Theme Park Experience

February 17th: An Acoustic Album Andres Segovia, A Bach Recital ( pic ) Segovia is a name I've heard in passing over the years. But I didn't really understand the beauty of his playing until I watched a clip in Sound City . John Fogerty talks about the sound quality and the passion of Segovia's playing, and I couldn't help notice. I found this a little over a month ago. The sound quality is not great, but the playing is top notch. February 18th: A Split-EP Minus the Bear/The City on Film ( pic ) Bob Nanna gave me this at a show he played at Beat Kitchen in Chicago. I didn't have a record player at the time, so I initially politely declined. Thankfully I wised up, took it, and agreed to find some record to play it on. February 19th: White Vinyl Everyone Everywhere, self-titled ( pic ) There are times when you're lucky to be online at the right time. This fantastic Philly band was selling a very limited number of their second ...

On Thursday of last week, I turned 35. Like almost every birthday since my 18th, I don't feel like a full-blown adult. Then again, I wasn't exactly sure what being an adult would feel like. Not often, but occasionally in my teenage years, I wondered what being an adult was really like. I looked at adults around me and pondered things. Will I be taller than I am now? Will I be listening to Kenny G and Celine Dion? Will I be living by myself in a big empty place?  I can't say there is one event or moment when I stopped being a youth and started being an adult. Becoming an uncle seven years ago was an indicator, but so was moving into my own apartment back in 1998. There are so many transitions in life; more than I would realize until later. If you want a good indication on how much you've grown, talk with someone you haven't spoken to in a number of months or years. You generalize the main events, including obstacles that seemed huge and unab...

February 10th: Any 10-inch Record face to face,  Econo-Live  ( pic ) Back when I collected singles, I came upon this through a mailorder catalog. It's a very rare and rough documentation of face to face before they recorded their self-titled third album. There are slightly different arrangements of songs that wound up on the album. Think of it as a glimpse of the album to come. February 11th: Collection of an Artist Jimi Hendrix,  Are You Experienced ,  Axis: Bold as Love ,  Electric Ladyland  ( pic ) I don't have many complete collections of an artist on vinyl. Showcasing the three proper albums that Hendrix released while he was alive, this is one of the exceptions. My former housemate Matt gave me these when he moved out last summer. They're still in good shape, and the music is still out of this world. February 12th: Artist That Begins with the Letter 'L' Lifetime,  Hello Bastards ,  Jersey's Best Dancers  ( pic ) I do...

This month, I've decided to take on an enjoyable hashtag thread on Instagram called February Record A Day . Basically, it's posting pictures from your vinyl LP collection every day of the month, but it's not a random sampling. There are "rules" for each day of the month, like a record that's on marbled swirl or a box set or a "white whale" record you looked high and low for. As much as I enjoy social media like Instagram, I do miss writing longer blog pieces on a regular basis. In an attempt to get back into this, I'd like to share some stories about each record I post -- and I hope to post about every record I picture this month. February 1st: "Oldest Record You Own" Pet Shop Boys, Actually ( pic ) Technically, this is not the "oldest" LP I own. I have some Frank Sinatra records and various re-presses of older albums. This Pet Shop Boys record has been in my collection the longest. I got this back in ...

Superchunk is a band that thankfully doesn't quit. Though they took a number of years off between Here's to Shutting Up and Majesty Shredding , I was happy to see them back with a new album last year called I Hate Music . Given the opportunity to talk with longtime guitarist Jim Wilbur as the band heads back to Dallas to play Trees, I couldn't help ask a few questions I've always wanted to ask a member of the band. We touched on many things about the band and the label they've had for all these years: Merge Records. The first time I saw Superchunk’s name in print, it was in a book called Rolling Stone’s Alt-Rock-A-Rama . You remember that book? Oh yeah. I know where this is going, too. You, Mac, and Jon had a list of the worst bathrooms in the country and Trees was one of them. Would you be happy to hear they’ve improved the bathroom in the last few years? It was just me. We were all credited. I made that list. Our tour manager is from Denton and...