No. 183: There Is Still Life

BOX FULL OF RECORDS, January 2013

This one, “Box Full of Records,” is a still life drawing – a sketch of objects not in motion.

But at my house, the vinyl is always spinning.

I grew up in a house full of records. We had a stereo in the rec room and I'd sit on the steps when I was 3 just to reach the thing. I used to drag my dad to Kresges and Trumbull Camera and Hobby to buy 45s and, rarely, expensive albums. Every year there would be more and more, and the collecting continues today. 

There were once so many labels, so many colors and swirling designs: Smash, Roulette, Capitol, Columbia, Invictus, Dial, Uni, MCA, Track, Atlantic and its sister Atco, Verve, Prestige, RCA, RSO, Red Bird, Warner Brothers, Cotillion, MGM, IRS, Musicor, Dot, Chess, Epic, Capricorn, Reprise, Asylum, Bizarre, Dolton, DiscReet, Virgin, A&M, Coral, Kapp, Cadet, CTI, Impulse, London, Blue Note, East-West, Apple, Bearsville, Elektra, EMI  and dozens of smaller imprints.   

Here's another one, "It's A Groove," from 2010:

IT'S A GROOVE, Early 2010 (undated)

Do you remember?

These beautiful labels have all been absorbed now, devoured and digitized and conglomo’ed.

My favorite pieces of audio equipment have always been turntables because they are the source, the origin of where the music started for me.

HELLO IT'S ME, July 2011

It's not unusual for me to go to a garage sale or auction and snag a few turntables just because they catch my eye, or because it's such a shame to see a classic going for $5, or just to have enough spare parts on hand. I guess I feel sorry for them and don't want to see them thrown away.

I call them "strays."  And I take them in.

Garrard RC98/4 mono turntable, 1958. Restored.

They are old but they make me feel young again. The grooves used to be so deep. I miss them so much, and I visit them often.

Tom Wills Productions, 2013, 2011, 2010.