my mosaic.

Christmas 2010 was really good to my family. with every crumpled piece of wrapping paper, I thought more and more about sharing my treasures with you, blogreaders. as a family gift, we got ourselves surround sound, so we can all finally hear movie scores, sound affects, concert footage, foley, and levels the way they were mixed. it’s dynamic, I tell ya. the first personal present I got to open was the Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid concert DVD. I’ve said it before multiple times, and I’ll say it again; Freddie Mercury was the greatest frontman alive, and now I own him on BluRay in 1981!(; while my mom was at an antique store in search of my big present, she came across two pairs of vintage gloves that were apparently quite the steal. one set is long and silky black as they extend above the elbow. they each have three little buttons on the inside of the wrist, and are classy and beautiful. the other pair is a tan driving glove that makes it halfway to the forearm. there’s delicate beading that fades toward the fingertips, and they’re nostalgic and whimsical. I’m very proud to call them both my own.

and finally, to set you up for how special these are: I was 7 years old when I moved to Germany; 8 when we moved out of the hotel into an large, old, wooden house. i was fond of exploring [nothing’s changed.] and one day, while climbing through cobwebs in the celler, I discovered an old record player that our Landlord, Frau Günshau, left behind. it was dusty, and yellow, and smelled like old books, and played this Firehouse Five Plus Two record with such a marvelous crackle; it captivated me, and I quickly adopted it as mine. you’d think it was a beautiful new doll by the way I loved that thing. a couple years later, it, along with a battered but dazzling catalog of original 48s, traveled with me back to Texas and was part of our life there. In the sudden move to California, most of my things stayed behind. This year, when my parents finally packed up our things to sell the house, my little old record player was given away, along with the old book of 45s. It broke my heart, along with seeing my lonely stack of fresh records that I bought for it’s arrival. since then, I’ve been wandering though record stores, catching up with Bob Dylan, making friends with Neil Diamond, but coming home empty-handed.

I’ve wanted to get another player, but after my little yellow guy, I couldn’t just get any one, especially one that converted into MP3s, or that had an Aux hookup. It needed to have a history, to have been born in a time where the doorway to escape-by-music was a needle in a groove.

today, in the light of the christmas tree, I peeled back paper to find a box sitting on my lap. it has blue and green polka dots: style in a decade past. the top was distressed, in a way that told me of a former life or two. I unlatched the sides, and lifted the front to release the smell of old books, and reveal the word “Silvertone” in cursive letters, over a boxy “Solid State Sound” on the inside. these are a backdrop to a little turntable, and a needle in desperate search of a groove. it was love at first sight.

my parents went to several different antique shops, specialty stores, and my favorite record store in search of the one for me. my mom found it at a little shop, got it for five dollars, and had it restored just for me.

she also picked out albums, and I must say, she knows me so well. Welcome to the family, Neil Diamond, Rush, James Taylor, Aerosmith, Bob Dylan’s ‘Saved’ which is special, the Hair soundtrack, Bay City Rollers just for kicks, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and a bunch of Beatles: early Beatles, The Second Album, and the Rock Years. plus a stack of 45s that include Styx, Deep Purple, Heart, Simon & Garfunkel, and a bunch that I’m looking forward to exploring.

this record player’s new to me, but it’s lived longer. it has history, but there’s plenty left for me to write. & it’s distressed, but that’s what makes it flawless.

Mom & Dad, thanks for my new old record player. he’s quite handsome, and we’re very much in love.