“As a kid, I was fortunate to have a place to escape to. My family and I lived in a small apartment in Kearny, NJ, but on weekends we would visit my uncle at his house in South Jersey, which we all called ‘the shore house.'”
“I looked forward to visiting the shore house because it always led to some adventure, whether I was chasing the dog around the house, creating fantasies outside in the woods, or directing epic battles with my toys.
Eventually, I outgrew a lot of that stuff but the shore house still remained a place of adventure to me. I spent a lot of time rummaging through old pictures and items in the attic. One fateful evening, my curiosity led me into the basement, where I noticed a set of shelves filled with records.
I had no idea what a record was at this point, but we’ll get there.
I remember going through each of them, one at a time: A-ha’s Hunting High and Low, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Gary Numan’s The Pleasure Principle, INXS’ self titled, and the list goes on. These became records that I would revisit much later on, but there was one record that really caught my attention. It was Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Maybe it had something to do with the animated Wizard of Oz theme on the cover, but regardless I stormed upstairs immediately to ask my uncle if he could play it for me.
He followed me down into the basement and set up the record player. I watched him pull the record out of its sleeve, pick up the needle and carefully place it down on what I could only assume was a song he liked. It was “Bennie and the Jets.”
I was instantly transported as the needle pressed against the record creating a low hiss. Suddenly an audience was roaring in anticipation, then Elton began the iconic staccato hits on his piano. It was my first experience with vinyl, and possibly my first experience with rock and roll.”
—Ryan Sloan
“Nowhere Now,” the new single from New Jersey’s Wyland is in stores now.
