2
THE OPENING ACT
SEPTEMBER 15�22, 2021
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EDITOR
What we’re into
TYPEWRITERS
O
n a whim, I bought
my dad a Smith-Co-
rona Coronamatic 2200
typewriter for his birthday.
The intent was to have
him write down the fantas-
tical stories he had lived
through — from captain-
ing a fi shing boat through
Panama while warplanes
bombed ships to the time
spent in an impromptu
shelter of an elk carcass.
I found myself look-
ing up typewriters on
eBay and scoping local
thrift stores for these
vintage machines. Writing
is something I’d always
struggled with, especially
holding a pen. My fi ngers
quickly cramp and my
handwriting holds no
envy among doctors and
chickens.
I bought a Webster
XL-500 typewriter from
Swartz Ink on Jeff erson
Street a few days later. It’s
baby blue and sprightly.
And then a cast-iron Royal
KMM. And then a Smith-
Corona Automatic 12
off eBay — which came
packaged with an egg
carton as padding. I had
to restrain myself from
RAISING THE CURTAIN
ON THIS WEEK’S ISSUE
purchasing an Under-
wood No. 5 at Habitat for
Humanity ReStore.
These machines are
nearly bulletproof. Like
vintage fi lm cameras —
which I also collect — you
can see the refl ection of
past generations within
the engineering. Every-
thing serves a purpose.
There’s also a bit of
magic in the clacks and
chimes as letters hammer
against paper and platen.
It’s the same gratifi cation
you get when you take
a Polaroid instead of a
phone snapshot; there’s a
reason wedding photog-
raphers urge their clients
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
to print photos instead
of only posting them on
social media.
Hard drives fail. Phones
crack or get lost, and
leave no physical proof of
our existence. I watched
my nieces and nephews
grow up on Facebook.
There’s no telling whether
social media will exist
in 40 years as society
trudges forward.
To quote Ben Ryder,
played by Ed Harris in the
movie “Kodachrome”:
“Years from now when
they dig us up there won’t
be any pictures to fi nd, no
record of who we were or
how we lived.”
— ALEX WITTWER,
MULITMEDIA JOURNALIST,
THE OBSERVER
Lisa Britton
Go! Editor
editor@goeasternoregon.com
541-406-5274
Sarah Smith
Calendar Coordinator
calendar@goeasternoregon.com
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New releases
‘SENJUTSU,’ IRON
MAIDEN (BMG)
Iron Maiden is not a band for
those with short attention spans.
Since blasting out of England
in the late ‘70s in what would
become known as the new wave
of British metal, Iron Maiden has
never been one to give record
companies the kind of three-
minute anthems they craved.
Instead, they wrote and played
(and played some more) until
they were good and satisfi ed,
and the result was often an epic
track of 8-10 minutes or more.
That is particularly the case on
their 17th studio album, “Senjut-
su,” which translates from Japa-
nese as “strategy and tactics.” It
deals with Iron Maiden’s obses-
sion with war and battle, from the
title track to “Darkest Hour,” an
ode to Winston Churchill’s per-
severance during World War II.
The album’s 10 tracks aver-
age eight minutes apiece, and
the fi nal three last for a com-
bined 34 minutes.
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