StinkinJenkins

(via theadventuresofmichaelpawlak)

(via theadventuresofmichaelpawlak)

theadventuresofmichaelpawlak:

The world is bacon

jasonbaldwin:

I was fortunate enough to live in a time and place where Bloomington’s own Mysteries Of Life were a regular, ongoing concern. This EP is stellar.

Listen to that melody. Sumbitch that’s good.

(via theadventuresofmichaelpawlak)

I will be 37 years old on Friday.  I’m still a little boyish about birthdays and really enjoy them even though the reality is that I’m not just getting older but just getting plain old.  I’ve really gotten nostalgic lately.  I’ve made it a point to see friends that I haven’t seen in a while.  I’m listening to music that reminds me of certain events or people.  I’ve been catching movies on cable the have some sort of memory attached to them.  Basically, I’m trying to hold on to the items of my past that still exist because a meme reminded me lately that a lot of the fabric of my being is starting to disappear.  By that, I mean things that I have loved over the years that have been integral to my life.  The record store.  The local disc jockey.  Independent film.  Good music clubs.  They may still exist in some parts of the country but certainly not here.

I find it interesting that record stores seem to be surviving off of vinyl album sales, a relic of the past that has made a huge comeback.  Why?  They sound great but they are also something that you can’t “download” or “burn”.  They are physical pieces of culture.  Thin slabs of vinyl with grooves that crackle and pop under a needle, spinning on a wheel, creating a warm sound that emanates from your speakers or “cabinets”.  Remastered from the archives.  Re-released after years of being out of print.  Heavy grams of acetate.  Two discs in a fold-over sleeve that features original artwork or a classic portrait of the band on the vinyl.  Timeless music played in a timeless format.  

And they are expensive as shit!  My uncle, Chuck, pointed out that $48 will buy you Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s new album!  An album of Americana covers, no less.  Not even original material.  Should we open our wallets and fork out that kind of cake because this is the first album featuring Crazy Horse in a decade and a half?  Especially when you can buy the not-as-romantic CD or download for $9.99?  That’s where my nostalgia hits the proverbial iceberg.  

See, as much as I want to be a collector and tap into my flimsy purist vein, collecting vinyl is an expensive hobby and my means are a bit too meager for it these days.  I don’t even have a turntable.  That being the case, even getting started on this new hobby I would have to drop a few hundred on a turntable, a receiver and a set of speakers that would satisfy my ears.  Then comes the repurchasing of albums that I already have at a ridiculous markup.  Finding those albums means I have to travel to Broad Ripple or Bloomington, both of which are 30 and 45 minute trips from where I live, respectively, and I would want to buy them in record stores because, as we come full circle, albums are keeping record stores viable.

But then we come back to my increasing age, which also reminds me that I have many other important things to spend my money on like my mortgage and my child’s medicinal needs.  Plus I’m lazy so that rules out traveling to buy albums, and that whole shopping for the equipment I would need for such an audio setup would be taxing with the research and the pricing and whatnot.  And I’m just not that into music these days.

So, yeah, my youth is dead.

theadventuresofmichaelpawlak:

This is the end but the moment has been prepared for.

I can’t sleep…anymore after this.

(via theadventuresofmichaelpawlak)

Is it okay that I don’t like Bon Iver’s sad bastard music?  It is, right?

Rob Delaney: I love Levon Helm and America

robdelaney:

Levon Helm, drummer and singer of The Band, passed away from throat cancer last week. The outpouring of love directed his way over the last week, from every corner of the world, was remarkable. His family did an interesting thing too; they told the world before he died that he was in his final…