We have been listening to old country and blues 78's these days. Nothing can replace the sweet sound of imperfection.
tu es un sac de douche vaginale!
just moved to dc from detroit, and miss it terribly. thanks for keeping me updated on what's goin' on back home!
Why not? Thanks for the chance to win something.
One of my students made me feel super old the other day when she commented how cool it must have been to be alive when the "cool bands" were around. I quickly corrected her that I was only in my early 30's and was hardly around for The Door and Led Zeppelin....she then said who??? I was talking about NIRVANA.....Talk about a blow!!
I think you would have been justified in punching the annoying little hipster record clerk for the Dave Matthews comment!
Wow, harshness from the record store clerk. That's pretty douchey of HIM! I was 15 when Check Your Head came out too, but wasn't cool enough to be tuned into it until after Ill Communication came out. And then I remembered singing "Fight for your Right" on the playground tire swing in 8th grade with my friend Amy. Keep enjoying your vinyl, strawberries, and your family, and we'll all keep enjoying your non-douchey, very cool blog.
Thanks for the site; keep the khaki-clad Town & Country hell-wraiths at bay with the help of your righteous and timeless tastes...
It's not often that I find myself alone in my office trying to stifle sounds of unholy mirth lest someone discover I'm not actually, you know, "working," but the hellwraiths in pleated khaki pants and tucked-in polo shirts did it. Were they also wearing braided belts? (Snorf.)
yes: braided belts. with holsters for their demonic cellphones.
(one had a bluetooth headset)
Why not show the French folk a picture of O.J. Simpson? That should explain explain everything. And if they need a more European reference, how about Berlusconi?
There's something about hearing certain music on vinyl that's sort of lost with digital. I pulled out a motown CD this weekend that I hadn't listened to in a long time. I had a song in my head and had to hear it. But when the music started, I was so disappointed, because in my head, I was hearing the pops and cracks from the days of listening to my parents old 45s as a kid. It just didn't sound right coming through so clear and crisp...
Yeah, well, give yourself ten years, a lot more gray hair, and you'll be my poor husband...who wonders when he went and 'got old'...and he actually saw Zeppelin play live...
But, really, we 'old people' with kids out here in Ann Arbor love you!! There are lots of us...we just don't come out very often, except to go strawberry-picking with our spawn...evil cackle follows...
I suspect the French problem with "douchebag" is the faux ami of douche meaning something in French that is only vaguely related to its English meaning. I had the reverse problem all the time when we lived in France.
What's a record?
.
.
.
Ok, yea I know what they are, I listened to them as a youngin'. Never owned one though.
I am too lazy to find music on my own. This seems like a perfect solution. I'll throw my hat into this here ring.
when I was in high school my good friends' parents had a cabinet full of old soul and jazz records. We used to listen to them even as new release CDs competed for our attention.
I only really became interested in vinyl after my kids were born, partly as a reaction to the digital thing, but mostly so one day they might discover the records that really have mattered to me over the years.
You can't go wrong with Check Your Head. They may look at it as retro, but they can't deny it's greatness!! Did you ask if they had any Mojo Nixon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q...h?v=QJYjr-
vUKZM
I'm about to purchase my very own turntable and am terribly excited about it. I spent a good chunk of my afternoon in a record store yesterday, dreaming of all the vinyl I'll soon be able to buy. And then I looked around at all the plaid and tight black jeans (I live in Seattle) and wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Wait. This wasn't the club I wanted to join, really!
I am merely 26.
i hope that experience hasn't turned you off of underground sounds. i really like that place. i can't remember a time i was in there when it wasn't the owner behind the counter, but he is a very relaxed and non-judgmental guy.
*ed note: I LOVE underground sounds. The owner is an incredible guy who I talk to all the time. He wasn't behind the counter on Sunday, and I *may* be blending the experience with one I had down at Encore. Let's just say this post reflects my experience at several record stores blended together like a cheap scotch, not any specific experience at Underground Sounds. * ---jdg
Edited By Siteowner
I actually just bought about 20 new songs from iTunes because Esquire magazine told me to. At a loss for any more genuine ways to discover new music on my own, I went through their recent article "50 Songs Every Guy Should Be Listening To" and listened to snippets of all the ones iTunes had available. (It's ironic, see, 'cause I'm a chick!) I did find some good stuff (Mos Def, the Avett Brothers) but I felt kinda old doing it. But at least I'm still trying.
What Palm said -- "la douche" in French is just the word for "shower." So maybe it sounds like you're talking about.... a shower bag. Like one of those weird caddies people always get for some reason right before they go to college to carry their shampoo and disposable razors down the hall to the communal bathroom.
awesome post! I love how things are lost in translation.
My wife and I love your blog, and can relate as we are peers. Do i get bonus points if I tell you how envious I am of your bike? :o)
Life before kids... the memories fade quickly and it takes something like this to rattle them around the brain again.
I've never seemed to know what it is the kids are listening to...and I'm technically still one of them. I just listen to whatever my sisters put in front of me. To my credit, I DO know who Gave Dad Snooze is...and I DON'T like his music.
I still have my old Bang & Olafsen turntable from 1986. Just the other day my 19-month-old discovered it in the cabinet, and I had to pull the cartridge off the arm and hide it before he broke it. And then I thought, why am I saving this 20+ year old cartridge? Answer: because a new once costs as much as the turntable did originally. And I still have all that vinyl upstairs.
The hellhound-drawn minivan looms ever closer for me, too. Maybe some new music will stave off the fiends?
I just saw a commercial for the new Dave Matthews album and, honest to God, Dave himself said, "If you don't like this album, you don't like music."
That takes some balls. (I may or may not have called him a douchebag under my breath.)
And don't worry about keeping up to date with music, once your kids are teenagers- as mine are- you'll hear more current music than you can stand... over and over and over. And over. And then one more for good measure.
I adore my Dad's old record collection. Mind, he was never cool so it's a lot of stuff that's been lost in time. But when I go home I love going down into the basement and listening to warbling 60's folk songs.
I was recently on a road trip and asked my trip mates if they brought any music to listen to. One pipes up with "I brought some Dave Matthews. I figured everyone loves Dave Matthews." Then I punched him in the throat.
Sadly, between keeping our offspring happy, fed, and occasionally even clean, we never managed to hook up our priced record player since our move two years ago. But one day we will ... and it will still sound better than any other piece of audio equipment we own.
Vinyl is definitely the way to go, and I let the dog babysit the kids all the time.
My boyfriend's old college professor, who is now a friend, met me recently and told my boyfriend I looked like this french girl he used to sleep with back in the day. Weird.
Lucky for me, my wife-to-be has an extensive and rather rocking vinyl collection. I consider myself lucky because otherwise my vinyl collection is very sad and consists of Simon & Garfunkel I found at a thrift store, and the 70s Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers and Barbra Streisand I got from my folks.
I've never been cool. So I'm particularly relieved my rockin' almost-wife loves me anyway.
i work with junior high & high school students and they constantly make me feel uncool.
and i don't like gave dad snooze either.
Certainly the douchebaggery involved huaraches.
A 5 year old student said the word chupacabras yesterday. Had to explain the rest of the class what it was. At least he didn't say douchebag.
My mom has an enormous collection of Trad Jazz on vinyl, much of which I don't think has ever been released on CD, or is available for download. We also have a real honest-to-god Victrola in our front hall (inherited from my Grandparents) along with a hundred or so 78s to play on it, mostly the "prohibition pop" that my grandparents listened to when they were courting.
I never fear that my son will say "what's an album." We have a great time cranking up the Ol Vic and dancing to "Barney Google" or "Toot, toot, tootsie, goodbye!"
I'll always go for a chance to win something.
Ugh. Dave Matthews. Not my thing. Why do all my friends think he's Jesus Christ? I have no idea.
Don't get me started on Coldplay. I've got a fiery rage in my soul stored up for them.
Starbucks is hawking Gave Dad Snooze right now. So, yeah.
what is with the clerks in those stores? Seriously, just do your job and give me my change without the commentary. Sheesh.
I teach high school, so I often feel like a mummified relic, although last year, one of my students asked me if I knew anything about this group of bands called the Elephant Six collective, and I got to geek out for awhile and seem relatively "with it."
