The Quadrangle

Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Since my freshman year of college, I wanted to bring my record player with me to school. But, my less than cavernous dorm in Chrysostom did not quite allow for such an appliance. And well it wouldn't have made me a considerate roommate to play my own music all the time. To a certain extent, a dorm room is not conducive to record listening either. Mostly though, I felt obnoxious carrying a phonograph into a dorm because it is an unnecessary luxury item.

Surprisingly, this desire continued throughout my college life. For reasons I'm still not sure I fully understand, I kept feeling like having my record player and records at school would enhance my living situation.

Perhaps it was because I inherited the record player and have an emotional attachment to it. It may also be the romantic image I hold of record listening and music in general. While i its a cliché, the idea of record collecting and possessing a John Cusak, High Fi-delity-like knowledge of music, remained a subtle influence. Music contains salient emo-tions, memories and stories. Its a romanticism I can't and don't want to separate from music.

So, when moving into my own apartment it was the first thing I packed. Now, after living with it for two months, I've realized that something I thought to be frivolous actually con-tains much importance in my daily life. Now, I walk into my room and immediately turn on a record. It's a habit, a comfort and also something I look foward to during my day.

Records force active listening. Its the type of sound that fills an entire room and cannot be ignored. Plus, at the very least, you have to get up and flip the record over. If you are listening to 45s, you could call it a workout.

And then there's the quality of the sound on the record player. Certainly, its better than MP3s or downloaded, mixed CDs. But mostly its just distinct. There's the anticipation after placing the needle around the record's edge and waiting for those notes.

It doesn't hurt that I have inherited some great, old records ranging from the critically acclaimed (Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers) to the rare and mostly unheard (a narration of the JFK Presidency). Also, most of the great, old records I have, I don't have in any other form. Thus, to hear The Beatles' White Album, for example, I have to be in my room, sitting near my record player. To some it may seem inconvenient and archaic, but to me it's just right.

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