Grosbeaks and Turntables

For about a month now a flock of Pine Grosbeaks has been frequenting our bird seed. It must be noted that this is the first year that we have been graced with their presence. Greg has been a real trooper and tried to get pictures of them for me, but alas the camera is not up to the challenge. This is a lame copout but of course the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds has an excellent page on Pine Grosbeaks... if you're interested! 

Now, on to turntables... did you know that old record players were back in fashion? Well, not cheap record players mind you, audiophile turntables, it's a whole "thing". I guess the idea is that CDs are too sterile sounding and there are people that like the sound of albums, or vinyl records for their rich natural sound, with the scratches and pops, etc... So, guess what? Greg got himself a turntable!! He does have a box of albums that had been in permanent storage while he was stationed in the Army since 1991, but had not listened to any of them since 1981. Boy, it was like Christmas when we opened the box to see what he had. Some of it was fun and an enjoyable surprise, think Led Zeppelin II, Pink Floyd, early Dire Straits, Little Feat and Allman Brothers. And then the embarrassing stuff (what he's not into now) such as, Kenny Rogers, Loretta Lynn/ Conway Twitty, Soundtrack to Smokey and the Bandit, Alabama, Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley. Fun stuff! Record companies have noted this interest and are releasing new musicians work on vinyl. We have acquired so far some oldies, but goodies and some newbies: Crosby, Stills and Nash, Velvet Underground with Nico, U2 Joshua Tree 20th Anniversary Edition Re-Mastered. Shhh... But Greg is getting more for Christmas that he doesn't know about yet... 

Greg has an idea for the Blog that I will introduce here while we're talking about music, it will be a recurring blog post that will let you know what we're listening to. It's tentatively being called "Close to the Turntable".

Close to the Turntable - 11/23/08

~Dire Straits: Dire Straits- LP

~Led Zeppelin II -LP

~U2 Joshua Tree -LP

~Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals: Live From Mars - CD

~Pink Floyd: The Wall- LP

~Velvet Underground w/Nico -LP

~Colin Hay: Going Somewhere- CD

~Fleetwood Mac: Rumors- LP