Playing, with records.

The antique phonograph show is held every year in Union, Illinois next to the Wild West Town. You can buy original Edison cylindrical phonographs, Gramophones( those things with the large horns sticking out of them), and of course Victrolas.

We have our Victrola at the entrance to our living room. Operating the Victrola is a step back in time. Place a record on, crank up the turntable, and place the Sammy Sosa forearm on the record and off you go. You adjusts the volume by operating the two hinged draws in front; open the doors for full volume, close the door for decreased volume. Maintenance is a must, as the needle ( or nail, literally a nail, that is) must be changed ever 2 or 3 78 record sides. This is because the shellac on the record is harder than the needle and wears it down. There are receptacles for old needles and new needles, carved into the top panel of the Victrola.

When I have non-audiophile company over, I try to Linn them. Yes, I have. I have tried to Linn them, Unitrac them, Denon them even Sonus Blue them. I VPI them, Triplanar them, Decca them, Dynavector them. I leave them unimpressed.

But show them the Victrola, and they begin sipping wine and toasting Champagne to a 78 record that sounds like someone blowing their nose in the background while large gall stones of hail is hitting the window. They listen to Nat's original Mona Lisa, Solo Mio and Al Jolson. They listen to "I'll be home for Christmas" as snow gathers on my pine outside my living room window. As they whisper conciliatory comments at my Linn turntable, in a louder voice, they swoon over the Victrola. When you listen to the Victrola, so they say, you are hearing music as they did in 1913. When you take that same 78 and play it back on my system, you are hearing it through 2010 refinement. My system is so offended by the tonal quality of the 78, that it tries to correct and subsequently "ruins" it, or so they say.

In 1913 a Victrola cost as much as a car. When someone had one, they were revered. You went over the Uncule Bill's or grandmas house and actually played records. It was a social event in the parlor where you listened to records and entertained company and discussed the artist - even recollecting when you saw them live. In 2010, I watch people listen to music. They download it from a web site, sometimes legally, sometimes questionably, and listen, solo, blank starred with a cheap pair of headphones, discussing nothing.

Vic