I love rifling through old records at music stores. I don't do it very often anymore, but prefer the real thing over itunes.
Insult to injury there, Dutch. Ouch. If they only knew...
I like to tell myself that contemporary indie music is to "my" indie music from the 1980s as Sha-na-na is to Buddy Holly.
Thank God I was never a DMB fan. Shudder.
"a chupacabra freshly yanked from a goat carcass..." Wow. That made me laugh out loud.
We went to a very crowed Farm Aid concert about 4 years back, to see Willie Nelson and Neil Young. Turns out, DMB was playing too. That hour was the best thing that ever happened to us. Food, bathroom, and beer lines vanished, and we were able to peruse the uncrowded merch tables with out missing a moment of what we came to see.
My 10 yo son loves all music--but he especially loves blues and the Beatles--he has always gravitated to really good music--from the time he was a tiny guy...
Your imaginary advice to/ tirade at the hipster brings me joy.
For the Gallic, the literal translation is "poire a lavage vaginal", but the word you're looking for here is somewhere around connard or encule.
For the rest, you're on your own.
Back in college a guy asked me out to the movies, anything I wanted, my choice.
When he picked me up, he said he had a surprise for me! 2 tickets to the Dave Matthews concert instead. That's when I got a sudden and severe case of menstral cramps and had to be taken back to my apartment immediately. No guy would ever question the menstral cramps...
You are too funny.
I'm sending my husband to read this right now. Love it.
My listening misfortunes are somewhat self-inflicted, but watching my cute 2-yo son try to sing "Robin in the Rain" to the Raffi CD makes my ovaries hurt. Oh wait--maybe my ovaries hurt because I'm almost 8 mos pregnant?
Oh, honey. There are karmic boomerangs headed right for 'em.
I used to be a music store clerk (sort of) when vinyl started its "comeback." I wanted to cry when one of the teenie boppers asked what vinyl was. Sigh.
My dad still has and uses his player to listen to his collection. It was through him I learned to love Pink Floyd, Lez Zepplin, Jethro Tull, and Chet Atkins. When I was working at the music store, Pink Floyd put out Division Bell (early 90s). Imagine the horror when some kids said how much they liked that new band. Some people's kids. Glad to know yours won't be among that crowd!
that is one of the best (worst) stories ever. i love it.
I think I've always wanted a tiny music player.
HAHAhAhaha *Snort* hAhahahAh
"flaming minivan pulled by hellhounds"
Thats the funny thing I've heard today. You move me!! And by that I mean I almost fell outta my chair laughing (with you of course)over this post, good stuff.
PS hope theres not Gave Dad Snooze on the preprogrammed non-viynl thingamjigger.. Boohh!!
there's not. I checked.
One of my friends who I often talk music with started a debate on his Facebook page by asking "Why does everyone think Kings of Leon are so good?" He totally did it on purpose, it was hilarious.
Thanks for the chance to win something!
Thank god you're not making me think up something clever to say to enter the drawing.
However, Dave Matthews does suck.
we have a french student living here for the summer. i'll have to bring up dbags at dinner tonight and see what transpires...
Oh, and to nancy, who downloaded stuff from Esquire...www.stereogum.com gives away free music all the time. Some of it's fantastic, some is not my bag, but none of is it Gave Dad Snooze.
Oh no. I so feel your pain.
Way to make us unlurk.
I fondly remember my LPs. They are in storage and I hope survive their stay there.
Shortly after moving to LA I started taking advantage of the local concert scene, seeing all these amazing big bands at tiny little venues, and discovering new and local bands through random stops at the viper room, roxy, etc.. Now I won't go to a concert unless I can get a good seat - no way I'm I standing for hours anymore. I'm only 32, and yet so, so old.
I need to do some strawberry picking myself. Which farm did you go to?
When I was a kid my mom worked at the bowling alley during the day. She got to bring home the 45's from the juke box. Fun!
Just discovered musician Arthur Russell. Amazing! The documentary "Wild Combination" is a great intro. Think you'll fall in love with his music if you haven't already. Love your writing.
I just introduced my supercool boss to your writing via the Dooce book and he was totally tripping that he heard the word "feral" twice in one day-- once from your story and once from his neighbor. He said he hadn't heard that word in like 20 years.
Really enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work.
I [heart] vinyl. I do not [heart] Gave Dad Snooze.
I do miss the live shows though I think you detailed it quite nicely in a previous post about how prying yourself off of the floor with a drooling babe on the floor doesn't really sound that fun anymore.
Ha.
Vinyl=win.
my music collection is eclectic and super-embarrassing and I embrace it. at the same time though i still want my much-younger, hip colleagues to think i'm cool. sigh, you can't win.
Hmm. Can't imagine what type of music it will have on it . . .
I can't deal much with the snooty-snobbery-hipper than Jesus music clerks. I just glare at them and shake my cane!!!
And I can't think of (whisper) DMB, shudder, without thinking of his tour bus unleashing a bunch of frozen poop on unsuspecting victims. Ug.
I'm de-lurking at the opportunity to win some goods! Woo! BTW, I love Wood's crafts!
Unfortunately, I think we're of the age where we're going to be continually asked "would you like a side of Dave Matthews with that?" That said, I would love a tiny music player. THanks! JessicaD
good call on the DMB.
Your writing makes my day. Thanks for the contest.
come to think of it, why IS douchebag such a bad word? i'm not gonna stop using it (it's what i call one of my exes who is not worthy of a name), but it is interesting to ponder how it came about.
i know bunches of people who'd love that music player...so yeah. 
hey- at least you haven't sunken to loafers/blackberry level yet. There are worse things out there my friend. strawberry juice stained vinyl doesn't sound so bad compared to the ll bean catolog that is DC.
Nothing like being reduced to a member of the slobbering masses by a record store clerk. Le sigh.
Why does it bother us so much to lose our street cred to a stranger? Not sure why, but it does sting.
What record store were you at? Next time you're out this way, give a holler - there are several of us out here who read your blog and we'd love to buy you a cuppa joe. (We hang out at http://workantileexchange.com and would love to give you a tour, if you're interested in the coworking idea.)
Anyway, the strawberry juice phase will pass, and soon enough you'll be arguing about who gets to pick what's on the car radio, and preferring it when your second child is in the front seat because he at least has the decency to appreciate The Who and Led Zeppelin while his older brother is all about the bubble gum pop. (Shudder. Musta gotten that gene from his father.)
That is one well-trained dog you got there.
Now can I please have the slot radio music player?
How about a game of douchebag bingo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jef...one/3083265443/
I am about to forward this post to my corporate lawyer husband who spends vast quantities of time dowloading music, re-organizing his digital collection, and re-loading his Mp3 player-- so that he can see what his life will become in a short few years. I think he might leave a store without his purchase if someone alluded to his need for DMB albums.
Poor daddy. I remember when I was cool too. Now I am merely tolerated by the 13yr old son because I buy the food. At least you got strawberries out of the deal. PS-In response to your eating greens a couple times a week so you can live longer, I have many greens at the DWS garden if you and your lovely wife want any.
This post really cracked me up. My corporate lawyer husband and I are still pretty into music (him more than me, though) but it's gotten to the point that when we get a sitter and go to a show we're almost the oldest people there. Almost, but not quite yet.
My husband has a daily music blog if you'd like to check it out: the subject matter ranges from classic stuff to new releases to obscure motown etc...
Ah, yes. Trying to live up to the scrutiny of the clerk in the record store. Thank goodness that at least the dog is non-judgmental.
Huge fan, here - I check you daily. Love your writing, whether about family, building, bikes, vegetables, or being Dutch. Thanks for writing.
Haha. From what I recall of your great bicylcing post (which I've talked about with several people IRL), you aren't some terrible loser how you try and fail to (jokingly) portray yourself as in this entry.
Carry on. You're a great, insightful, and keen observer dad who is going to make sure his kids are even more awesome.
I have really enjoyed reading your blog the last few months. Listened to your radio spot on CBC too.
They thought you would like Dave Matthews? I'm so very sorry. We who read your website know better. 
Recently in a car the following conversation happened between my friend and a very nice 19 year old college student while "Daughter" was playing.
