When I was young, my mother had a cleaning lady because we were fantastically wealthy and lived in a very large home on a very large estate with lots of objects that sparkled and gleamed. The cleaning lady wore a black dress with a white lace pinafore over it and carried a feather duster making her way from chandelier to chandelier, all the while eyeing my homeless man turned fabulously successful importer/exporter father. My father had an evil twin AND suffered from amnesia THREE TIMES for no apparent reason other than sweeps week.
Oh wait, that was a plot from As the World Turns circa 1982. Nevermind. Not my life at all.
We did however have a cleaning lady that came in once every couple of weeks. I would leave for school and come home to a tidy bedroom with vacuum lines on the rug. Except for that one time when I came home to vacuum lines on the rug and all of my albums piled on top of the heat register. To those of you who don't know, albums are flat black vinyl circles that magically play music when you put them on a record player. Unless of course they're warped like scoliosis, in which case they don't magically play music at all.
My name's Karen and my first foray into buying music was … the album. My record buying days were right on the cusp of the end of albums and the beginning of the CD, so like anyone who has ever bought an album I will always have a soft spot for turntables and playing 33s. I never got rid of my turntable, and in fact even bought a new one 15 years ago or so.
I've kept it hidden below the television on a shelf, out of view for all those years. Which made using it a pain, therefore I rarely did. Then a few months ago something came over me. I liked my turntable. I liked how it looked, I liked how it felt and I liked how it made the room feel.
There's something about a turntable unabashedly displayed in a room that gives it soul. For anyone looking to add character to a room the turntable is the ultimate accessory. You know those rooms with a bit of everything in them? Antiques and books and a bit of midcentury modern? The sort of room that looks like it's been lived in by intellectually superior world travellers for the past 50 years? A turntable will give it that feeling.
Well, it'll help give it that feeling.
The funny thing about playing albums is they're SO great and so awful all at the same time. Why are they great? I like the process of just flipping through the albums and picking one out. I love the little bit of scratchy noise from older albums.
I do not love that the album only lasts for half an hour or so before you have to move and flip it over. Thanks to CDs, DVDs, mp3s and apps like Songza, we've all become pretty used to having music play endlessly without ever having to do a thing. Except maybe turn the volume either up or down.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
For Michael is always gets turned up.
The best thing about turntables now is that they're really easy to get working. It isn't like in the olden days when there were bare wires coming out of the back of the turntable. The newer turntables hook up to just about anything with ease. My turntable has a left and right audio cable that comes out of the back of the turntable and will plug into any speaker system or receiver that has "audio in" slots, which my surround sound receiver has. It's literally plug and play.
Other turntables have a USB plug on the end and can be plugged into USB ports on your receiver or even computer.
And if you have some sort of weirdo/tricky situation there's an adapter for pretty much everything. For instance, I just ordered this USB to headphone jack adapter to hook my wireless speaker/lights up to my turntable and receiver.
You can take a look at the different turntables on Amazon right here.
They range in price from $50 to a few hundred. If I remember correctly mine was about $100.
Now please enjoy the homes of the intellectually superior world travellers.
Liz
"intellectually superior world travellers" ohhhh myyyy werrrrrd. You just put to words the exact style and taste of the people I bought my house from, and I'm just trying to be cool like them now. Also it's frightening how suggestible I am in regards to your blog. I am now scouring the internets for a record player, so I guess I'm just trying to be cool like you too.
karen
Your post talks about creating a certain look or feel; that was what I was commenting on. Sheesh.
Karen
Why the sheesh? ~ k!
karen
I was referring to your post after mine above.
Susan
Karen,
Suggesting you do a post on the best concerts we ever went to.
Should get some doozys....
Mine was Shawn Phillips at Mankato State University...Mankato, Mn.
Susan
sheila
Susan,
Love Shawn Phillips AND my brother went to Mankato State. We're originally from Prior Lake.
Sheila
Susan
Sheila,
I was from Fairmont. Went to the concert without tickets, made our own, they were hot pink paper, from a flier on a bulletin board, rolled them up alittle bit, Then held them up and got in...sat on the floor right in front. Most magical thing I had ever seen or heard. :)
I live in Excelsior, now, You?
