Rewind 20 years.  1992.  The year before was overwhelmed with milestones.  1991: The Year That Punk Broke... Nirvana Nevermind...There was Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr... Shortly followed by Jane's Addiction, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins... Music was fun, it was rebellion, it was meaningful... it was an escape.  I fell in love with guitars...  Coldplay was there somewhere, but my crowd was so "anti-popularity" that I was influenced to look the other way.  But I found them eventually and that was enough - especially since I did get to see them live and they were everything I imagined they would be.

If you haven't figured it out already, I'm a junkie for music.  In so many forms.  I respect almost every bit of it in some way.  I just wish there was enough time to find all of it - all the best of it.  I feel that I have found some gems and try to share when I can, but does anyone else get it?  Will they see what I saw - can they relate?  That's what makes music great - when you can relate in some way.

Any time I go on these social network sites, etc., when they ask for "musical influences" I'm like, "there's no room and no time to list them all".  All I can hope for is to instill in my children the same open mindedness about music.  From Classical to Jazz to  Big Band to Rock 'N Roll to The Beatles...

 ...and from there.


I love music.

(More of my collection to follow.)

When I was 15, I was sent to spend the summer with my cousin in Oregon.  I had only been back one other time since we moved to the south when I was 7.  That summer changed my life in so many ways.  What does it have to do with my vinyl collection?  I'll tell you...

Sunny Day Real Estate had only put out their first album.  Jimmy Eat World had put out a debut as well.  Grunge had been turned in to "Alternative" much to the dismay of fans of the Seattle music scene and it's branches...

I went downtown with my cousin and her boyfriend to practice my new found interest in photography.  (I was shooting on my first 35mm camera, an upgrade from my pocket 110...!)  As we were walking around, some guy on a skateboard came up and asked, "Are you guys from around here?"  I said no while my cousin said yes.  He went on to explain there was a house show at the address on the flyer he handed me.

Now, house shows were the *new* old thing at the time for me.  Emo bands that loved to play couldn't get shows in bars or clubs, so they played in people's basements instead.  My cousin was not interested, but I loved music - live music especially - so much that I went without her.

It was a cooky little house in the very outskirts of downtown.  There was a record player in the hallway playing an LP, I think it was The Cure.  I knew I was in the right place, and at the right time in my life.  There was no drinking or drugs.  Just cigarettes and music.  I hung out a bit, people watching mostly (something I was quite good at, at the time.) 

The main band playing was christie front drive.  They were amazing.  I think I remember mineral being there as well (can't be sure).  Emo at the roots of it folks, if you didn't know.

I bought a record from cfd and got a free t-shirt.  (Life path: t-shirt had a screen print on the back of a rocket ship and the words "Portland punky rock it".  On the front was a beaver with a Canadian flag.  my future husband's family is Canadian, if that means anything at all).

My musical taste only got more interesting after that...

My two issues of Sgt. Pepper both have the cut-out sheets intact. One is the Capitol Records release, the other released on Apple. 

Alphabetically, the first album in my collection. From swing to Beatles to AC/DC... This gives you a sense of the scope of my collection. 

My "Nothing Is Real" fan club album. 

Okay.  Now that I've gotten the big band gloat out of the way, I have to return to the roots of my collection.  I began collecting the Beatles post Beatles albums because that was all I could find in the local thrift stores.  I remember hearing the Beatles when I was very young but never realized how many songs I remembered were actually Beatles songs.  Their music was everywhere.  How could you avoid it?  Then I met a someone who taught me how to enjoy the Beatles.  Taught me how to listen for each individual instrument.  Here's the acoustic guitar, here's the piano...  When they first figured out how to split the sound it opened up so many possibilities.  So eventually, there was Sgt. Pepper and all that wonder.

So back to the collection:  The only Beatles album that I do not own (whether by vinyl or CD or MP3) is "Beatles For Sale" and why I don't know.  I've almost never owned a Beatles album before I owned in vinyl.  Perhaps that is the pattern.   Until I find the perfect one to complete the original collection I cannot indulge in any other way.

So that is my quest.

But seriously - within the Beatles collection, I do have some "ho-hum" pieces mixed with some "nice find" ones.  For Sgt. Pepper I have two versions - one with the original cut-out pieces still intact.  Then there's the Nothing Is Real  Fan Club release with 7 versions of Strawberry Fields and the acoustic demo of While My Guitar Gently Weeps with the lost verse.  I have the poster from the White Album and the Rarities Album.  But I have to say, the last digitally remastered versions released on CD and MP3 were worth waiting for.  I invested in the collections.  For years I only ever listened to the Beatles on vinyl on a record player.  Now I just tap a screen and bring up a favorite or make a mix.  I think I got the best of BOTH worlds.

Some of my Glenn Miller pieces. The one on the floor is a red pressed issue of "Glenn Miller Greats!"