19:This song is neat, whose it by?
F: Pearl Jam
19:Who?
F: Pearl Jam
19: Haven't heard of them.
F: Pearl Jam?!?
19: Are they new or something?
F: No, they're Pearl Jam.
Not a fan of Schmave's music, not at all. Yet, when I see him at Whole Foods here in Seattle I'm oddly compelled to follow him around the store and check out his purchases.
Thank you for this blog. It gets me through the work day. Love Wood's crafty crafts, too.
Ugh. I dated so many of those record store boys during my teenage years. Such a bad idea, but at least as a result now I know enough to be mortified when Snora Jones and Sheryl Crow show up on my Pandora station.
Dave Matthews - ARGH!!
You've got such a great way with words, even your French.
hey, i'd like to hear what the kids are listening to these days, so i'm commenting.
Your DM story is truly mortifiying. As a high school English teacher, I'd love to know what the kids are listening to. Get me psyched for prom. Thanks--Maisie
I have no idea what the kids are listening to these days. It occurred to me the other day that my children's childhood memories will be of listening to music that came out twenty to forty years before they were born, because that's what I like to listen to. Sometimes I think that's weird (what if my parents had played big band music or 50s pop instead of the classic rock and easy listening I grew up with?), but other times I don't care, as long as I don't have to listen to any stupid children's music.
One of my childhood friends got reeeeally into Dave Matthews Band in college. But it was the best thing ever when she came home from college with a vanity plate that said "DMB fan," and we were all, "what's dumb fan mean?"
Almost made up for the music she'd subject us to as we were driving around in the Dumb Fan Van.
Because your blog is my most beloved. Because I have an old, red trunk filled with vinyl from my early teens in the garage. Because the shared undying love of quality music has been replaced with a numb distance from all things innovative. Because I just got home from my job and am listening to KidsBop (cue hellhounds) with my 4 year-old son. Because he loves it and sings every evil word with innocent gusto.
Where did you say the U-Pick strawberry farm was?
Great. I think this is just great. Ad I'm not just saying that because of the possibility of free sway. Seriously.
amazing post as usual!
so this is off-topic (I'm content with my ipod, plus now I have a BarBri ipod and that's all I have time to listen to for the next 2 months!) but I was wondering what you like your readers to do when they spot you & your family around town. I've seen you a couple times but didn't know whether saying hi would be annoying/creepy/flattering.
I am in the same boat, focusing on my kid has pulled me away from the hip new music that i used to care so much about. So much so that I'll eagerly listen to almost anything new that I happen to stumble across, since it's so rare. Lately, I'm embarrassed to admit, we've been listening to a lot of Lady Gaga. Can I pretend that I'm doing it with irony? Anyway, I'd love a new music infusion, especially if it's free, and I might be willing to share with my husband.
i feel like a half-breed: i'm going to elvis costello tonight with a bunch of septuagenarians, pretty much, but i'm also wearing sperm-killing jeans. as i'm a gal, i guess it's ok. fight the good fight, m. sac de douche!
Dude, I don't even know what a demonoid account is. Does that disqualify me? I hope not. I'd love to know what the kids are listening today, other than *my* kids of course. The under four crowd isn't so judgemental.
That's a pretty cool device! I could pretend I bought and let my kids give it to my husband for father's day. Now that's thoughtful!
Hey, just met a totally cool ER resident who's moving from Omaha to Detroit. I referred her to your blog! She's very excited and will be a great addition to the city. How's that for semi-random? Love the blog, by the way. Jealous of the u-pick, ours went down in a flood last year. Hopefully next year!
hilarious. We pretty much jam to old Iron Maiden and Bob Marley. The kids, they love that stuff.
Why not indoctrinate the kids some more? Make them listen to your music - that way you can stay current and torture your kids too. That's what we do.
I'd love to try out the SlotDisk. I'd never heard of it before your blog but it seems like a great idea. The workout mix looks pretty solid. Here's hoping there's no DMB on it...
Um, music? You mean other than the Cars soundtrack that my kids insist on playing in the car?
i'm delurking to say me, me! i want one!
I love the image of your boy lounging on the dog while getting his face licked clean. Too funny.
I love strawberries! And vinyl...still have all my original albums from my teenage years (1980s). Thanks for the give-away.
I love dogs (have 2), babies (have a fresh new 4 month old one) and I miss new music. -- and I just went back to work and can't muster the energy to make playlists anymore. Pick me! Why wasn't Juniper with you at the store?
It gives me such pleasure to read another parent's struggle to maintain hipster-ness in the face of an ever changing and increasingly youthful society. Also, my hubs would love the player. Just sayin.
heh. My initials = dmb.
I want new music, please.
When I was in college I was the only girl I knew who didn't like Dave Matthews. I'd be hanging out with a guy and a DMB song would come on and I'd start holding my ears and complaining and they'd look relieved and say "oh, I thought girls liked this stuff," and put on their normal playlist. This happened a lot.
I love this post! So hilarious...hehe
me! me! pick me!
Vinyl? In the old days we called them records. Yes, still have a box full. And a turn-table, too. Or wait, was it a hi-fi? Thanks for bridging that generation gap.
the french like robert crumb and philip k dick.
My three-year-old picked up an audio cassette the other day and asked me what it was. I tried to explain, put it in the stereo, etc. She asked why I didn't just use my iPod.
Last time I was in a record store I was reminded of the Futurama episode where Fry goes into old New York and finds a copy of the Breakfast Club soundtrack that his older brother used to listen to. "Man, I can't wait until I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff."
I've started trying to listen to modern music the last few months, since I realized that my favourite music now is the same early-mid 1990's stuff it was 15 years ago. I highly recommend CBC Radio 3. It's all Canadian, all independent, and users on the website endlessly mock Nickelback. They're like the Canadian DMB.
I am in desperate need of both new music and a new player, since je ne suis pas un, 'ow you say, hipstere... et mon ipod est mort il y a longtemps.
I speak french! and like babies! does that help?
Your site has the amazing ability to make me think I could move to Detroit. Thanks for everything...
I'm always a little sad when I see the kids with blue hair and chain wallets at the mall....when I was their age, the Gap was the devil...and if Hot topic existed we wouldn't have been caught dead there. We shopped at the Cats Meow and dealt with the people there who were WAY punker than us, and we absolutely knew it...I think they would have offered me a DMB CD if they wouldn't have burned them in effigy first...
Last week we were in Vermont and my husband found a Zappa album in an antique store. We don't have a record player but he bought it anyway. Now I need to ask my parents if they still have theirs.
I'd like one.
What if I defend minivans?
Okay, i didn't mean to be anonymous, unless that disqualifies me.
Thank you very much, I would like one of those.
Things people younger than me but older than 13 have recently expressed ignorance regarding:
- Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli
- Disney's "Sleeping Beauty"
- Station wagons*
*Me: It's the grey station wagon over there.
Kid I'm paying to wash my car: What? A wagon?
Me: Station wagon.
Kid I suddenly don't want touching my Volvo 840 anymore: What's that?
Me: *sigh*
I have a closet full of amazing vinyl, two kids under the age of four, and a record player that's had a broken needle for 18 months. In college, I would have replaced that needle within the hour.
That record clerk incident is kind of like that john cusack record store movie, of which I cannot remember the name, because I'm (a) old and (b) pregnant so my brain is shot on so many levels. I feel like a retard with alzheimers most days.
Regarding douchebags, I am a MI native who for some odd reason decided Los Angeles would be a fun place to live after college. Thing is, California is populated heavily by douchebags. You are so lucky you escaped when you did. We are trying to...but for now we're kind of stranded. Well, Cali was not all for naught - at least I met my awesome West Michigan husband here. Thanks for the many reminders of home. Oh and you're totally not a douchebag. College kids are totally, though : )
I've been sitting here for ages trying to think of something witty to say as a reply, but to no avail.
Good thing you're the blogger in this scenario.
I'm not your buddy, friend.
I have a 15 year old hipster for a daughter. I'm uncool everyday. Though she might be a little envious if I had a slotRadio...
Comment, comment, comment.
here for the talent, insight, humor and raw emotional that it pulls from me. commenting to win prize.
too tired from laughing to come up with something witty. too. funny.
thank god someone else hates Gave Dad Snooze as much as I do.
