Bringing it All Back Home

Every time we visit my parents, my mom begs me to go through the boxes of my old junk that are cluttering up her (immaculate) basement. She’s entering that phase of life, I guess, when things are cast off and simplified, when you have to get a little brutal about all your stuff — what’s essential and what’s not. “What am I going to do with this?” is the question she keeps asking and for which I have no good answer. Last time we visited, in July, I finally gave in. I took an hour and sifted through the old books, making piles of what could be tossed, what could be donated to the library, and what would come back home with me, to molder in my own (not immaculate) basement until the cycle repeated itself somewhere down the line. One thing, however, became clear as I went: my mom wasn’t quite as ready to let go as she’d led me to believe. Turns out, stuff is more than just stuff, and it’s not so easy to kiss it goodbye. A sample exchange:

Giants in the Earth?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t want that one?”

“Nope.”

“Awwwww, really? You loved that book.”

“Yeah, but — ”

Actually removing the book from of the donate bag, and setting it aside: “Maybe I’ll keep it, just in case. You’ll want it one day.”

After the books, I moved on to the other pile she wanted me to deal with: records. At one point, my mulleted and guitar-playing older brother and I had a fairly massive amount of records but, gradually, as we purged over the years, that collection had been boiled down to the 100 or so albums that now sat on her plastic shelving unit, to the right of the sump pump and just behind the treadmill. I started digging through. Books are great and all, and they served me well, but this is the stuff that will kill you dead. Lot of memories come swirling up out of this mess, wow. Some Girls. Free to Be You and Me. Harvest. Live at Leeds. Greetings from Asbury Park. Loudon Wainwright III. The Smiths. The Muppet Movie. Songs in the Key of Life. Blonde on Blonde. The Police. Pleased to Meet Me. Briging it All Back Home. Simon and (Ugh) Garfunkel. The Cars. The Del Fuegos (?). Loverboy (!). The White Album. The Clash. Judas F’n Priest (who, by the way, I saw live at the Capital Center in 1985). And Elton John. God, so much Elton John. Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh: To this day, I will argue the greatness of early Elton John — Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across the Water, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Honkey Chateau, Captain Fantastic. It was all there, in extremely poor condition, scarred by the hasty needle drops of impatient eleven year old boys. I’m not the first one to say it, but these days — when music is a literal abstraction, hovering somewhere above our house within a cloud I can never figure out how to access without Jenny’s help — there’s something deeply pleasing about vinyl. Most of these albums, I hadn’t seen in twenty-five years. It’s enough to make a man nostalgic, and to make a nostalgic man even more nostalgic than his usual nostalgic self. I set aside a stack of about twenty I wanted for myself, and left the rest for my brother to grapple with later.

There was a problem: The last time I owned a turntable, I hadn’t shaved yet. In fact, my buddy Todd (he of the minty pea dip, a DALS classic) had been on me for months to man up and buy one already, as he’d bought one for himself and had been touting its restorative powers. And it was true, one had to admit: it did sound good. It took you back. When we got home from my parents’ — our trunk loaded with our new-old stuff — I went on amazon and bought a beautiful little portable turntable, which arrived three days later, and which has spent the last month perched on the edge of our kitchen counter, rocking us through our dinner preparations. The kids have picked up right where I left off — doing wince-inducing damage with their horrific needlework — and we’ve torn through all the old favorites. And, yes, Abby has fallen for “Crocodile Rock,” just like I did when I was her age. Not my favorite, but just for the sound of that crackle when the needle hits the vinyl, it’s worth it. That’s a pain I can endure. — Andy

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13 Comments

kate

This post makes me so happy! I gave my husband a record player for fathers day a few years ago so we could play our extensive combined collection. It has become part of our nightly dinner routine. We come in after work, let the kids pick out an album and rock out dancing and singing while we make dinner. Brings back memories and creates new ones 🙂

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Sandy B

Ahhh, thanks for that walk down memory road. I wish I’d kept some of my old lp’s. I remember in the early 80’s buying record cleaner; then I remember one Saturday painstakenly washing and drying each LP, then cleaning them with this special lint brush-looking gadget and it’s cleaning solution. THAT was LP love!

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Tara

Great post. No doubt about it. There’s something special about vinyl. Ten years ago I splurged and got my husband a beautiful turntable of his choosing for his 30th birthday. A slightly used ebay find made by a Czech company (Project, I think) with a pear-wood plinth. Really, kind of a work of art. It replaced his old Technic turntable that he’d had since preteen years.

We’re lucky to have some great local record stores where we’ve loaded up on piles and piles of fabulous old jazz recordings, some which never made it to cd, and most of which cost just a few dollars. We still have the cleaning solution and brush and perform that ritual regularly.

The extreme clutter buster in me is kind of in love with invisible music, but it just doesn’t feel as real as vinyl, somehow. We still use that turntable often; probably always will.

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Vicki

Thanks Andy, between your drink and music posts I am pretty sure you could start your own blog (sorry Jenny!)

I am putting this one on my list as my husbands christmas present. This way he can finally get some use out the old vinyl we have collecting dust in our basement!

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Kate

Free to be You and Me! Best record ever. I might need to invest in a record player now…

Also, my mom is the exact same way with stuff. I’ll finally go through a bunch of stuff, put it in a pile to give away and three months later I’ll get an email from her with a photo of the stuff I already said I didn’t want asking if I want to give it away.

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Kim @ cook with 2chicks

Music inspires most of our meals. Nothing beats having the kids belt out the words to a Duran Duran song or the Beatles followed by a family favorite, Billy Joel. So many good memories. Thanks for sharing yours.

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Maura

Such a great idea! I saw this post and just bought the same player. It arrives Tuesday – am hoping my three will dig the stones, b 52s and Adam and the ants as much as I did. What a great idea!

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Kate

You’ve inspired me, Andy – I’m now plotting my own raid on my Mom’s record collection after I can scrape together the extra scratch for a turntable (she has an original Doors album that’s been sitting undisturbed for at least fifteen years – since the last time I played it). And I’m completely with you on early Elton John.

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Kristin

If your going to collect something, about the only things I think are worth it are books and records. My husband had his rather extensive collection shipped from his father’s basement in England to the US. We have close to 1000 albums now and it’s great…especially at dinner time!!! A lot of new music comes out on vinyl now too, usually with a free digital download…it’s the best of both worlds.

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leslie

The Del Fuegos were great and then their lead singer, Dan Zanes, went on to do kids music that adults could actually listen to without going crazy. I highly recommend listening to them again.

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Amber

What a great post. I am lucky that my dad had a lot of records and taught me to care for them well. I am in complete agreement regarding early Elton John. I loved him right up until he started writing with Gary Osbourne. My long standing crush on Bernie Taupin may have played into that. I still have my records. My 19 year old has started to collect vinyl. There may be pops and hisses on records, but they somehow make the music more real. Gotta get the turntable out…

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