The Red Box

A Boomer’s Musical Guide to Getting Your Brain Rewired

July 17, 2026

In this day of streaming, tailored, on demand entertainment, it is hard to imagine a time…a time before Spotify and Apple Music, before Napster and iPods and Walkmen, a time before CDs, cassette tapes and 8-Track…when music came to you by way of

a transistor radio you held in your hand, pointing the antenna in the right direction hoping,
to catch an AM radio wave broadcast from a tall transmission tower out in the middle of a cornfield,
connected to a dingy studio in which a dingy little man named a disc jockey (AKA DJ) played 7” black vinyl records at the speed of 45 revolutions per minute,
hoping that, if he played a song often enough but not too often, you might hot foot it down to your local record store,
buy that same 45 record for yourself,
bring it home and
play it over and over until your father pounded on your bedroom door demanding “…that noise you called music”…stop.

Now, for you youngsters…that is, those of you the same age as my surgeon and younger…the disc jockeys or “DJ’s” would from time to time accept “requests.” A “request” occurred when a kid would call into the radio station, sometimes using what are now referred to as “land lines”, sometimes using what were once called “phone booths”,and ask the DJ if he would play a song. The DJ would ask who was calling and to whom the caller wished to “dedicate” the song.

There was no greater thrill than when you, on your transistor radio…and presumably all your friends on their transistor radios…heard “This one goes out to Betty from Bill.”

That Bill; he’s so dreamy.

Now, if the DJ was so plagued with requests that he refused to play your favorite song, or if the rate of repetition at which he was playing your song was less than the once every ten minutes your taste in music or need to assess popularity demanded, your only recourse was to ride your bike to the drug store, shell out 98 cents, return home and fire up your own 45.

Do this often enough and mundane concerns arose. Things like, ease of storage, filing and retrieval. So much so that you bought a box.

A box in which to store your childhood.

A box like this.

When I told my brother and sister about my DBS surgery, I shared that the surgeon…you know, the fella younger than the box… encourages music in the OR and will, if you ask nicely, “play requests” while he is drilling a hole in your head.

Seems only fair, doesn’t it? I mean…just saying.

Quick aside…if you’re cresting 70 and ever need a quick “pick me up?” Fire up Spotify or Apple Music or ask Siri to play “The Greatest Hits of 1967.” The loud speaker introduction to The Animals’ San Franciscan Nights is guaranteed to lift any Bay Area Boomer’s spirits.

“The following program is dedicated to
The city and people of San Francisco
Who may not know it but
They are beautiful and
So is their city“

Try it…I’m telling you…it works.

Where was I?

Oh yeah…the red box.

When Linda heard I might have my own music in the OR, she rummaged through her garage and attic and found it.

The red box.

She blew the dust off, opened the lid, and found this…

And this…

And even this…

Imagine.

Just imagine.

I know it’s a stretch, but imagine a time when our president was capable of reading.

And children would want to listen to him read…

The Declaration of Independence!

Yeah, I know…I know…but a boy can dream.

Anyway…

The red box prompted Linda …who was always more musically inclined than either John or I… to begin to curate what I’m calling “A Boomer’s Musical Guide to Getting Your Brain Rewired.”

Requests are encouraged. Anyone is invited to join with requests of your own. The rules are simple:

The tune must…like Linda’s red box…be older than my neurosurgeon, (I’m guessing he was born in 1983)
The title, the mood, or the lyrics must have a connection to a boomer’s youth; bonus points if word play involving Parkinson’s, double bonus if word play with brain surgery, and triple points if from an apt song playing in the Summer of Love, 1967.
Nominations will be accepted in the following categories
- Pre-Op
- During Surgery
- Post-Op

Here are a sample of what Linda, with very little help from John or I, has come up with. If you have Spotify, the playlist is public and called “The Red Box.”

PRE-OP