My french is horrible. I won't even try to explain anything to a French person, much less why douchebag is like idiot.
First up Jackson...next up Shang-ri-la...
It stings less if your music taste was never cool to begin with.
I just love the old labrador who's babysitting the wee one
Don't worry about them understanding your tersm. I think 'douchbag' translates across culture, time and space. : )
My first hipster music memories ... 6th grade on the playground, my friend had recorded Joy Division - Closer onto a used and reused cassette tape and had snuck his dad's old-school boxy cassette player to school in his backpack. We were gotholicious by the time we hit puberty
We have a good old Kenwood receiver and turntable from the late 70's; you know, the kind with the REAL walnut case (even the speakers). Yeah, weighs a ton. It's not set up and the turntable needs a new needle, but one of these days I'll get it going again and think about my younger days with Queen playing loudly.
Crackles and all.
Did you know Gave dad shoes has his own channel on XM radio? I randomly found it, shuddered and clicked past it.
Congrats on the ads. Im game for the giveaway. Thanks.
Sounds like fun! And the chance at listening to all that is fancy without having to wade through "elmo sings opra" to get there is awesome in my book!
In my experience, bike shop repair guys TOTALLY trump the holier-than-thou attitude of record store clerks. Really: what's the point of flinging attitude at a 42 year old mom getting her son's bicycle - with training wheels! - tire fixed?
The nice thing is, I'm finally old enough to laugh about it!
Do the french know who Gave Dad Snooze is? You should have taken one of the CDs to use as an example of a douchebag.
If only I ever was as cool as you.
Oh well. I'll live somehow.
Ouch! Snicker, ha, ha! You made me laugh so hard I (almost) woke the sleeping baby...
I'd like to win a product!
Rock on.
My dad would LOVE this!
at least he didn't offer you a Hootie and the Blowfish promo.
The answer to your music woes is streaming college radio. I'm sure Detroit has at least one killer radio station at the beginning of the dial, but online there are so many choices. One of my favorites is WPRB.com, the radio station out of Princeton, with an open format that changes every tow hours or so depending on the dj. They even have a show on Saturday morning designed especially to appeal to children! Another is WKCR -http://www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr/- the radio station out of Columbia University which focuses mainly on jazz. I hated jazz until I tuned into this station. There are no Standards to be found here. That's two, but there are loads of good ones. WPRB actually has a link to a number of other good online radio outlets. Check 'em out! And don't worry. . . the Dirty Projectors are at least as over-rated as Wavves!
Most of my vinyl, sadly, is in boxes arrayed in a line to cordon off a corner of a baby-proofed room from my 8 month old.
When I was younger and thought myself hip, I thought of Dave Matthews fans as "whitehats" - perhaps harder to translate than douchebag. Kinda a cross between a "brah" and a "judd". Always with the white baseball cap, usually backwards.
It's my first Father's Day, give me a prize?
Also - thought of your YouTube kids list when I saw this the other day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x...h?
v=xgHmSdpjEIk
My boy loves it.
Damn hipsters...
quite the burn he gave you. if it helps, i know quite a few hipsters that think you're cool. besides, you're pretty damn close to what we all want to be when we grow up.
Qu'est-ce que c'est un sac de douche vaginale?
Love the bike. Love the post. Love vinyl!!! Vampire Weekend *shrug* My most recent vinyl purchase was Damien Jurado.
My 17 year old son gave my (probably older than your father) husband one of those turntables that you can hook to the computer to transfer vinyl to mp3's (or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays). Aaahh, circle of life. Please put me in for the drawing as aforementioned 17 year old son won't let me have one of his old mp3 players and I'm way too cheap to buy one myself.
I was just over at a friend's home and her 7 year old had a "record player" just like the one I had at that age (in 1978.) I almost cried tears of nostalgia. I want that crappy old record player back.
Interesting.
I almost bought a record player yesterday...but don't own a single record.
Husband would be thinking it was cool to win his gift for F's Day.
I'm older than you and I've let my hair go gray and irony? never heard of it. -- Which means I am completely immune to record clerks.
Bike mechanics and snowboard shop clerks, however, can slay me.
So I just bought B52s "Whammy" CD. I think I listened to that album day and night my whole 13th and 14th year. Funny thing is, when I listen to my CD in my Honda Pilot and my 2 kids are in the back, I still sing the part where my album skipped "you gotta...you gotta....you gotta .." (hit the needle) "...you gotta get to the phone now....I'm gonna contact you when I get hooome....Whaaaaaamy".
Kelly
Bonjour, mon ami. J'adore la musique, comme toi.
"sperm-killing jeans" sent me into a speechless reverie.
Ahhhh... but don't you get points for irony when drive around town belting Raffi all day long? Well, at least that's what I tell myself these days.
what are kids listening to these days? I'd love to know; I don't even recognize the groups you refer to. I'm one of the creaking elderly who love reading your blog. "my" bands were the Supremes, the Everly Brothers, etc. and I saw Janice live at the Avalon as a lifetime high point. Sigh. Keep up your blogging, it is wonderful; topical, evocative, unashamedly loving, extraordinarily wonderful writing, and so very cool.
I'm so unhip, I'm not quite sure what I'm now entering to win. I clearly need it! Went strawberry-picking on Saturday. Can't wait for the raspberry season to start.
me! pick me!
I'm up for some free stuff.
Ah, the music store hipster judges. That's about as bad as the La Leche League watching you breastfeed.
I'm pretty much only listening to old classic rock these days, because one day it hit me -- all the music that is out there that I want my 5-year-old son to listen to. There's so much. I feel like I have to play the stuff I listened to as a kid just so he'll hear it at least once before he goes off to whatever musical adventure will be going on when he hits puberty.
So far, his favorite song is Baba O'Riley.
"Mom...... You were alive when The Beatles were together?
Yeah.. that one just about did me in...
A giveaway? Count me in - my poor husband could use a father's day gift.
But if I actually wasn't anonymous, I might have a better chance of winning......
I'd love one - though I'm guessing that these things probably don't wing their way as far as Blighty...
Thanks for the giveaway. I love Sweet Juniper and all the associated pages, especially Wood Craft. Thanks for sharing with us.
There's nowhere to go in this small Northern Michigan resort town (which may or may not rhyme with Barber Sings) where people aren't all dressed in polos and khakis. I'm kind of considered a rebel because I listen to Spoon. Yeah, I know.
Brilliant! I remember feeling lame in that very record store *before* kids. I'm sure some sort of sensor would go off if I dared to step foot in it now.
I love learning about Detroit on your site. It brings out the cultural geographer in me!
I, too, am in a musical time warp (again) so I would love to have an idea what people listen to in the 21st century.
Please, let the god of the wheel of fortune spin and pick me....
I am a big loser when it comes to music. I just can't find ANY new music that I like. I can honestly say that I don't know even 1 song by "the band that shall not be named"
In what weird universe do beastie boys equal dave mathews? bb are timeless and even sac de douche clerks should be cool enough to know that!
i'm 1/2 french and grew up speaking it and have no idea what the translation for douchebag would be.
I'm live and local and would be happy to hook you up with a few gigs of modern musical variety...just ask.
btw, love the eastern market haul pics, but the question still begs, what you do with all of that wonderful Michigan goodness??
What the hell, I'm in. Won't comment about the doucherie, but will say you did good with the dog and strawberry juice. We haven't tried the cleaning aspect yet, but we regularly threaten our 3-year old with a peanut butter facial in front of our panting, drooling, 80-lb golden. Unfortunately, it just makes her giggle.
I need to win! I have major problems using (legal, paid for) music download sites. I may be technically challenged (and I work in an I.T. department!). Actually, I just have super crappy slow dial-up at home, and I also don't know how to disable aggressive firewalls. See, I really need a pre-loaded thing-help!
According to the guy who made the "Cleveland Tourism Video" (too lazy to find the link this morning) you should "Come on down to West Sixth Street/It's the perfect place if you're a douchebag." Maybe that video would help explain it to the French?
