Tag Archives: Count Basie

For The Love Of Vinyl, Part Four

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If you’re late to the party, you can read the first three parts here, here, and here.

I’m sensing that the wind is slipping through the sails on this one, so let’s bring this baby home with one more post. However, you should know that I’ve saved the best (and most embarrassing) for last. I know, it’s because I care. Not really. But you can think so if it helps you sleep better at night.

 

Specifically remember buying this one at Woolworths in Portsmouth, NH out of the discount bin. Although being a Gentile white 13 year old kid from New Hampshire put me entirely outside Jackie’s target audience, I nearly peed myself listening to this the first time. Continue reading →

For The Love Of Vinyl, Part Two

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Hey, did you catch what I wrote yesterday in Part One? No?! Well then go back and check out all the good and embarrassing stuff right now – I’ll wait.

One my favorite vinyl moments is probably also an incident which will be savaged by just about anyone with musical taste. Possibly the best thing about being a DJ at a college radio station is that, at one time or another, you’ll be pulling a 2-6 am shift with no one listening to you except a handful of drunks, insomniacs, and the utterly insane. Why is this good? Because anything is possible – no one is listening, no one will complain. So one morning, I decided to experiment a bit. Quick note about set-up… The WUNH on-air studio, at the time, had two turntables, three CD players, and two CART machines (kinda like 8-tracks, mostly used for station ID’s and public service announcements). I loaded up some acid jazz in one CD player, some random punk band in another, and a bluegrass CD in the last one. In the CARTS, I had a station ID and a PSA that was coming due in the next couple minutes. Pressed play on the acid jazz beats.

Now, the interesting thing is that I had John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” on the left turntable and the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey on the right. I dropped the needle on Coltrane and bled it in over the top of the acid jazz and found a mix. Next, I added some punk in the background, and then the bluegrass slightly louder, but still somewhat in the background. Really making some interesting noise, but not quite there yet. So I started up 2001 and cued up ”Also sprach Zarathustra” – which I then began to scratch with all the hip-hop ability in my very caucasian body, which wasn’t a whole lot. After awhile, I got bored with that and tried to scratch both the Coltrane and 2001, which was interesting to say the least.

The best part? Absolutely no calls regarding this 15-minute car wreck of a performance. Hell, if someone was listening, they probably thought it was the latest single from Aphex Twin.

Now onto some more tasty vinyl from the collection… Continue reading →