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Entries categorized as “Rediscovering Our Record Collections” 39 results
Jessi Roti writesRemembering Bowie
by Jessi Roti
Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, the Goblin King, or just Bowie –whatever identity he claimed, he shared with us and we loved him even more for it. Rock’s first champion of the weirdos, David Bowie’s art was rapturous from beginning to end. While he has now floated far from the physical world, his legacy – when stripped of the glitter, costumes, and alter-egos, is most simply and beautifully all about being true to oneself.
The very first record I played on my turntable was The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I was 16 and it was a gift from my cousin, Paul. As soon as I dropped the needle on “Five Years,” it was kismet. Sure, I had heard “Changes” and the ultimate anthem, “Rebel, Rebel” (which is forever tattooed on my left arm), but I had never sat and listened to a full, Bowie record; experiencing the entire spectrum of the humanity as he, as his character, had lived and died.
Ross M: Conceptually Gross writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: Dinosaur Jr.‘s “Bug”
To tell the truth, I have no idea where I picked up this record. In my head it was Mod Lang in Berkeley but I'm not sure in late 1988 I was hip to that little shop. I was doing most of my time loitering in Rasputin's and Amoeba but my brain keeps showing me grabbing this in a smaller shop. I suppose the beauty of memory is how you basically fill in the gaps with whatever and it becomes reality. All I really know is, like so many records bought at the time, I dove in head first based on the cover and label (SST). This was very pre-internet so my research consisted of throwing money at things that looked cool and hoping for the best. This one worked out pretty well.
Background? Sure, I'll tell you a few things. In 1983 (and the tender age of 13) I started smoking a little pot. Also in 1983 I heard Metallica's Kill 'Em All. To say 1983 was a monumental year in my life would be a gross understatement (Bar Mitzvah, anyone?). Merely two years removed from declaring Men At Work's Business As Usual the greatest album of all time, I had found the sound that I would forever chase (listen to "Whiplash" for the perfect distillation of this sound I speak of). Metal would hold my hand through the awkward years but I had a much darker secret...
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: Music from the Motion Picture “Pulp Fiction”
There was a point in my life where I wanted to be a filmmaker. I still might be one at some point. Who knows? If it wasn’t for my obsession with music, I might have been a textbook cinephile by now, as intrigued by new releases and upcoming film festivals as I am now about new album releases and who’s on the program at the next big music festival.
I still have a strong interest in movies, though, and the picture that got it all started for me was Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. This was the movie that not only fascinated me to no end with it’s singularly unique style (made up of entirely of, I would soon learn, styles copied from a lot of other films), but also got me interested in movies as more than just something to stare at while I stuffed my face with popcorn.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: 2 Live Crew’s “As Nasty As They Wanna Be”
When my friends and I first heard this album, we basically had a big laugh about it. The kind of boisterous but slightly forced and nervous laugh that comes from not really knowing what you're laughing at. Little did we know we were listening to a record that would have far-reaching implications for Rap, and not just because it would become the first album in U.S. history to be declared legally obscene.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesRediscovering Our Record Collections: “TNT” by Tortoise
I had been living in Chicago for a few months after relocating from Boston (where I lived for 8 years) with a short stint in Omaha, where I grew up. Not knowing anything about Chicago’s city’s neighborhoods, I had landed in the community of Edgewater, on the North Side right by the lake. It turned out to be a great place to get started as it was starting to feel the effects of the surge in commerce and urban renewal renovation resulting from the Dot-Com Era.
My apartment was a block away from Dominick’s grocery store (a local chain) and the CTA Red Line. Downtown was a straight shot south on Lake Shore Drive, and there were plenty of places to explore close to home. I had recently discovered the Village North movie theater, which showed a lot of excellent classic films, and The Atomic Café coffee shop right next door. I had never been a regular coffee drinker until that time, but after a few trips there as well as Café Boost, a wonderful independent shop a few blocks west on Clark Street, I started a romance with caffeine that continues to this day.