My husband calls Gave Dad Snooze "secretary rock." Said with a definite sniff. But then, I am pretty sure he still spends his days surfing the web for cool music. How else to explain the fact we had the Fleet Foxes album the day it was released? Not too shabby for a 41 year old with a 20 year old daughter (and no, she doesn't help him. She listens to "classic rock" like AC/DC. ...???)
Ha! I must say, I'm glad to be unhip these days. Sure, it was fun in the '90s when I had blue hair and a nose-piercing, but it was so exhausting trying to stay out on the cutting edge. Now I revel in buying the unexpected, like Edith Piaf and Doris Day. It makes me happy and completely confuses the clerks.
You could keep trying to explain douchebag......or you could start calling every douchebag you know a poon slug! Douchebag was my favorite derogatory word....but has since been replaced after reading Dooce's last post....poon slug.....I just love it!!!! and that's a much nastier one to try and explain! Love your posts! Thanks.
I love your Detroit stories and always look forward to reading more. Am I the only one waiting for the Miss Pickens picture?
Ha! I'm going to see Gave Dad Snooze a week from Friday and am quite excited about it. So uncool, I know. ;o)
A douche bag in french would have to be un connard.
I also apologize to any french speakers reading this next story in advance. It's a bit vulgaire!
I spent a year after high school in Normandy and the cafe owner where I hung out was trying to help me with my pronunciation.
He said, "Repeat after me 'merde, con, cul, bite, couilles.' Now memorize it and practice that."
I did and of course everyone had a good laugh. But luckily, a friend was there to translate for me so I knew exactly what I was saying before we left that day.
It honestly did help me form my english speaking mouth around french pronunciation.
Also, it's been 20 years since then and I still remember it. It's a catchy little rhyme.
It's an honor to be nominated!
Enjoy your site - thanks for the opportunity to win something fun!
I have started listening to talk radio on my commute. I just turned 30 and have an 18 month old. I'm wondering if I should be concerned that I don't really care about music anymore. I used to choose friends based upon their musical tastes but then I married a man whose family's crown jewel is a framed signed picture of them with Gave Dad Snooze. I downloaded a Miley Cyrus song when my daughter was three months old because it made her smile and bounce. BUT to make up for it, I also purchased three First Aid Kit songs (you know the sisters who covered Fleet Foxes). I guess there are just more important things to care about now. I think I'm okay with it...most of the time.
Lurker posting out of an inability to resist free stuff.
Also posting out of a hatred for the khaki clad sensitive date rape that is dmb.
I have lost all touch with what the kids are listening to these days. It happened sooner than I expected, I'm only 30. In the car it's NPR, and at home it's whatever my husband is listening to.
Don't let the hipsters get you down. Stupid know-nothing kids. When did I get so OLD? Auugh! Hand me a Geritol.
I am just beginning the journey into parenthood. Already your previous posts are resonating in my head... especially the one where, as a parent I am becoming "The Man" and how can I fight against myself?
As always, your words inspire.
Ha! I don't even have TIME to bother with music. I listen to a consntant regurgitation of country, classic rock and 80's hits on the radio. And you know what? I Love it.
Thanks for the entry!
Personally I'm a big fan of the zune and XM Radio channel 9 (90s). My siblings have no idea who I'm talking about when I ramble about what a great song I just heard on XM. i'd love to hear what 1000 songs comes with that fancy schmany little radio dealy. Pick me pick me!
I don't speak French, so I won't be correcting your French, and I don't listen to Dave Matthews... but I like music!
I was mad-keen on music in my teenage years, and now my *entire* music collection is a couple of dozen old scratched cds, played over and over. I've no vinyl and have never owned an iPod or any sort of digital music device. I *need* new music, or old music, new. Crossing fingers I win this one
I'm a product of the 80's. Everytime one of my teenage girls goes on and on about a "new" cool song they are listening to- I can't help but point out that it is a remake.
What happened to all the talented artists that could write their OWN music and lyrics instead of having to rip off someone elses?
La meilleure phrase trouvée à l'internet aujourdh'ui est:
Seriously dude, this made my day.
I think it's "Wet Hot American Summer" where the nerdy little kid says "A douchebag is a hygienic product, so I take that as a compliment..."
Heh I know how you feel about the Dave Matthews! And hipsters. I got mocked for actually listening to the "mew music" Rhapsody picked for me by someone *older* than I am.
Me! Me! Pick me! Oooh! Oooh! Pick me, pick me, pick me!
:o)
Don't worry, being a dad is cool - the best part is we're the parent counted on passing along the warped sense of humor.
I have found myself to be drowning in suburban cliches lately and I feel somewhat powerless to change it. But at least I have the decency to be a tad revolted by it.
Despite what the clerk so wrongly surmised about you - you're still an inspiration.
if I win, I'll let you pick a record out of my wife's collection in the basement as a thank you.
As an eight year old, I used to walk around crooning The Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul and Mary songs. I have lived my entire life with that record store clerk perpetually lurking over my shoulder. Except he never says "That's a decent album."
That is so cold. So very, very cold.
Our local hipster record store doesn't have that many hipsters in it anymore. I guess they're all scoring free mp3s and have no use for albums.
The clerk there was pretending to never have heard of Jarvis Cocker.
OMG, you should have clocked him.
I used to be intimidated by hipster record clerks, but then I realized that all they had was too much disposable time and too much disposable income, not taste.
Our local really cool record store, Waterloo, thankfully, has awesome employees. I never feel intimidated by them. Although they aren't as knowledgeable as I think they should be. (Did I mention my dream job is to be a record store clerk?)
I rarely enter contests as the opportunity rarely presents itself at the blogs I visit. So, thanks for the chance at winning something!
I'd be curious to see what they've got in those pre-packaged playlists. Weird.
You know I'm still haunted by Amy and Talky Tina, right?
I think it is important to distinguish between the new vinyl hipsters for whom Amoeba is the holy grail and the old, crotchety collectors who scour the garage sales and flea markets for quarter copies of Mojo Hand. Both groups are self righteous in their own special way.
I live with an old crotchety collector who can't stand the vinyl-as-a-trend buyers but at the same time realizes that new blood and increased sales gets more reissues released and might be the key to keeping the record store alive.
As a classical musician I get a permanent Certified Clueless About Everything Relevant card. It's handy in ever so many situations.
Love the record store clerk description. On point! I could feel myself standing in Schoolkids Records ... the raised eyebrows (scratch that) the raised, pierced eyebrows staring down at my purchase.
So what'cha what'cha what'cha want, what'cha WANT?
love your blog, esp all the pics of Detroit......
The Dave Matthews comment is too good to be true. As is the fact that he called you Buddy.
Stop using the word "douchebag." Problem solved!!
Comment. Now give me the device.
Love your writing, BTW. I've spent a good-many hours distracting myself at work with it. Thanks.
30's are pretty awesome...cuz you just don't have to put up with shit anymore.
Frankly, I'm glad to see that someone else in the world is using db other than my husband.
Rock on.
Kayan
Hee-larious. Well, Dutch, you're old. It's official.
Need help. Send music.
Sounds like somebody needs a douche a la bouche.
wait, are you sure this isn't some ironic joke where you're trying to pass some free promo full of U2 and Coldplay off to us, you hipster you?
but it's free you say? sign me up.
We finally have a good radio station in Denver that plays stuff by local bands. We've been discovering all kinds of new music lately; far more so than maybe since I was in college!
if you think the judgmental record store clerks are bad when you're buying something, try to imagine what they're like when you're bringing YOUR unwanted used CDs to sell them!
I have wanted to tell them I stole certain CDs out of somebody's SUV rather than claim I ever paid cash for something they deemed unworthy to touch with their own hands.
I listen to The Current from Minnesota Public Radio - a streaming station that plays ecclectic music and emerging bands - even though I'm in Gerogia. Thanks for the opportunity to win the sandisk.
I could use a primer on what the kids are listening to these days.
hmm. Sadly, there aren't really any indie music stores around here anymore. I did go to a few in ann arbor when visiting my brother last summer, and the atmosphere you describe is spot on.
love your blog. I still pass around the link about Juniper using the mens room. Love it.
