Big 10"

Spent the evening at L & A's house. Every Wednesday, in fact. It's become a tradition that makes our week complete. A ALWAYS cooks and there's always plenty to drink plus Top Chef, or 80's movies, or Project Runway. It's the best part of the week.
So last night, L & A had procured a bottle of Mt. Gay Rum, a bottle of Kahlua, and a bottle of So Co. L broke out his records and he and I began to pontificate about vinyl and why it is far superior to any other audio source.
I know you guys like your MP3s and your audio files from iTunes. I own an iPod - I love being able to have all of my music at my fingertips. I love being able to purchase tunes at the push of a button.
But there's something about a record. The art work is huge. You can actually see the details in the pictures ant paintings (for example, the album cover for Axis Bold As Love).


If you meet a person who has an album lover, there is an automatic kindred there. When you have albums, you have to be REALLY careful - they break, they scratch, and the have to be stored properly or you'll ruin them. They're a responsibility. A friend of mine had about 30 records he wanted to get rid of. He gave them to me. I walked into his music room and there sat one of of the most amazing collections I had ever seen. He had been collecting since he was 11. He had thousands. It was like looking at an extension of him. He had touched them, smoked around them, listened to them in college when he experimented with LSD. These things were amazing. He gave me an original 1977 Wings Over America that has been out of print since 1988. I had been looking for it forever - you know "Maybe I'm amazed" - the live version? Yup - it's on there. He GAVE them to me. He may as well have given me 20 years of his life - it felt the same to me.
I will always prefer vinyl to MP3 - analog to digital. I was born about 20 years too late.