Coming to terms, records, guitars…

It’s been close to a month since we found out they were closing the plant I’ve been working in for over two decades. There’s been plenty of second-guessing, mild panic, quiet moments of reflection, and craft beer or two drank. Despite the anxiety of the great unknown, I’ve pretty much come to terms with the […]

Labor Of Love

The true meaning of Labor Day weekend has nothing to do with not laboring because you do that crap all week long. No, laboring doing something you love is perfectly fine. Why? Because I say so, that’s why. For me, I started a Labor Day weekend tradition many Labor Days ago. Maybe in 2014 or […]

Post-Covid RSD

So yesterday was part 1 of 2021 Record Store Day. The day where vinyl and music lovers gather at their local brick and mortar record shop and buy exclusive music; be it 12-inch vinyl, 45s, CDs, cassettes, box sets, or just to get out of the house on a Saturday morning to say hi to […]

Hattie Cooke : The Sleepers(2021 Re-master)

Okay, I’ll admit it. I completely missed out first time around when the great Hattie Cooke dropped her album The Sleepers with Spun Out Of Control back in late 2019. It wasn’t until a couple months after her cassette dropped that I started hearing folks talking about this amazing album The Sleepers. Folks like Graham […]

AT-PL120

Chicago, 2008. My wife and I drove to the windy city in October of 2008 to see My Morning Jacket. The show had been cancelled because just a couple nights prior Jim James took a spill from an extremely high stage and messed himself up pretty good. The hotel where we’d made reservations wasn’t understanding […]

Killer Record : Obsession Turns Deadly On Graham Reznick’s New Shudder Series ‘Deadwax’

Graham Reznick works in sound. Sound design, sound editing, sound mixing, and generally making sound in film as engaging as he can. His IMDb page is long and filled with a who’s who of independent film gold, including working with childhood friend Ti West several times as well as names like Joe Begos(The Mind’s Eye), […]

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words : Favorite Album Art of 2018

There was a time, way back before AOL, Windows, and Google, when record buying could be somewhat of a mystery. Unless you heard it on the radio, your stoned big brother put it in your ears, or MTV laid it on you at 2am, walking thru Musicland, Tower Records, or your local record store(for me […]

Record Store Day 2018 : 11 Years Of Vinyl Love

I grew up with vinyl. Some of my first memories are of my dad changing records on a Zenith console stereo in the basement as my parents and their friends drank longnecks, smoked, and played pool all the while Led Zeppelin, The Doors, ZZ Top, and Three Dog Night spun on the turntable. I recall […]

“What The Hell Did I Just Buy?” : Adventures In Vinyl

As a vinyl guy, it’s my duty to make things hard on myself. I am quite aware that there are these things called “digital downloads”, where you can receive music right through your computer and put those albums onto a digital listening device. This allows the listener to have hundreds or thousands of albums inside […]

Burnin’ Down The BBC : Led Zeppelin and the BBC Sessions

I think Led Zeppelin is in my DNA. They’re twisted and knotted up in those pesky hereditarial strands that make me me. Along with the Beatles and the The Doors, I do believe Led Zeppelin were pumped into my mom’s womb as I hung out, kicked occasionally, and bid my time till I could kick […]