I'll be 50 in a matter of days. Yesterday, I drove a college kid to the airport and we had a two-hour drive. We listened to my iPod the ENTIRE trip. He was astonished by the segues from GooGoo Dolls to the Beatles to Nelly. I played cello for an audience at an assisted living center. I threw in "O Mio Babbino Caro" toward the end. As people lined up to talk to me afterwards, one woman emotionally thanked me in Italian for playing that piece.
There is nothing as powerful as the memories that are dredged up by an old familiar tune, except for those that are triggered by the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven.
Je voudrais gagner. (Hope my French from decades ago got that right!)
Keep up the brilliant work.
Are you sure that wasn't Jack Black effing with you in the record shop?
This would be go a little way towards addressing my own failure to maintain cred now that I am over the line of 30.
The same thing happened to me, but my hellwraiths were dressed like Soccor Moms.
Ironically, I'm having a yard sale on Saturday where I will try to unload a couple of hundred vinyl albums. Care to stop by?
And I'd sure love one of those new-fangled music player thingies!
Funny, as always.
I remember learning to sing "Lemon Tree" by Peter, Paul, and Mary while sitting outside with my dad. So there's a father/music memory for you, and kind of douchbaggy, to boot.
I would love to win the music player to give to my husband for father's day. Love your blog.
"Check your head" was the soundtrack to my senior year at Grand Blanc High School.
so watcha want? a free music player...
I have to admit, I'm rather curious to know what 1000 handpicked songs are on there...
Ha. The other day, I was trying explain what a hoosier is to my 9 year old and it was just as difficult as explaining a douchebag to the French. See, in St. Louis, hoosier doesn't mean someone from Indiana, it means white-trashish. I felt like such a well, douchebag, trying to not sound horribly judgemental defining it. So? I feel your pain.
Sweet sweet record stores. Where oh where have you gone? And music magazines! Blast you digital age! (except for blogs, and computers. You know, I have to draw the line somewhere)
I follow Jason Mraz around the country. Am I going to be disqualified?
BTW, next time you need to explain what a douchebag is, just go to ArthurKade.com.
It took me 10 minutes to figure out that French and thanks to 2 years of it in high school, I was mildly successful.
Even before the possibility of the giveaway, I was planning on "de-lurking" for the first time to LOL at the flaming minivan bit. I so love your writing, your attitude, and your various life missions. Keep it up!
CDs are so yesterday! Tapes are making a come-back. No? Just me then...
Just kidding. I'll get back to my illegal downloading now...
Amazingly funny post, by the way.
Check Your Head is one of the best albums ever! See, I still say "albums" and I probably always will. No plastic case and metal disc will ever replace the feel and smell of an album cover and the warmth of the sound when the needle hits the vinyl.
I love your writing!
hysterical post. my coworkers are wondering if i lost my mind. who knew the french read this blog
Very funny. And I could totally relate.
i feel your pain. great post.
I can completely relate.
Its getting hard for my walker to fit through the doors of record stores and vintage clothing outlets.
What a neat little music doo dad.
Did you see the Slate article on how only 4% of sellers on Etsy are male? And then I thought, hey I've bought a photo from one of the male sellers!
I miss the old tiger stadium so I have been listening to baseball music all week.....
When I was about 10 I called my sister a douchebag. My Dad sat me down and explained to me what that was! I was more than horrified. To make matters worse, the next day when I went to the dentist my mom retold the story of me learning about douching to room full of people. Try being 10 and having a dentist hands in your mouth while your mom talks about douchbags.
Old albums? I love those. I remember my parents having a stash of Neil Sedaka, the Carpenters, etc, at home way back when. Thanks for the laugh.
I hope you have a fabulous Father's Day! You sound like an absolute fabulous father, so you deserve it!
Thanks again for getting me pregnant (wait, that came out wrong... do you remember my original email?) Anyway, parenthood rocks!
I have nothing to say. Only commenting for the free stuff.
I just spent an hour on YouTube with a girlfriend showing her videos of people dancing to "Can't Touch This" (in honor of his new reality show - the horror).
Please, Hammer, don't hurt 'em.
I still have records that I sometimes listen to. It is mostly for nostalgia. At some point recently I realized that if I'm going to insist on hanging onto the turntable and records, I really need to get a better music selection. So that's part of the reason I don't really listen to the old vinyl anymore. Technology-wise, I have not progressed past CD's, so this Sandisk player would be a nice step for me.
As the father of a 2 year old girl and 8 week old fraternal twin boys, I have no time to even make it to the cd rack at Target, much less look at my old albums. Someday, someday, I'll get my old record player working, and listen to some good stuff again.
pick me!
want want want please
I hope I win, I hope I win, I hope I win...
I can't even bear to think of all of the great 70's vinyl records that have likely transformed into scalloped bowls in the heat of my attic. (Not to mention the 45's that were passed down to me from the 50's.....Sorry, Elvis.)
Oh God, how I loathe Dave Matthews Band, maybe more so as they are,obnoxiously, referred to as DMB. It's either because their music is terrible or a guy I dated in college dumped me for a 38 year old woman he met at a record store while both purchasing DMB (gag) albums. They're now married with a child and I am single living in a closet sized room in New York City. Maybe it's Ryan's fault I hate the band. But then again.......nah, they're just terrible.
We bought one of those turntable thingies where you can transfer your vinyl to your computer. (And, yes, "turntable thingies" is a technical term for me.) We love our vinyl and have an extensive colletion but fear the day we can no longer get new cartridges or even *gasp* find a new turntable if replacing ours is necessary. We're just trying to preserve our collection as best we can.
Born and raised in AA, still in MI and LOVE your blog.
PS: I'm not even "in it to win it," I am just waxing nostalgic about our LP's and had to comment.
I miss your playlists. Maybe Wood could help you pick out some new music, she seems pretty cool!
greetings from the duce, or maybe more appropriately, the douche.
dig it.
I could use some fresh insight. Most of what my husband and I listen to, we own on vinyl. And we originally purchased it that way.
er, the deuce.
Thanks for the laugh as always!
Stupid Gave Dad Snooze is everywhere lately!
"He wakes up the mooooorning!..."
The Dave Matthews Band played at my freshman year dorm end-of-year party. I remember I was like "Who in the hell are these guys? Let's go drink some Southern Comfort, I heard that was Janis Joplin's favorite drink". Ahhh, the disrespected begining gigs of every band.
What if the playlist for that device is all Dave Matthews. Awesome.
I don't want any newfangled digital music player. But I do want to say thanks for making me laugh really really hard.
yeah, sorry you had that experience. Since the supposedly good stereo that came w/ our 2004 GTI has lost its CD function and now lost RADIO function (all my previous urban assault vehicles in all their crappiness never lost radio, which I plan on explaining to them in a letter) we could use a portable player of some sort.
fingers crossed, t in 49006 yo.
I had my own "I am no longer young and hip" moment a few years ago, when the classic rock station in Miami played Pearl Jam. My co-worker and I looked at each other, like, "Dude, we are so old." As for vinyl, I've always loved it, when it was uncool in the early 80's, and I was buying Madonna records from the clearance section at Meijer, and I still love it now, from my dad's old Stones & Led Zeppelin albums to The Cars ones I was given a few weeks ago.
And I don't profess to like or know the coolest music by any means, but the band in question has always been outrageously lame. Didn't get it in college, and I don't get it now.
Thanks for the laugh!
This would be interesting to hear what music they load onto it. I'd love to win!
I was at a local carnival the other day and noticed that my daughter was the only four year old who did not know all the words to Britny Spears' latest opus.
Clearly, I am depriving her of the pop music trauma that is necessary for a normal childhood.
Long time, first time. I'll aim for the free stuff. Keep writing; yr very good at it.
Ah, I know those hipsters well. Was this on Main st or liberty? I've only been gone a year and I already forget that area of AA. My best friend used to work at Footprints on Main; we would always walk around after his shift. Come to think of it, I think he was one of those hipsters. Please accept my sincerest apology.
if a minivan come with an auxiliary jack for an mp3 player, does that make it less douchebagish?
My music collection stops abruptly in the late 90's when I quit working in radio and sold my soul to corporate America. I am too cheap to BUY it after many years of free CDs and shows. Plus, I can't take the clerk scrutiny and it is not as fun to browse on the internet.
The American Spirits and sperm-killing jeans had me guffawing! Thank god we came of age in the giant pants generation.
