Musical trip down memory lane: What are your three most-played albums?

With more than a foot of snow piled upon us, and a virus raging yet again with new variants - and a guessing game for the ages in terms of when and where to get a vaccine - we remain in our homes contemplating what a good use of our time is.

My answer, in part, has come from music. Revisiting my record album collection and adding a Bluetooth-enabled turntable to the mix has resulted in a nice trip down memory lane. When in my first-floor office working, I can now listen to records playing in my basement through a small speaker.

It's definitely fun to play older music. My collection includes my parents' old albums from the 1950s and '60s and reflects their love of popular musicals. And how do you beat Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett?

In realizing how often I heard their music when growing up, it made me wonder which of my albums, over my life, I played the most often. That's not the same as saying which albums were my favorites. I have favorites that, for various reasons, I may not have played as often.

On occasion, someone on Facebook might ask friends to list their favorite or most influential albums. That's pretty hard to do. But I could make a fairly educated guess on which ones I played the most.

Maybe it does mean they were my all-time favorites, but more likely, it means they first came into my collection during my younger years when I had more time to play them.

In the interest of having something to share and talk about during in-home activities at this time, you can comment on my social media thread or send me an email at dheun@sbcglobal.net listing the three albums (or cassettes or CDs if you are younger) that you played the most in your life.

I will list mine here to get us started.

My three most-often-played records (and still played today) are: "The Beatles Second Album," one in which I wore out an original copy and got a new one as an adult.

Second is The Who "Live at Leeds." I still can't believe the sound two guitarists and a drummer can deliver. And finally, The Band's "Cahoots," which is just great music.

Because this isn't scientific research and based more on memory, I would say "Beatles '65," "The Kinks Greatest Hits," and "Benefit" by Jethro Tull were certainly close contenders.

History and our buildings

About 40 years ago, historic preservation commission members in Geneva pushed hard for the historic Creamery building along State Street on the west side of the Fox River to not face a wrecking ball to make room for a new Shodeen Construction project.

It became a contentious debate at times, with then Geneva Mayor Dick Lewis eventually proclaiming if the developer walked away, the city would forever regret having just a small and empty brick structure at that site.

Cooler heads prevailed, and Shodeen incorporated the Creamery building into plans for the Herrington Inn - and Geneva ended up with a great setting in its downtown area.

We have to hope for a similar course in downtown St. Charles, as the city's historic preservation commission expresses concerns about a major change to the façade of the empty BMO Harris Bank building as developers plan a restaurant and upscale residential units at that downtown site.

Historic preservation commissions play a vital role in bringing up development aspects that most of us would never contemplate. They mostly remind us that our history is important.

As developer Curt Hurst of Frontier Development considers a massive change to the site, with a more modern look showcasing more glass and balconies, there are voices within the city wondering if the current structure couldn't somehow be retrofit to keep its historic feel - mostly from being downtown at 1 E. Main St. since the 1960s.

Setting that debate aside, the end game has to be the city cooperating with the developer. If this project somehow never occurs, that key strip of downtown will suffer for years to come.

It's not impossible to make an old building structure keep some of its shape and flavor along the streetscape when something new is replacing it.

However, we're talking about an upscale restaurant and housing units on a site that used to be a bank. By my way of thinking, this façade doesn't ring "historic" like, say, the former State Bank of Geneva building that now houses the EvenFlow restaurant and nightclub.

Plus, more bank buildings will become empty in the digital future, and any city with a chance to convert one to a promising entertainment location in the heart of town has to do it.

That's a lot of socks

So how many pairs of new socks can a couple of St. Charles lads collect to distribute to area homeless shelters?

If you are talking about Wyatt and Porter Snopko and their annual socks, underwear and masks collection held during the holiday season, the answer is 2,183 pairs.

That's a nice haul, and the boys thank all those who donated.

Curling comes to town

If it's winter, we should be engaged in winter sports.

Obscurity Brewing and Craft Mead in Elburn certainly thinks so in offering the use of its curling rinks, which can be reserved by those interested in trying it for one or two hours at a crack.

Two rinks are available for use at $30 an hour at the brewery at 113 W. North St.

The curling rinks and heated yurt, or warming tent, apparently are ready for action. Those who make reservations need to check-in inside Obscurity and pick up game rules and the stones needed to play the game.

Information and reservations are available at drinkobscurity.com.

Using those papers

I love newspapers for fairly obvious reasons - they have employed me in some fashion most of my adult life. They are more important than ever in these days in which idiotic conspiracy theories and other lies float freely, and they come in handy when you are a pet owner.

The Starfish Animal Rescue in Batavia knows that last point to be true and is currently looking for people to drop off their old papers rather than pitch them in recycling bins at this time.

The shelter needs them to help save the lives of animals it pulls from high-kill shelters in Kentucky each year.

The Red Hive Market in downtown Batavia has a collection bin set up for newspapers, and the shelter is asking for those papers to be dropped off.

And how, exactly, do the papers help these animals? They line the crates in a nest-like fashion for the animals making the journey from shelters to, hopefully, new homes when adopted.

dheun@sbcglobal.net