volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

Roy clutches his stack of CDs.
There are at least fifteen other music stores on Capitol Hill,
but he knows he will encounter the same thing, no matter where
he goes.
It has become a CD world.
A grim Roy produces a glum shrug.
He is saddened at the thought of having to let go of a
technology that has, for so many years, stood him in good stead.
After all, tapes are easy to slip into your pocket. Of course, on
the other hand, tapes stretch and distort and snap in two and
melt in the sun. Whereas CDs, although they too can melt, do
not stretch, distort or snap in two. Manufacturers of CDs claim
their product lasts forever, that they do not scratch or skip, like
vinyl. In fact—unlike LPs or tapes—CDs never have to be
flipped over.
And they hold tons more music.
The pluses add up. CDs makes sense.
So, what falls on the minus side?
When Roy thinks of portable CD players he thinks of trim,
blonde girls in tight Lycra clutching tiny weights, hair held back
by fluffy bands, their perfectly white running shoes tapping the
tidy jogging path that encompasses Greenlake.
But what, in all fairness, is the difference between blonde girls
wearing CD players and him wearing a Sony tape player?
The answer: technology.
The technology of his tape player is emotionally charged.
It represents the way things have always been done in his life.
Losing it would be like turning his back on his personal history.
It would be a form if capitulation to capitalism—as if told by a
giant corporation what to do. It would undermine his effort to
remain singular and individual, perhaps even affect his standing
outside the herd.
Pariahville is a tough town.
Add to that, he would never find things like bootlegged
versions of illegally-taped concerts on CD.
(Or would he?)
It’s not like they’re going to make him surrender his Sony, just
212 ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY