Hey DJ, Put That Record On

Yo, I got a record player for Christmas.

There were troubles, sure.

Me, being strictly an MP3 computer speaker type of listener, didn't know that to get a record player wasn't enough. I needed record player + speakers + a stereo receiver + records (had some, needed more). So there went January and February, fallow without the fat tones of vinyl.

But...

I persisted. I got speakers first. Then a receiver. Then I put it all together and on Monday afternoon, I placed my Horse Feathers album (bought on a whim about 10 months ago and signed by two of the three band members through the persistence of Dan) on the turn table.

I sat on my couch. I listened to a pop, and a soft curtain of fuzz. And then. The first track filled my small apartment. I leaned my head back and listened.

And listened.

And listened some more.

Until it was over and the record stopped spinning and the arm calmly went back to its cradle. And I thought to myself, what had I just done for the last 20 minutes? I'd listened to music.

In our lives today music is what we get from the mouths of tiny, white earbuds on our way to work, going for a run or cleaning up the kitchen. It is what we do while driving the car, it's what we hear in movies and bars, it's what we listen to while holding on a phone call.

It's never just by itself.

But there it was for me. Just music. In the arrangement the band intended. And I was a captive listener.

It was completely different. Wonderful even.

My friend Ben used to spend hours in his room listening to music on his oversized headphones. He said, "we never just listen anymore."

I thought him crazy.

Not anymore.

I need to find a vinyl shop.