Isn't Karen's blog a hoot?
Susan
sheila
Susan,
That's funny about your homemade tickets. You guys were gutsy. Those were the days, eh??
We moved in 2011 from St. Louis Park to Emily, MN - about 35 or so miles Northwest of Brainerd. We love it up here.
I used to live in Excelsior in the big house on the hill right across the street from the lake. I lived in the top floor, my best friend in the ground floor, behind the landlord. 224 Lake Street is the address. Large house. I had the top floor plus the porch attachment on the side. It was fun living there. Who knows, maybe it's not even there any more. That was QUITE a while ago... There are so many cute shops in Excelsior. I do miss "the cities" every so often - if nothing else than for shopping.
Yes Karen is a hoot with a capital "H". I find so much info on her blog and actually came across it while doing a search for a table made from a stump/chunk of wood. Her photos are so beautiful. I could only HOPE to take pics as well as her.
Sheila
Susan
I was (and still am) the youngest of 4. My older sister was "protesting the war", listening to Bob Dylan, Joan Biaz, Arlo Guthrie, all those guys, then my brother...Neil Young, CSNY, FleetWood Mac, Yes, all those guys...then my other sister...Carol King, Joanie Mitchell, all those guys.....
But my own albums?????
Never happened...
Susan
karen
I agree with the previous poster - lose the Kitty Kelley Oprah tome. In fact, lose ANY Kitty Kelley book. :-p Book titles are like any other piece of visual art. Curate.
Karen
I don't actually believe in displaying only the books I think will impress people. ~ karen
Debbie O'Rourke
Disco sacrifice.....
Forgotten Rebels record.... insanely warped..but we still played it.. hahahahaha
Karen
OMG!!! The DISCO SACRIFICE!!! The Saturday Night Live album!!! omg. We did some ridiculous things! Wish I still had that album now, lol. See everyone? Debbie can vouch that my albums all got warped! Now of course, I'm smart enough to know all I had to do was stick them on a large baking sheet and put them in the oven at a low temperature so they'd go flat again. Stupid young Karen. ~ karen!
~JackieVB
I actually find that Howard Stern is much mellower and funnier these days than in his earlier days. It probably helps that his daughters are now in their 20's so he's toned a few things down.
But that aside, I was thinking that albums don't just give us that lovely scratchiness, you also got some pretty cool album art and some of the music was designed to tell a story of sorts if you listen all the way through(Pink Floyd anyone?). You don't get that aspect with a single that you download.
Kevin
Celebrating the LP, from the days when the only CD you heard of was at a bank.
Feral Turtle
I love my digital music....nothing beats it! Sorry to be a party pooper! No vinyl for me although hubby still has all of his old albums and a state of the art sound system complete with two turntables!
LazySusan
When out turntable died several years ago, we bought a USB turntable and have been transferring all of our vinyl to MP3 files. We have several USB sticks of favorite genres of music that we rotate in the car, or play on our computers, or on an MP3 player. The recordings retain the sound of vinyl being played on a turntable. At Christmas, we play the oldies that we both love, from Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney. It just isn't Christmas without their voices. Having converted the albums to digital, we are no longer limited by the length of an album side, so I can listen to every song ever recorded by Roy Orbison, all in a row, if I want. And I usually want to do just that. On a 1700 mild round trip drive to visit elderly relatives a few years ago, we listened to all of the songs we grew up hearing. It made the driving a pleasure. So if you don't want to go the route of getting the stereo turntable and speakers, consider the USB turntable to continue to enjoy your albums.
Lynne
Our turn table gets used regularly and when our kids come to visit they really enjoy going through our large collection. Yes we also use IPods, CD's and the music apps on our phones but there is nothing quite like the sound of that needle on vinyl.
ralph
A nice trip down memory lane with all you youngsters. Possibly I read the replies too quickly but I don't recall seeing reference to Frank Sinatra. Hello?
