Colds are not the only thing that spreads around the office. Last month a guy I work with decided to dust off his record player and see if it still worked. This led to him finding a needle and then a new head shell. Finally a preamp to get the audio into his stereo, of which the manufacturer never intended to play such archaic equipment. Well I caught the bug not so long after his adventures. I dug though my folks basement in search of an old turntable that I had seen down there before. In a dusty pile sat an old Garrard Type A II. It was mostly complete missing only the auto 45 spindle. From my wanderings around the web it is from the late 1960's. The motor worked and everything needed fresh oil but all together it only needed a new needle. The day the needle arrived I was like a kid in a candy shop. I pulled out all my old punk rock LP's and listened to everything from The Fighters, to 88 Fingers Louie, to my Bollweevils' Heavyweights album. It was an evening full of teen angst, I burned though all my albums in one night. So back to the folks house to dig though their basement again. It was made clear I could have none of their albums but I went digging around certain I could get a loaner or two. I landed on their collection of 45's in nice neat cases with handles with metal clasps and corners guarded with armor from being dropped too hard. There was a lot of Doo Wop and Beatles, and the like, nothing that was too far removed from the local oldies radio station. Then I came across a box that was pistol packed with 45's. Right away I found a Hank Williams, then a Merle Haggard and a ton of jug band stuff I had never heard of then some blues and big band. Eureka! I inquired as to whose music it was, clearly it didn't belong to either of my parents, they said it must have been my Grandfather's. If I was going to listen to all of this music I was going to have to find that 45 spindle. A quick trip to Beverly Records and I would have a complete auto changing turntable not to mention even more music.
I quickly began digging though the box of 45's separating everything produced by Chet Atkins knowing well it would be country. My grandpa was clearly a Jim Reeves fan and has posthumously introduced me to him and a handful of other artists. I have been stacking 45's by the 6 and flipping them over to hear the b-sides for weeks now and am realizing that this is a box of records in many ways. I came upon "Sink the Bismark" a Johnny Horton ballad that could only be popular in the post war era. The song never charted in the top 100 when it debuted. A World War II Navy Veteran, its not a stretch to figure my grandfather purchased it after seeing the movie that inspired the song. This has been amazing going though my grandparents' Ipod, as I'm sure they both contributed to the collection. I must say their tastes certainly varied over the 30 some years of music. Everything from Ella Fitzgerald to the Everly Brothers.
