So you’ve come across this website, and perhaps you’re thinking “cool name, wonder what the heck is going to happen in these parts?”

Well, perhaps I should first explain that we’re going to talk about a lot of things – not just stuff that’s vinyl related. Sure, that’s part of it, and we’ll get to that in a second….we’re here because you and I are fellow music loving freaks, and soon enough, you’ll discover how much we have in common. Or perhaps we have nothing in common. But I’m guessing that I can at the very least provide a good forum for musical discussion, and hopefully we can have some fun.

And now let’s talk about the vinyl part of things: I’ve been itching to start my own music blog for the past year or so, and it was a generous gift late last year that officially lit the fuse and led me to pull the trigger. My New York friend Michael bequeathed to me his entire collection of 45 RPM singles, complete with the original picture sleeves. His collection contains EVERY song that charted top 40 in the 80’s. It is truly a mind blowing collection, and it is something that I look forward to sharing with you here in the coming months.

I’ll be writing about my favorite artists that have gotten me this far on the planet, and also sharing my thoughts and opinions on artists of today, and ongoing musical topics of interest as they come up. And I’ll be looking for you to counter with your own musical thoughts and memories.

Just a bit of history on me – I grew up in the 80’s in Odessa, Texas – home of prairie dogs, Permian Panthers football (as covered in the movie Friday Night Lights,) oil wells, and not much else. While in Odessa, I had the opportunity to spend a day at my favorite Top 40 radio station, KWES-FM (The Hot 102 FM.) Thanks to that day at KWES, I got to see MTV for the first time, and at seven years of age, I was officially hooked on music.

The remainder of my time growing up was spent in the mountains of New Mexico which led to my family moving to the Chicago area suburb of Joliet, and finally in 1989 we made our final move to Cleveland, OH. An early life spent living in small towns and cold weather left me plenty of time for listening to as much music as I could get my hands on.

High school found me working in record stores for most of my teenage years, and since then, I’ve spent the past 12 years working in various parts of the radio industry. How could you resist jobs where they give you tons of free CDs? I couldn’t, and still can’t resist to this day.

Even after all of the many records, cassettes and compact discs that have passed through my player, I still look forward to hearing that next band that will knock me off my feet musically. I live for that connection that exists between the band on stage and the fans that have come to see the show, and the goosebumps that occur when everything connects for musical nirvana.

I’m still a fan at the end of every day – a consumer that still buys music…what a concept! Once I am a fan of your band, I’m committed to everything you put out, although there are a couple of bands that really test my limits. Then again, their new song is REALLY good….could this new album be a return to form? Dammit, they got me again.

As for the rest of it, stick around – we’ll get to that, bit by bit.

Credit, props, and thanks to Pop Tarts Suck Toasted for the R.E.M. track.