My first record was a 78 of Deanna Durban singing 'Cherry Ripe' No,I'm not kidding.My second was a 78 of Anton Karas playing the theme to the Third Man...wore that one out.
So call me old.
Cheers.
Jen
Never mind the turntable (or the Bollocks), you have Artie Lange's bio on top of "Atonement!" LOVE THAT. Are you a closeted Stern fan???
Karen
LOL! No, that's the fellas. I haven't read it and Howard Stern makes me crazy. In the early days I used to love him actually but now he just makes me crazy. Guess I should give that book back. ~ karen
Patti
Aww I saw that too and hoped you were a fan. Love Artie! My first turntable was the kind that had the speakers attached to the sides and it closed up like a little suitcase, complete with a handle on top. My first LP was Jim Nabors LOL! In my defense, I was 7 years old and Gomer Pyle was my favorite show at the time.
Alice
Ha! You want to hear pops and crackles? Find get some really old 78s. I'm sure there are few old ones around. Now, trying to find a player may be a bit harder.....but so much fun.
Karol
You went from vinyl to CD's? I had to suffer through 8 tracks and then cassettes before cd's. I still have all of my vinyls, although I don't know why, they're worth about a quarter each.
I still laugh at the "ca-chunk" sound the 8 tracks made, sometimes mid-song, when switching tracks.
Karen
8 tracks were before my time, but you're right there were cassettes and I have many of those! Terribly quality, lol. Just awful. But way easier to play in the car. ~ karen
Heather
What a great topic, Karen! Remember the little things you had to put in the centre of 45's so they would sit on the turntable?
We got to the point that we would buy a new album, tape it, and then put the actual vinyl album away so it wouldn't get scratched. Once the tape was done, you would re-record it. Then I got a combo radio/cassette recorder & I would tape songs off the radio. When you would listen to them later you always seems to catch a piece of the DJ's voice or the song suddenly ended where you turned it off.
Our old turntable now sits in the garage at our cottage where my son regularly plays all our old LPs. The worst part is always having to turn the darn thing over.
Mel
See, I will have to show this post to those that thought I was crazy for getting a record player a few years ago. I love how many artists are coming out with music on albums still. Florence and the Machine, the Catching Fire soundtrack, Lady Gaga, and the new Bush album is being sent to me next month when it comes out. I love the crackles, hate the flipping over too.
IRS
Nostalgia is a nice, comforting thing, and taking a trip down memory lane, while flipping through the ancient albums still housed in that perfectly fitting plastic milk crate that you pinched from the delivery door of the grocery store (back in the days before IKEA, and other stores that now sell a zillion different plastic storage bins) is a great thing to do on a rainy day. But if you want truly good sound, lose the vinyl, and go with digital, either as a music file, or at least a CD. If you really want to be reminded of your music from days gone by, then get a bunch of 12X12 inch frames, and make a framed wall display of a grouping of your favorite albums. You can either put up 3 rows of 3 (or 4 of 4, or whatever you like), or do a diagonal line of them going up a staircase. At least that doesn't take up any space. In this day of 400 square foot condos (the developers of which should be tied up and forced to listen to a very scratched up vinyl record, on endless loop, for at least a full day), who has space for a clunky turntable that is not (or shouldn't be) played? I still say "nope".
Karen
O.K. this is your second comment in the same post declaring your distaste for albums, lol. I'm going to take a wild stab at this and say you don't like albums. So you can frame your albums if you like, but I prefer the sound of Carmen McRae's voice that comes from vinyl. ~ karen
Su
I also had a 45 record player cause like others affording a whole ALBUM was serious stuff and you had to save for a long time your babysitting money of .$50 an hour to get one..... I'll wait for the Friday post of what that 1st album was.... but I still have my first 45.... The Beatles... Let it be... green apple sticker on it and all.... the flip side had a picture of the apple cut in half....
Jane P
I'll keep my first vinyl or two for your Friday Post!! The scratchy is what makes it for me…we have an old Victrola at our little cabin and there is nothing like dancing around like a crazy listening to oldies.