Desert Stars: The TVD First Date

“There’s a fire extinguisher strapped to that guy’s drum set. WHY? His sticks are on fire and I can clearly see smoke…is he going to be ok? Is he going to use the fire extinguisher? As a kid, this is what I would repeatedly think to myself as I stared at the back cover of my older brother’s copy of Van Halen 2.“

“I would fixate on the photo of David Lee Roth and try to comprehend how the split he’s doing is as high as the mic stand. Was there a springboard or something that they pulled away right before the photo was taken? I didn’t have the answers but I knew what I was looking at and listening to was AMAZING.

Downstairs in the den was my parents’ record collection. I had been having dance parties there with my mom courtesy of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The coffee table would be removed to make room and then I would go to town. That record is now sitting in the basement next to a Sergio Franchi album.

I didn’t own my own piece of vinyl until “Start Me Up” was released a few years later. I had it on 45. Having my own record was definitely a big deal. Otherwise, if I liked a song, I had to tape it when it came on the radio.

I started playing drums in 1991. My friend Brian gave me a bunch of old records and I became obsessed with “Bring it on Home” from Led Zeppelin 2. One night when my parents went out, I put the record on in the den and vigorously began air drumming to the song. It’s one of Jimmy Page’s best guitar riffs so when it hit, I started going NUTS pretending I was John Bonham. I was using a pink Bic highlighter in my hi hat hand. I suddenly realized that even though the cap was on, there was a pink stream coming from the top of the highlighter and it was going all over the white ceiling, the walls, the carpet…everywhere.

Buy vinyl, cherish your records, keep them clean and don’t store them in heat. But when you listen and air drum…use a pencil.”
—Gregg Giuffre

“My love of vinyl began with my father’s collection. I liked staring at the photos of the musicians: David Crosby, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, Paul Simon, James TaylorI still do. I wish more people put band photos on their albums.”

“My dad’s record collection is serious business, and he takes great care of the turn table and the vinyl. He taught me to clean the record with the special solution and the velvet brush, and we would delicately clean the needle together. The importance of the vinyl collection was concreted in my mind at around 3 yrs old when my dad’s best friend John’s ex girlfriend, “Slutrina,” went psycho and scratched and ruined his collection and wrote in red lip stick all over the mirrors. John was devastated and I then understood, this was the worst, most horrible thing she could have possibly done—music on vinyl is a man’s prized possession.

I started my own collection about 10 years ago when I was styling a photo shoot and the art director requested 1960’s psych records. I lied and said they were all rented and took them home, bought an amazing Technics turn table off craigslist and started hunting the $1 record bins—the first record I bought was Grateful Dead American Beauty—I adore “Box of Rain.”

So many bands press vinyl now that my collection has really expanded. I love buying a band’s record at their show, and who can argue with the free digital download? Genius, I love it.

My boyfriend has awesome vinyl and our collections have merged; we keep a 20 record “playlist” stack by the stereo. Lately I’m in love with David Gilmour’s 1978 solo record, a Kurt Vile EP “So Outta Reach,” Neil Young Comes a Time, The Byrds PreFlight (side B), War on Drugs “The Future Weather,” Bob Dylan’s Street Legal and the new DIIV and Kurt Vile records.

Putting on a vinyl record makes listening to music an experience again, and there is no discussion – Mp3s and CDs sound like crap in comparison. A friend who has made his stereo his art (3 preamps, handmade cables, lucite turntable, giant speakers—it’s beyond) invites me over for listening parties. You’ve never heard Berlin before. You only think you have.

My old roommate Melanie had some great LPs I miss… let me know if you find Leonard Cohen The Guests or Alice Coltrane Journey in Satchidananda.
—Carrie Ashley Hill