hooves on the turf

Morning Edition, April 16, 2007. CD sales are declining, but there has been a resurgence in vinyl. Audiophiles are drawn to records because there aren’t any anti-piracy restrictions and people claim they just sound better than their digital counterparts.

I’m about to listen to NPR’s Putting a New Spin on Vinyl Records, so before I tell you what their spin is, I’ll tell you what’s mine: if it weren’t for mp3s I share with my friends, I would not love so many bands and love them credibly. If we were to make enough money to spend on the amount of music we listen to, both live and in recordings, we’d probably have to sell off our indie souls. So, mp3s should be shared, there should always be a way for fans to get leaked albums in advance, shows should always be affordable, and all that good stuff. And vinyls should be bought. Show tickets should be bought. Other merchandise should be bought. Because, quite frankly, t-shirt I can wear, shows I can enjoy to death, vinyls I can adore, smell, touch and show off, but what the hell am I going to do with a CD?, other than give them as gifts because I want the band to make money.

Okay, it’s been an entire week since the “secret show” at Union Hall, but the Brooklyn Music Lovers Wanting Their Art Pure was nowhere as severe as this Gawker post makes it sound- there was an assertive keeping-the-music-pure request by the same Lou Dobbs prompter, however, and this one said, “Play more small shows in New York!” to which the whole room applauded and Bird shrugged obediently after finishing to sling his guitar: “Okay.” There was also a spinning, two-faced gramaphone type of a thing, which as it turns out is a gramaphone amp that a man in Chicago makes. Someone asked what that was for, and Bird said it was to throw around the sounds of his violin. Someone asked if there was a pet name for it, Bird welcomed suggestions: one I heard, and thought pretty good, was “Spinderella”.