Spin The Black Circle
After spending the last few weeks recovering from a storm which deposited nearly an inch of ice on this area of the U.S. (and which pulled down thousands of trees and power lines, leaving us without power for eight days in freezing temperatures and depositing countless snapped branches in my yard/on my house), it was good to spend a recent night listening to music and recounting some old memories with my kids.
The catalyst was a turntable. We decided to re-do my twin sons’ room – nothing major, just re-bunking their beds & rearranging furniture – but the resulting extra space in their room prompted me to dig out my old turntable and hook it up to their stereo. They already had a portable, suitcase-type turntable, but this one’s a vast improvement.
The comeback of vinyl is a very cool development. Radiohead’s In Rainbows sold nearly 30,000 copies on vinyl last year – this in the age of iPods, mp3’s and CD’s. I’m no Luddite, but I will always cherish my memories of poring over album artwork and lyric sheets while listening to my vinyl records. I was much more engaged in the process than I am now, listening to my iPod while doing a thousand other things. My sons Nick & Sam began collecting vinyl about a year ago, focusing on some of their favorite bands, including the Germs, NOFX, Sex Pistols, Bad Brains and Radiohead.
So this weekend I not only blew the dust off the old turntable, but I showed Nick my old record collection and we picked out a few for a listen / trip down memory lane. Now Nick is 14 and not particularly inclined to lay back and listen to the Who or some of the others whose music I hold dear, instead being drawn to the harder edge of my collection. These albums date back to my high school days. He grabbed a couple of Anthrax LP’s, Iron Maiden’s Powerslave and Dio’s Holy Diver, and I upsold him on Judas Priest’s Sad Wings of Destiny. He wouldn’t bite on any Deep Purple or Thin Lizzy. Maybe next time. My original copy of Quadrophenia, too, can wait.
It’s been over twenty years since I listened to some of this stuff. The boys knew Holy Diver from the Killswitch Engage cover a few years back – which I admit is pretty good, having heard the recording and then a live rendition at the Warped Tour – so they wanted to hear that first. After being transported back to high school by the first couple of Dio songs, I was espousing the virtues of Vivian Campbell’s guitar mastery, and Ronnie James Dio’s powerful pipes. I regaled them with stories of the ridiculous stage set (which featured lightning, flamethrowers and a large pyramid/drum riser) on the Last In Line tour back in ’85… I think. I also impressed them (they acted impressed) with my story of meeting Vinny Appice backstage once. They’ve probably heard that about 30 times now. (For the record, even back then at the age of 17 I was constantly preoccupied with the Who. I asked Appice what he thought of Keith Moon. He told me he was a big fan, and to listen to the end of… I think it was Dio’s Don’t Talk To Strangers… he plays a Moon tribute there, and indeed I remember listening to it at the time and agreeing that there were some appropriately Moon-like fills)
Next up was Anthrax, whose Among the Living was another favorite of mine back in high school. I’m not denying, however, that I didn’t still enjoy a run-through of the LP this night. Nick, a drummer, was instantly drawn to Charlie Benante’s fast feet, but had a hard time stomaching Joey Belladonna’s falsetto.
So it was a cool night of bonding with the kids and taking a trip down memory lane. We stayed up too late but bid each other good night with wide smiles and a mutual appreciation of the power of music. Music was my refuge back in those days, and I guess to some extent it still is, whether it be delivered via iPod, radio or CD. But that crackle as the needle hits the groove – what a sound!