Question, though... how do you keep le bebes away from the turntable?
I've been listening to old Kenny Rogers and Jimmy Dean lately... kinda sad, but fun!
My brother-in-law loves Dave Matthews... it's too bad. I have just started listening to old school r&b. Lenny Williams "Cause I Love You" is glorious.
I think this is the 5th blog I've commented on tonight that's giving away one of these things. I don't quite understand the purpose if you already have a fully loaded iPod, but free music and gadgets are free music and gadgets, so count me in!
My hipster dad needs a Father's Day present!
Hi, I'm new to your blog. Love your writing! I'll be back again soon. Nice to meet you.
Our daughter asked if she could listen to a "silver record" the other day. We talk vinyl so much in this house that she doesn't even know the word CD.
Yeah, I know how that is. A couple of years ago I just gave up. Just flat gave up. I was watching the MTV music awards when it happened. I hadn't heard of any of the bands playing and all of their music was crap. I permanently tuned my car radio to the "oldies" channel (which occasionally plays Nirvana, so don't I feel old) and got out all my high school CD's. I'm done. Whatever.
I am 25. I have no children. I had never heard of demonoid until I read this, flushed with embarrassment, and hastily looked it up.
Mmmmm...u-pick strawberries.
Throwing my hat in the ring.
I'm a part time stay at home dad standing in your vast shadow, and wish I had something of value to contribute, but really I just want the mp3 player...
Grant
p.s. you're either giving us something to aspire to, or just making us look bad. Either way, thank!
I get to listen to Donna Fargo's Funny Face every morning while my three year old sings along in the back seat. It's awesome! I grew up in MI and miss the u pick apples and the fresh cider every year.
you are brilliant. and also, i would like that music thing. i'm random, it could happen
Maybe amongst the 1000 songs, I'll find an oldie, but a goodie.
I'll listen to anything. I just like music.
Me me! Pick me! I'm sure I need those 1000 songs more than anyone else who reads your site.
i love it when man's best friend helps out that way!
God, record collecting. I try so hard to resist and I cannot.
Fate refuses to spare me from vinyl. I eliminate and renounce (THREE previous times!) and I end up with yet another record collection. This time: A record player on the street. Really old--from the 40s--so naturally irresistible. Next, a set of mint records, again on a different street. It was all downhill from there.
I'm like a heroin addict who gets clean and moves to a monastery and then it turns out the monk in the cell next to me is a drug dealer. I cannot be held responsible this time.
Actually, since you have a kid I should mention that kids' records are almost always cheap on Ebay. (I take responsibility for the Ebay purchases.) I have reacquired every childhood record I ever owned at this point except 'A Child's Guide to the Orchestra' which I'm sure is somewhere in the future. Tons of kids' books on records, actually decent kids' music. You're probably already way ahead of me there but I thought I'd mention it.
"Hipster douchebag" has become probably my favorite phrase on earth.
The language stuff cracks me up. Everyone should learn a new language if just to hear things like douchebag translated and explained in context.
Thanks for writing my favorite website. I love your photo essays and commentary about Detroit, I love reading what you've written about Cincinnati (grew up near it but never understood it), I love your insights and humor about parenting two small children (I have two as well) -- I really enjoy it all. I'm am American married to a French guy living in Switzerland, and I just had to explain "douchebag" to my husband recently. I hate it when he asks me to define words because it usually makes me realize that I don't really know exactly what they mean myself. He also had no idea what "douche" means to an American. I'm not sure if they just don't exist in France, or if it's because he's a guy. I don't know if they even still exist in the US! It's a pretty weird idea, if you ask me.
What a horrible way to be profiled. Sorry.
You know when kids are focused on something else, not aware of the world around them, and they start singing songs or bits of songs to themselves? The other day my 6yo did this and the song he was singing: Alice Cooper's "School's Out". I have no idea where he heard that, but it was a bit surreal to hear my young son, still technically in Kindergarten, singing Alice Cooper.
PS, pick me!
OK, I confess I was hugely into DMB when I was in college in the 1990s (wasn't everyone?). Now...not so much. As in, not at all. They have that new album out and I really couldn't care less. The last album of theirs that I liked was from 1998 and my favorite one is still Under the Table & Dreaming from 1995. You know, before they went and became The World's Biggest Band (I think Coldplay might have knocked them off that pedestal, however).
Since Schoolkids closed I didn't even know there was an independent record store in Ann Arbor anymore.
dmb= douche-matthews-bag??
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and photos. I was born in Detroit ....and have a hard time explaining its lure to those who ask. You do that exceptionally well. It makes me sad to know what it was and what it has become.
I laughed when I saw the douchebag comment. Last week my 7-year-old called his CapriSun a douchebag during dinner with my in-laws. I guess I have to really watch what I say.
That music player would help me block out the caterwauling of my husband's cds of the artist who shall not be named!
I gave up. And I used to be the snotty, so trendy that I knew the trends before they hit North American trendy, CD store clerk.
Now I put on my perscription sunglasses and rock out to 90's rock with my car seats tethered to the back seat and toys rattling in the back of my modest four door family car and shake my head at "kids these days" wearing their bright hipster douchebag clothes, wherein you can see the disturbing outline of their nutsacks in their gross tight neon pants, and see the line of the control top thigh of the pantyhose that the girls wear with their belted long tee shirts. When did NOT WEARING PANTS BECOME OK?!?!?!?.... And I'm only in my mid twenties.... oh shit - I think I need to finally give up and go buy some Mom jeans.... I used to be so cool.... le sigh....
Alas, there is no strawberry picking in Texas... they would all have been scorched by now anyways, just like my tomatoes!
Okay, I'm in.
And if I don't win, I'd seriously settle for a list of what music is on there. I'm always looking for new suggestions to go along with the old stuff I have played the hell out of.
I have given up buying music, but I still listen to the local college radio station to try and at least have an idea who is out there. Then they'll start playing Elliot Smith or the Stone Roses, and I'll feel still-relevant, if only for 3 minutes.
I was going to post on this one before I read about the contest, because it is seriously funny. Thanks for writing good stuff.
Thanks for the chance to bring some new music into our lives. While I'm thrilled our three-year old regularly requests Beatles, Death Cab for Cutie and Aretha Franklin, I feel we need to broaden his exposure. Otherwise, I'm sure he'll be expelled from kindergarten for his lack of musical acumen.
Just recently stumbled upon your blog. Love it. Keep on rockin'.
Very happy to have a reason to comment. Your blog is a delight, a break from the workday, and inspiration to get outside the norm.
Love your bike, by the way!
Thanks for the chance at the player!
Less than 10 years ago I was a completist, buying the same album on different formats from different labels (imports and all that)... I've got 4 copies of the same Belle & Sebastian record: domestic CD, import CD, domestic record, record on record label that went belly-up shortly after releasing record. Now I'm lucky to buy one CD of a band I like, and can't bring myself to buy music at shows anymore; it feels like wearing a band's shirt as soon as you buy it at the show. If this is the 30s, I fear what the 40s will bring. Dancing with scarves at the back, entranced? *shudder*
Really enjoy reading your blog! Thanks for the great giveaway!
comment.
I feel lucky!
My husband, who is English, told me a story I love. When he was ll or 12 growing up east of London he really started getting into music. He was born in 1960 when his parents were in their early 20's. When they realized Nigel was getting into music while on a holiday, they mentioned that they had loads of records stored at home that they had collected throughout the 60's. Nigel couldn't wait to get home and get his hands on those records. He was dreaming of all the Beatles, Stones, etc. records that he was going to have access to. So he gets home and starts going through the boxes of albums. Turns out his parents were big fans of American Country music! Jim Reeves was apparently their favorite. To this day he can't believe his parents came of age during such a great time for British music and their taste went country.
Sadly, I'm not witty, so I very much enjoy reading the blog of someone who is...this comment is lame, and only because of the giveaway--but I do sincerely love your blog.
Love your writing; would love to win!
I love your blog! Also I have never won a contest before- maybe that's about to change!
I loved the irony of replacing your old CD collection with vinyl.
My favourite was French classes in high school, when word-replacement translation of Austin Powers movies and such kept us busy for hours. Lancer-moi un frikking os ici!
