My first record was Ted Leo and the Pharmacists’ Shake the Sheets. I’d been a fan of his since I first got to college, but 2005 gave me my first opportunity to see the rocker in person. I went to see a TL/Rx show with one of my good friends; we got there early and stayed up front. After the show, I wanted something big for Ted to sign so I picked up a vinyl copy of Shake the Sheets. To me, having him sign a record meant that there was some functionality — though at the time I didn’t have a record player — as well as something to get autographed. Ted took my sharpie and swiped a quick “Thanks! – TL” to end my night at Louisville’s Headliners’ Music Hall.
I couldn’t have been more thrilled with my purchase, but I wouldn’t be able to truly enjoy it for a few months. The signed record was merely decoration on my dorm shelf until I got a friend to drive me to a used record store on the edge of town. I picked up a portable record player and some used LPs (including a Chuck Berry’s Greatest Hits and a Talking Heads “And She Was” 12” single) for around $100. Suddenly what had been previously used for decoration was now a source of crisp, clear music.
From there it was a whirlwind of cheap used records, cheap record players and doing a poor job of caring for both. Eventually I learned the importance of a decent system, how to care for vinyl and when to splurge on good records.
-Matt Jordan
Matt Jordan started the music blog You Ain’t No Picasso as a Freshman at the University of Kentucky in 2004. He has photographed for Rolling Stone, Spin, Pitchfork and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. He works at CD Central, an independent record store in Lexington, where he spends his time encouraging people to buy the vinyl version instead.
