That’s me with a Jane Wiedlin record that I got for Christmas the year it was released. (Photo by Roo)

“Maybe we should have paid more attention to Party Girl,” Roo said.

We were three, maybe four, hours into cataloging my record collection. Mary, Parker Posey’s character in the movie Party Girl, made it look easy. It is not. She Dewey Decimalized her DJ pal’s collection with a sort of meticulousness that I have never been able to achieve. My recent move was a golden opportunity to finally attain the perfectly organized collection. Once again, though, this was devolving into a personal failure. I was sliding across the living through floor between crates of records asking Roo questions like, “How should I categorize Simply Red?”

Roo laughed. Guffawed might actually be a more accurate term.

“Which song?” he asked in return.

“‘Holding Back the Years,’ of course.”
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More records packed.

It takes longer than it should for me to pack and unpack vinyl. I grab a big chunk from a shelf, bend over to shove them in a milk crate and stop. I look at the covers. There’s that copy of Z-Trip and DJ P’s Uneasy Listening Vol. I that I bought at a Z-Trip gig about ten years ago and a 12″ single for “I Eat Cannibals,” a Total Coelo track I should play more than I do. There are well-worn Kinks and Stones records, a handful of DFA singles still in pristine shape, even a 12″ for Tom Jones and the Cardigans covering “Burning Down the House.” And out of all these records, a couple thousand of them at the least, I can remember their stories. I can tell you which ones I picked up at shows, which ones were souvenirs from my first trip to New York, which ones I found for $2 when they usually sold for closer to $50. I can’t say that about the bulk of CDs haphazardly collected in boxes, nor can I say that about any MP3 in my collection. This attachment to vinyl goes beyond any sort of preciousness for a specific medium, at least in my case. When I try to understand this obsession with vinyl, I think about more than cover art or grooves or sound. I think about how the record came into my possession. More often than not, I bought it and, to buy it, usually took a certain amount of digging.

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One crate of vinyl packed.

A single vinyl record won’t take up much space. The big ones are 12″ in diameter. The small ones are 7″. The heavy ones are 180 g. The light ones, more like 120 g. The problem is that vinyl is a lot like the great M&M. You can’t have just one. And, if you’re like me, you can’t just have 100 or even 500. Though I’ve never completed a count of the vinyl in my collection, I can tell you that it’s a lot. I can tell you this with absolutely certainty right now because I’m trying to move it.

I got a new pad somewhere in a neighborhood we’ll refer to as Greater Hipsterville. It’s a sweet place and I’m more than excited to finally live amongst the record stores and clubs I frequent. But, I’m not excited about trying to move the vinyl. So far, I’ve packed seven crates, each one holding a bare minimum of 75 records. I’m nowhere near halfway done.

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I forgot to hang onto my set list last night. Oh, well, here’s some of what I’ve played. This is the play list for the first set and highlights from the rest of the night.
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Photo: Liz O.

I’m on the decks and Underground tomorrow night and have a lot of cool stuff in store. There is a brand new Cold Cave 7″ in my crate. I’m also getting ready for new music from ADULT. by bringing some of my own old favorites. More importantly, I have two openings on my guest list and they could be yours. The first two people to leave their first and last name in the comment section will be on my list tomorrow night. That means you and one guest will be able to get in for free all night. The catch is you must be 21+ to enter. If you’re underage, you can’t get into the venue. Your spot on the list is only good for November 2, 2012.

Underground is at the Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown (943 N. Broadway) and is across the street from the Gold Line. We open at 9 p.m. The cover is normally $8. However, if you’re on Facebook, you can RSVP for free entry before 10 p.m., and $5 entry thereafter.

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