My dorm room: 1988
- Paul
- May 16, 2024
- 2 min read
This is a photo of my dorm room, sophomore year in college. Claremont, California. 1988.
(Thank you, roommate, for this precious photo.)
I see a lot.
I see the first synthesizer I ever owned: the Ensoniq ESQ-1. Sitting on an Ultimate Support Systems stand. Keyboard amp underneath. Ensoniq was a French synth maker that is long defunct. They were famous for the Mirage sampler keyboard which was revolutionary at the price. The ESQ-1 had an onboard sequencer that allowed you to make songs and store it on the synth. Here is a composition of mine from that time.
I also see posters for Love & Rockets (red, black and white) and REM. AMAZING bands from that time. I saw Love & Rockets two times at UC Irvine. And my roommate and I went to REM at Universal Amphitheater, September 30, 1986. Guadalcanal Diary opened. I realy feel lucky now to have had access to these bands in Southern California at the time. What an amazing time for music.
Love & Rockets, in particular, spoke to my interest in Asian religion and philosophy at the time. Tracks like Kundalini Express. And here I am, living in Japan for 25 year...never to return to the US.
10,000 Maniacs was also an amazing concert I went to at this time. Natalie Merchant...wow.
In this photo, I also see less iconic things like my yellow beach towel wrapped over (perhaps?) my roommate's guitar case as a makeshift ironing board. As a college student, the only requirement I had for an ironed shirt was for orchestra for which I played trumpet. So maybe I was ironing a shirt for a symphony performance??? I remember our orchestra played an original composition that had some hairy trumpet parts that I could not play. Sorry, composer guy!!
Other memories from this time include:
Our hall-mate who ripped the phone off the wall and burned it for fun. Bro!
A hairy, early morning earthquake that made us jump off our bunk beds.
Our hall-mate who was the guitar player for Nothing Painted Blue. He just had an interesting energy about him and was down for odd conversations. (He came to Japan in recent years and we had a great hangout.)
FINALLY: here are me (left) and my roommate. I love this guy. Somehow on my wavelength all the time. You are lucky if you meet a friend like this.
Roommate here -- thank you for your kind words, sir (and right back atcha', dude 😀 ) I was actually fortunate enough to have been semi-awake and in the dining hall when that earthquake hit, although I was still a little frightened that one of the big milk dispensers might topple over on me as I assembled my breakfast! Also, I wonder if the ironed shirt might have been for a performance of (phone rings, door chimes, in comes) COMPANY...