Our Newest Hobby

In case you guys didn’t know, I’ve been on a heavy vinyl binge these past few months. Whit and I bought an old 1970 Magnavox record player from a junk store on craigslist in late May for $20 and its been getting its new needle worn out over the summer!

Said record player in action

I know this may seem like a strange thing to some of you, but I love the idea of having a physical piece of music in my hands. Maybe its just because everything’s gone digital over the past decade, but I love the pops and crackles that are unique to each and every one of our albums.

When we go into an antique store, if there’s a slew of records, I have to look through every one of them and see what I can find. Whitney just rolls her eyes and smiles because she knows how excited I get. Embarassing? Maybe. Awesome? Hell yes!

I like having records for many, many reasons, but the biggest reason I have come to love the whole resurgence of vinyl’s is something that I didn’t even foresee when I bought our record player: it makes me and Whit dance.

Sounds crazy right!? But its too true! One of the first records I bought was a 1973 copy of The Very Best of Hank Williams and the second Whit and I gave it its first spin, we two-stepped all around the apartment, laughing, bumping into cats, etc. It created a fun, nostalgic atmosphere that was impossible to ignore.

This is something that I have never seen happen with the tens-of-thousands of songs that we have on our computers. Hearing ol’ Lovesick sing through that 1970 stereo did something to our apartment: it made it home. We danced until we were out of breath and ready for bed.

And its not just Hank that has had this effect. We’ve danced to the soundtrack of Easy Rider, The Doors, you name it.

Just a few of our records.

Its little things like this that make life worth living, isn’t it? It’s my definition of happiness. It makes me know that what we’re doing in life is exactly what we are meant to be doing. What’s more comforting than that?

We can’t really explain why we feel compelled to dance when those records start playing, we just do. And if dancing around an apartment with my beautiful wife to classic tunes is wrong, then I just don’t wanna be right!

Now I need to pick up a Marvin Gaye album and see what happens … ;-)