Yesterday I was fooling around with technology, specifically by looking at Spotify on Facebook.  I didn’t have any clue what it was or why I would want to use it.  So I invested the thirty minutes it took to install, investigate and experiment.  What I found was an interesting system of music sharing, you can listen to any song you can think of instantly.  It was amazing, and it allows you to make play lists which is something I really hadn’t done since I was under the legal drinking age.   It brought back some incredible memories but most specifically it reminded me of my old friend Seth Benner, and it got me thinking about someone I haven’t seen since 1987.

Seth and I went to high school together our senior year at Lincoln Academy.  He came from Lake Region, which I didn’t have any idea about.  My first impression of him was, “Wow, it must suck  to be going bald before you get out of high school.”  We were on the same soccer team together in the fall and started to get to know each other, but we weren’t anything but acquaintances until I heard him listening to Dire Straits.  It was anthe obscure song, Lady Writer that I was sure only I liked, or had even ever heard of.  Once we started talking about music, I found that he was even more fanatical about music than I was.

It wasn’t long before he was telling me about his ever growing record collection.  Yes, I said record collection, he kept them in old milk crates and had hundreds, if not thousands of albums, from all kinds of artists.  It was amazing, like going to the Smithsonian of high school music.  As we got to know each other,  Seth shared some of his cassette tapes(yes  cassette tapes, it was a long time ago)  he made of compilations.  They were pretty good, and a great idea.  I started to make lists of songs that were particularly connected to an event or a person in my life.  I would give the lists obscure titles that would remind me what they were about, and others could try to guess.  I would give Seth a list with a blank cassette tape and just like clockwork, (sort of) Seth would come back with the completed tape.  It was so cool to be able to think about an event, put all of the music that reminded me of it on a tape to listen to later.

What ever happened to Seth, I don’t know.  After high school he went to school to be a DJ, (a good choice), and the summer after our first year of college, he came and lived in South Portland with me and my roommates, we had scored a building free of charge for the summer, there was plenty of room, and Seth got a job working the overnight shift at a local station.  I remember all of us staying up all night, partying and listening to Seth’s show, calling in and requesting whatever songs, a bunch of alcohol impaired college kids wanted to listen to.  All through this time, I still was making tapes to listen to.  Then I eventually transferred schools to Farmington, Maine, which is just like it sounds.

After I transferred, time did it’s dance on all of those relationships, some lasted awhile, but eventually life pushed new people into the places where old ones used to be, and the old ones become a part of the woven fabric of my past, but are also major part of who I am today.  As I sat at my computer and made a list that I could then play virtually instantaneously, I wondered what Seth could do with this technology.  Wherever he is I hope that he is listening to good music and enjoying life.  Below are two lists I made today, one is for this story, with explanations why.  One is another list from the past, only I know who and what it signifies.  No matter what it was a lot of fun channeling my inner Seth Benner.

***You can listen to this playlist on Spotify, if we are friends on Facebook.  If we are not friends on Facebook, then we should be.

Fielding Percentage- the list of songs, inspired by knowing Seth Benner.  I call it fielding percentage because all I ever heard from Seth from the time he arrived at LA until baseball season started was that he led the Triple C, (whatever the hell that was) in fielding percentage in 1984.

John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band- On The Dark Side- I remember that we sang this song on the way back from Fryburg Academy after kicking their butts in soccer.  #8 over #1.  Great thrill.  Of course we followed that up by getting shellacked by Mt. View in the semi-finals. Who wants to remember that, my last game.  Also on the list because I liked the song and it reminds me about one of the greatest lines from the movie, Eddie and the Cruisers, “Words and Music.” It kind of goes with the theme of this,  Tender Years.

Reelin’ In The Years and Any Major Dude Will Tell You- by Steely Dan, because he talked about how great they were non-stop, so they must have been.

Lady Writer and Money For Nothing- Dire Straits- The song that told me Seth Benner was a good guy, and one that described what I did for work during college.

Ripple- Grateful Dead  and A Touch of Gray- From the summer of  ’86- That’s for me, I haven’t seen Seth in awhile but I am sure that he has hair problems.

Centerfield- by John Fogerty, which was not only about baseball but was popular when we made an unlikely tournament run to the Western Maine Baseball Finals, with one pitcher and a lot of excitement.  Put me in coach, I’m ready to play.

“Lovely to See You” , “Never Comes the Day”– by the Moody Blues– I think we all went to see them at the Ball Park in Old Orchard Beach.  I say think, because that was a long time ago and I wasn’t very well behaved, so I’m sticking with I think.

The following songs are related in my memory to the death of Paul Chase, spring of our senior year, I will never forget how tragic that was, I was there that night. One of the last people to see him alive.

Bridge Over Troubled Water By Simon and Garfunkel, You’ve got a friend by James Taylor, The Long and Winding Road the Beatles, Things Can Only Get Better– Howard Jones

One Burbon, One Scotch and One Beer-George Thorogood- Although only 18, and had a receeding hairline, it wasn’t all bad because, he was able to look a lot older, so he could almost always buy beer.  Times were different then,  thanks Seth for all the enjoyment. 

Wave Babies-Honeymoon Suite- Besides being by one of the greatest bands you have never heard of, Seth made a stupid movie when he was at broadcasting school about zombies, the end credits played Wave Babies, definitely the best part of the film.

Under Cover of the Night- The Rolling Stones–  When we lived in South Portland, We would plan trips home, and sometimes we would head out after Seth got off work at 1 am or so,  I have no idea why, although I am sure there was a reason, and we would stop at the Wiscasset Diner which was conveniently open 24 hours, and every time we stopped there we would meet interesting people.

Thick as a Brick, Skating Away and Living in the Past (appropriate for this) by Jethro Tull- (The band not the agriculturalist)  Seth really got me interested in Jethro tull.

Into the Mystic- Van Morrison-It reminds me of the sounds of South Portland.  When that foghorn blows……….

 Mary Jane’s Last Dance- Tom Petty – In a Burger King, under the influence of something, I was really hungry, Seth says, “So you gonna get a Big Mack?”  So that sounds pretty freakin’ good to me, so I ask for a Big Mac, but ………we were in Burger King, needless to say there were no Big Macs to be had, I looked at Seth and I couldn’t stop laughing, the poor person behind the counter was very annoyed with me, but what could I do?

Musta Got Lost- J Geils Band- I have no idea why I haven’t seen Seth for all these years.