iTurntable: 33rpms

What was the first concert you've ever went to? My 1st rock concert was RUSH for their Subdivision tour. Went with the twins, Alan & Nolan to hear Geddy Lee's witch voice piercing through the stomps of Neil Peart's double bass. CONFORM OR BE CAST OUT. But the very first concert that I really went to was one that my sister Lily dragged me to when I was in 7th grade. Barry Manilow. She was in love with him. Madison Square Garden rocked when he was on staged. Or maybe it Rolled. My favorite part of the concert was when he use to sing a medley of his commercial jingles. Before he wrote Mandy, he use to write jingles for McDonald's "You deserve a break today" Dr. Pepper, "Be a Pepper, Drink Dr. Pepper." and "I am stuck on Band-Aids, cause Band-Aid's stuck on me." Always a crowd pleaser. It brought down the Hizz-ouse.


LeeAnn and Rob were talking about their vinyl collections and it made me want to play my old records. I was walking through a street fair along 6th Ave. They seem to pop up on every avenue every week all over NYC. All exactly identical and all selling tweezers, socks, roasted corn and back massages. I usually just walk though these to watch the people, maybe buying a mozzarepas or a crunchy barrel pickles. I spotted a stand selling crates of used records. I picked up U2's WAR. Opened up the gatefold and forgot how lyrics used to be listed across the full bleed band photo. I forgot the visual impact that the 12" format had and I missed the whole vinyl sound experience. I gave my old turntable to my little brother but still have all these original Beatles, Doors and Stones album from my Older Brother & Sis. So I surfed eBay for a turntable and found mention of a portable record player, the Columbia GP-3B. It's made in Japan and it's battery operated with loud built in speakers and it looked really cool in a Fisher-Price kinda way. old skool iTurntable. I didn't want to invest in any serious audio so I thought this would be fun. I found a record store in Chicago that imported them, so I ordered it online on Sunday. It just came in. That was fast. Looks awesome retro and I'm going to Academy records during lunch to find a used record to break it in. Put the needle on the record.