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Saturday, November 29, 2008

You Spin Me

"Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians” John Cusack, High Fidelity

I own a record player. It was a Christmas gift a few years back that I received gleefully and by special request. I’m a bit nostalgic I must confess. Many hours I spent as a child lying on my stomach gazing into the face of Mick Jagger as Paint it Black spun on the turntable. Speakers almost as big as I was would send reverberation throughout the house, its contents, and myself whenever Dad had anything to say about volume levels.

I spent equal amounts of time admiring the ethereal quality of ABBA on the cover of Voulez-Vous and many an afternoon Neil Diamond’s life-sized eyes would stare back at me as he sang in his deep steady voice of Sweet Caroline.

Cassettes were widely available but I’d still spend summer afternoons with friends sunning on the back deck as vinyl versions of The Beatles, Peter Frampton or John Denver’s Sunshine on My Shoulder created our own personal soundtrack.

So when I passed a record store the other day on happenstance I could not resist taking a look. Walking in I was immediately confronted by the urban cool fringe. What might the gentleman behind the counter (who looked much more like Jack Black than John Cusack) think of my varied musical tastes? I carefully searched through the selections…The Eagles? Classic right? Or are they considered mainstream and overrated? And what of poor Peter Frampton? While other patrons discussed bands I’d never heard of and the rarity of certain album covers, I spotted Eric Clapton. I eventually decided on all three and warily made my way to the counter.

Flipping my selections over for inspection I braced myself for a disgusted sigh.

Surprisingly nothing, no reaction to either The Eagles or Frampton, then..

“Eric Clapton? I love this album”

“Yeah, me too” I said smiling.

Grabbing a business card from the counter I made my way towards the door. The card read “Records, CD’s & Other Cool Shit!”

"OK", I laughed, “I’ll give you that.”

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