Wax Italia: Digging for 45s in Florence and Rome

[boingboing]

Originally published at: Wax Italia: Digging for 45s in Florence and Rome | Boing Boing

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[beOHbe]

Great travelogue. Loved all of the details, observations, and stories. I miss this kind of personal blog style on the internet.

[thespaff]

Couldn’t agree more! This was splendid, thanks Lee!

[euansmith]

Those look like some cool records; however, saying, “The town is infested with tourists this time of year, as massive clots of human cattle gunk up the museums and squares.” sounds like some elitist shit. Those tourists have as much right to be there as someone MCing at a friends’ bash. This is a shame, as the rest of the blog is fun.

[nick_warr]

Sort of agree, but Rome and Firenze do get absolutely stuffed with tourists at this (the worst three months to be in either city, as the temps and humidity are brutal), and they do literally clog up what is actually a fairly small city, in Firenze’s case.

Hey Lee, 2 things, don’t worry about picking up 45’s of Mina, but do spend a bit of time listening to her, the lady can sing. Second I Nomadi are still making music, heck, I could probably see them in concert when I’m visiting this summer, they do festivals, and sagre (which are festivals for a certain food) and fairs and stuff.

[Doctor_Faustus]

I was about to say the same. How dare they want to see Renaissance masterpieces rather than 20th century plastic discs? That warrants dehumanising them.

@boingboing

My dad asked me if I saw the Colosseum. I told him that it was a bus stop on the way to Millerecords, so does that count? He just sighed.

I’m with the dad there. Sigh

[Doctor_Faustus]

@nick_warr

Sort of agree, but Rome and Firenze do get absolutely stuffed with tourists at this (the worst three months to be in either city, as the temps and humidity are brutal), and they do literally clog up what is actually a fairly small city, in Firenze’s case.

I’m on record as passionately hating cruise ships and the cruise industry and what they do to places like Venice or Dubrovnik and the same is true of mass tourism in places where no cruise ships go, such as the above examples, but that’s not the same as hating individual tourists and calling them cattle

[Loo_Koolor]

Hey, thank you beOHbe and thespaff, I appreciate the kind words.

In response to some of these other comments: For the record, the wedding was in rural Tuscany; that’s not really anybody’s business, but I guess I should have clarified that. We were not officially part of the gunking.

I will totally circle back to Mina, I am willing to give her a chance!

I don’t hate on tourist visits to anywhere, esp. after what everybody has just gone through with lockdowns. But the main sites really do just start to feel like an anthill after a while, you just start to feel like part of a swarm. I also did go visit the main spots but I started to feel uncomfortable and needed some space, with or without Covid around. I need to just get up and visit those spots at 7am like a grown-up.

I did not write this piece to try to tear anybody down. If folks want to enjoy Renaissance art, more power to them. If anything I was trying to point out how low-class I am by picking up disco records instead of partaking in what has been the bedrock of modern culture. I’m really not trying to judge folks who enjoy the classics, go to Italy and you do you.

If you found this piece to be “elitist”, in terms of me recommending shops where you are treated like a friend, it is possible that I have failed in my authorship here and will try to do better.

[nick_warr]

Done the friend’s summer wedding in Tuscany, there are some stunning places, and food, to be had there, don’t miss the humidity or mosquitos though.

Tourism could be organized so much better, but that’s not the Italian way, for better or worse.

[Kaleberg]

It sounds like a great trip.

There’s nothing wrong with going to Italy, or anywhere else, and missing the classic “must-see” stuff and focusing on other amazing things there. Mass tourism is great, but in high season, the tourist experience is the cattle experience. There’s a reason they call the crowded main cabin of an airplane cattle class. I’ve joined the herd and done my share of that, but now I tend to avoid it and travel off season and stay away from the hot spots. A lot more people would do this if they had the confidence and flexibility while others want that very experience.

[algomeysa2]

Smiled at the mention of School Kids and Lost Weekend records. My brother passed away a few months ago in Columbus Ohio and I sold his records to both School Kids and Lost Weekend.