ONE SERIOUS MUSIC COLLECTION EDWARDS COMMANDER, WIFE HAVE THOUSANDS OF ALBUMS.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - Brig Brig, town, Switzerland Brig (brēk), Fr. Brigue, town, Valais canton, S Switzerland, on the Rhône River, at the north entrance of the Simplon Tunnel. . Gen. Curtis Bedke might not have the biggest record collection, but he guarantees he has the best. Bedke, the commander of Edwards, and his wife, Ina, have a record collection that is best described as jaw-dropping. The Bedke collection includes some 4,400 albums on vinyl vinyl /vi·nyl/ (vi´nil) the univalent group CH2dbondCH—. vinyl chloride a vinyl group to which an atom of chlorine is attached; the monomer which polymerizes to polyvinyl chloride; it is toxic and another 2,500 on compact discs. The collection includes a stack of 45s five or six feet high and some 300 cassettes. ``I love music,'' Bedke said. ``We buy music and with what's left over, we buy food.'' Some of the albums, including some dating back 10 years, are unopened. ``I have more unopened CDs than most people will collect in a lifetime,'' Bedke said. The collection began in the late 1960s with the purchase of one of the Beatles' masterpiece albums - ``Rubber Soul.'' Bedke bought it new for $2.50. ``It's still one of the greatest albums of all time,'' Bedke said. The collection began modestly with Bedke gathering about 40 albums by the time he graduated from high school and headed to the Air Force Academy. By the time he graduated from the academy, the collection had grown to about 400 albums. Music is a passion that he shares with his wife. ``I was mostly into straight rock, pop and classical,'' Bedke said. ``Ina was into show tunes. She taught me to appreciate musicals and she learned to appreciate classical.'' Together they learned to appreciate country and western. Their tastes have grown to include choral cho·ral adj. 1. Of or relating to a chorus or choir. 2. Performed or written for performance by a chorus. [Medieval Latin chor music and world music. ``It took us a while to learn to appreciate country,'' Ina Bedke said. ``The only thing we're not into is opera, although we have some. I think that's because we haven't had the right exposure.'' The Bedkes have known each other since high school, when they hung out together in a group that Ina described as being ``way too nerdy to date.'' After knowing each for seven years, they married 26 years ago next month. ``There was no false advertising here,'' Curtis Bedke said. ``She saw the record collection I had after the (Air Force) academy. She knew what she was getting into.'' A sampling of the Bedke tastes can be found with a quick look through the CD rack in the general's office, which includes the albums ``Hot Fuss'' by the Killers; ``The Bends'' by Radiohead; the Beatles' ``Help''; greatest hits collections from Toby Keith <noinclude></noinclude>  The introduction of this article is too short.To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, it should be expanded. and Shania Twain; ``The Ultimate Rat Pack'' collection, featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Sammy Davis may refer to:
tr.v. dis·man·tled, dis·man·tling, dis·man·tles 1. a. To take apart; disassemble; tear down. b. an Atomic Bomb''; ``Wow 1,'' a collection of Christian music Christian music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding the Christian life, as well as (in terms of contemporary music) to give a Christian alternative to main stream secular music. ; and the sound track of ``The Right Stuff,'' a movie that featured Edwards AFB AFB abbr. acid-fast bacillus AFB Acid-fast bacillus, also 1. Aflatoxin B 2. Aorto-femoral bypass of the 1950s and 1960s. ``Every album gets at least two plays, even if it's no good,'' Bedke said. ``Sometimes the first time you listen, you think, what the heck heck interj. Used as a mild oath. n. Slang Used as an intensive: had a heck of a lot of money; was crowded as heck. [Alteration of hell. is this? The second time, you think, well, there's a song in there that sounded kind of interesting. By the seventh listen, you're saying, this is the greatest album of all time.'' Good examples of that seven-listening revelation include Radiohead's ``OK Computer'' and Guided By Voices' ``Bee Thousand,'' Bedke said. The music collection takes up an alcove of the Bedke home. It's meticulously me·tic·u·lous adj. 1. Extremely careful and precise. 2. Extremely or excessively concerned with details. [From Latin met organized, with the albums divided by type of music and placed in alphabetical order, with the exception of world music, which is grouped geographically. The collection includes the general's own mixes of what he deems to be the best songs of each particular year. The size of each year's mix has gotten progressively larger over the years, going from one cassette in 1983 to five CDs for 1998. He has made his lists for what to include in the collections of 2003 and 2004, but hasn't had the time to download the songs onto his computer and burn the CDs. One downside Downside The dollar amount by which the market or a stock has the potential to fall. Notes: You might hear someone say that the downside on stock XYZ is $10. What that means is that the stock could fall by this amount if things got bad. to having such a large music collection while being an Air Force couple is the frequent moves required in military life. It takes 25 to 30 boxes to pack the collection for each move, Ina Bedke said. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Edwards Air Force Base commander Brig. Gen. Curtis M. Bedke shows off his extensive record collection. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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