderstorm that hit Columbus the same time I was driving through it. Cars were pulled off the road due to the poor visibility but would I give in? Nope!

The second item I recall is this...

The Alphaville Singles Collection. I had been to Doylestown a week or two prior to GenCon to visit 'Sirens' (I think), their used music shop, to search for some driving cassettes for my journey. Sure, I had heard "Forever Young" but the rest were a mystery to me. The "Big in Japan" title seemed vaguely familiar but I'd likely heard it then forgotten in the ethers of the '80s. This disc has 4 of Alphaville's more prominent mixes (8 songs in all as there are 2 mixes of each song).

That's right, I bought this tape which had but 4 songs to each side. Since it was like $1.99 I figured that it wouldn't be much of a loss. My first day to the Con as I drove from my hotel to the site in-city I popped in the tape which I had listened to once on the way home from Doylestown. How was it, you ask?

Fantastic! The synth-pop, or whatever you'd like to call it, melodies pounded into my ears and out the open windows every day I drove around Indy. I couldn't have made a better investment. Today, some 6 years later, I received the cd of said album in the mail from Amazon. Didn't pay much more than for the cassette. Now, I can carry those tunes with me once again at my leisure. Good memories I can add to the ones from this good birthday (didn't win at the casino but had fun!).