Commenting! My iPod is on the fritz, you see. It's not the sharp black lines that cross the screen that bother me, it's the fact that it keeps dying randomly while I'm driving.
I know the record store feeling. I kind of relish going in there, because secretly I'm way cooler than those snobs. And not nearly as angry.
Dave Matthews is the horrifying and unwanted soundtrack of my high school years.
This is definitely a way to get your lurkers to sign in and post.
Ouch, that is a huge bummer. As a middle aged resident of a college town, I feel your pain.
But really, the hell with them, They'll find out soon enough, just like we did.
In the meantime, I would love a newfangled music whoosiwhatsit.
I love that record store. The dog is adorable.
Random, random, random.
I'm more of a classic rock listener - my mom always says I was born in the wrong decade because I prefer the music of her youth to the music of mine, but I'm always interested in hearing some new stuff.
Those Frenchm they are so full of the merde de la vache, yes?
Alice
Thanks for the giveaway.
I wish my daughter would be still so one of my 2 dogs could pull their weight around this place. It would totally be a win - win. Kid's clean, dog gets a taste. I'll have to work on that.
listening to Simon & Garfunkel right now....reminds me of riding around with my dad.
I would love to win a little music player. Malcolm got a new backpack and it actually has a pocket to hold an MP3 player and a little hole for the earphones to come through. He will, therefore, need a music player so he is not technologically disadvanteaged in kindergarten.
yep, I'm a lurker too. A newly stay-at-home mom for the summer (college prof during the year) with a 2.5 yr old and a 7 week old. I just got done taking them both grocery shopping for the first time... makes me appreciate you and my husband who stay home much more!
Ahh. Check your head, and Paul's Boutique, too.
I got that one the same year I learned about the quadratic equation and the war of 1812. Can't give you many details about either of those anymore, but if you're interested in knowing every single word to 'Shake Your Rump' I've got that covered
My spanish will not help me correct any of your french... too bad!
I must admit...graduated high school in '99, I still heart Dave Matthews.
my husband listens to Gave Dad Snooze....too bad for him...he can't enter the contest.
I feel exactly the same way when I walk into a record store, but couldn't have said it nearly as well as you did.
Love me some music, love me some Sweet J.
I get around feelings of musical unhipness by spending my parental years listening to antique banjo players and show tunes that were old before I was born.
Another lurker enters the fray...
Dude. I feel your pain. Quel horreur. Quel horreur!!!
While listening to the radio with an eighteen year old the other day, a song comes on to which the teen said 'what a classic'. He was referring to a Blink 182 song. Classic indeed.
I have to admit, i'm de-lurking for the chance to win some good tunes...
I graduated high school in '99 as did another commenter, but my ipod is currently filled with Simon& Garfunkle, Beatles, and Florence & the Machine (love her!). Have you come across her yet?
I have two kids, and I haven't ventured into a record store in years. Is that why we tend to get stuck in the music of our youth?
Thanks for having a giveaway.
We have been listening to a lot of the Wood Brothers. My four year old loves the 'Liza Jane' song. Play it again, please. We have to cut him off after 3 times.
When I venture to hear what the kids are obsessing over on the blogs now, none of it sounds as thrilling as I want it to. I miss workdays full of downloading too.
All jokes involving French immediately spring back to Eddie Izzard. My favortie, "Ou est la plume du mon oncle?" also involves phrases on vinyl (and a hilarious mime thereof).
My Dad invented a little game to pass the time on long car rides when I was little, quizzing me about whatever song was on the radio on the station he listened to. Thus began my classic rock indoctrination from the tender age of 3. I'm 27 now and have gotten so good he's now moved on to obscure trivia about whatever band/singer is playing. The scary part is I find myself playing this very game with my younger siblings (the youngest of which is 5!).
My parents had a collection of old 78s that they no longer listed to, so they let my sister and I (8 and 10 or thereabout) smash them on the concrete patio floor. Those old, heavy records made a very satisfying crash. I cringe about this now.
Contest is now over, winner being chosen right now by random.org.
Thanks for playing!
Okay, that chupacabra line is TOTALLY the best thing I've read all day. And yeah, I'm a middle-aged mom who still says, "totally."
ah well. it's strawberry season and we're doomed to find red stains everywhere. not to mention i look at my daughter and get flash backs of last month's tripped-and-gashed-my-mouth-open experience. goody.
I just told my proto-hipster fifteen year old son that I despise The Beatles. Apparently, all old people are supposed to like them. I should point out that I am all of 36.
But, ugh, that band the record clerk mentioned? Whose name I won't type? I weep with you.
My roommate freshman year of college owned exactly one CD. It was by that Gave Dad Snooze band. Not only did she put it in the instant anything of mine left our single shared CD player (oh, the time before iPods!), she also could not fall asleep at night unless she had music on. HER music. Her one CD. On repeat. All night. Every night.
I still do not know how I had the self-control to not throttle her as she slumbered beneath her Polo Ralph Lauren comforter.
i heart ann arbor.
thank you! love your blog.
The strange dog licking part freaks me out ... but then again, I don't even like getting touched by my friends, never mind dogs ...
Good luck explaining that. I used to think I knew what 'douchebag' meant, but I think it's morphed into much more of an all-purpose insult than it used to be. Anyone can be a douchebag nowadays!
I hope I'll win. It will help me to catch up with the current music.
I've been reading this blog for almost three years, and you've never, ever struck me as a Gave Dad Snooze sorta guy. I will gladly defend your honor in this department.
Just started the parenting thing & I get what you mean...you definitely give up your old life & pasttimes. I thought you should know that around these parts we have shortened douche bag a little by just calling people douches or using it as an adjective, douchey
Hey, Christian, are you an old 'Hoo, too? Boyd Tinsley was in one of my history classes before they threw it all over for the fame.
Not a Dave Matthews fan, but I can't totally hate on them just because of my C'ville nostalgia now that I'm here in the Midwest.
Unfortunately, you have more in common with DM than you likely know. He lived a block behind us in Seattle and was often spotted running his twins around the neighborhood playground. Nice guy, actually, all music-ness aside. Frighteningly so. Alas.
If it's any consolation, we were in a wine store this weekend when my husband asked to pee in their bathroom. I rolled my eyes and said, half jokingly, "man, he has to pee everywhere" to which the young woman behind the counter replied, "well, that starts to happen as you get older..." the echo of the "older" still reverberates in my ears. Horrors.
Just because you have a kid or two, that doesn't mean your not a hipster.
Love the blog. Made me smile to remember buying records in Ann Arbor back in 1978... and then finding a Sex Pistols CD in Dublin and introducing my kids to them as all the different hurling fans passed us on the road, flags waving and getting us to cheer for their team.
I've become rather earnest over the years, but I appreciate your irreverence.
Hey Dutch,
Happy Father's Day!
What is wrong with Dave Matthews?
Sigh...this sounds just like my music life nowadays.
Happy Father's Day!
that record store requires courage. bravo.
My husband would die a happy man if I won him something like this. So I guess I hope I don't win because I don't want my husband to be so happy that he dies.
I'm a 31 year old mom of a 2 year old, and set foot into a record store for the first time in 2 years just last week. Guess what I bought? Dirty Projectors. Because I heard it on NPR in the car after dropping my kid off at daycare.
It was like a cool accident happened.
I feel you.
oh, what I wouldn't give to know what hte kids are listening to these days
Douchebag. What a great word. So small, yet has so much meaning.
My flaming minivan is pulled by clones of Kelly Ripa and the hellwraiths are a dull din of "I'LL NEVER BE A MODEL!!!!" The tonal quality is really what helps to emphasize the absolute terror that the visual implies.
Baaaah, humbug! If it's the Ann Arbor record store that I suspect it is, most of the youngsters that work there deserve a punch in the face. TOOOOOooooOOOOOo trendy and too presumptuous. I don't even shop there anymore because it's too aggravating to deal with the younger end of the staff, and I used to BE a young record store clerk...funnily enough, back in the days when "Check Your Head" came out!
Any record store clerk worth their salt knows that trendy jerks are as predictable as can be, and the coolest customers are usually the ones who totally fly under the radar at first glance.
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