[Magdalen] coffee

[Grace Cangialosi]

Your comments about shopping at the PX in Germany brought back a pleasant memory. When I was in high school we lived on a small base in Schwäbisch Gmünd, about 40 miles from Stuttgart. The PX was very small and hardly ever got in any classical LP's. That was the only kind of music I would listen to in those days, and I would comb through  the rack anytime we went to the PX. If there was a classical album, I'd buy it--whether I'd ever heard of it or not. The clerk started putting aside any recordings of the  classical albums that came in and calling me so I'd have first chance at them. 
It was there I first heard and bought the Brandenburg Concertos with Fritz Reiner conducting, the Beethoven piano concertos with Rubenstein, and Toscanini's recordings of the 
Beethoven symphonies. I also bought and hated recordings of Ives, Carter, Ravel, etc.  Later I came to appreciate most of those as well.

On January 4, 2015, at 5:52 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:



In a message dated 1/4/2015 5:32:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
shutchinsonca at gmail.com writes:


I  wonder how many times you passed a short, blonde Canadian teenager in 
the PX  in those days, David?>>>>
 
Well, never on a payday Friday!
 
You haven't experienced shopping until you endure the commissary 
on pay day, with families each pushing/pulling a shopping cart piled
with groceries, etc., and aiming at the checkouts.
 
But otherwise, a visit to the PX was almost a daily activity.  We  did
routinely go over to the PX at Wiesbaden, because they had a better
selection of some things, such as wines and classical recordings.
 
I never visited a non-USA PX, though I waited in the car while  friends
picked up stereo stuff at the Canadian PX.  Somewhat oddly for  me,
I did not pick up the stereo equipment bug while living in Europe.   I
was, instead, into antiques and modern (Danish, German, and Italian) 
furniture.
 
When we got back to the States in 1970, essentially all our furniture
was Danish teak and Bauhaus modern.  I still have most of the stuff  -
after all, Barcelona chairs never go out of fashion.  
 
Interestingly, my daughter is now into the same furnishings, which 
will be a good way for me to start unloading.  I can't take it with  me!
 
 
David Strang.