Vinyl records rock

For anyone who has heard a vinyl record and then heard the same song/album on CD or an MP3, its obvious that vinyl is the superior source of audio quality. As someone who was born when the CD was almost a decade old, I obviously did not grow up with records. The first time I heard a Beatles record on my stereo that we have floored me... I couldn't believe how good it sounded (and that was with only one speaker working). My dad managed to unearth his collection of old records a few years ago, which mainly consists of classic rock. My favorite albums to play have been the Led Zeppelin albums... they just sound so awesome and their sound isn't affected as much as the Beatles records are with only one speaker. I have loved this stereo that we but the turntable is about all its good for... we can get two AM stations and one FM station (which is usually modern hip-hop). It stinks because I'd love to listen to the radio on it but I haven't ever been able to (other than the occasional Cardinal game)

Well, recently we added to our collection another stereo cabinet thats been in my mom's family for maybe fifty years. This stereo has the exact opposite problem of the stereo we use now... the turntable doesn't work while the radio does. Well, I have a friend at my church who's dad loves to tinker around with old electronics and cars. He's done work on the turntable we have now and also my grandparents turntable. So I asked him if he could get the tuner out of the one we recently acquired and drop it in the cabinet we use now. It turned out that this would've proved to be too difficult so instead he took the stereo my mom's family has had and has been working on it the last month or so. He found a new turntable that was just perfect to drop in there and put new speakers in. Unfortunately, as he was finishing up in it, the radio tuner blew out. So he began to look for another one and he found a different one to put in there a couple weeks ago. And now, as an added bonus, he's looking for a CD player to put in there so that we can listen to CD's as well. I'm really excited about getting it. As it turns out, the cabinet will match the wood in our house better than our current one anyway. Unfortunately, it means that the one we use now won't have much use other than as a space hog so we'll probably have to give it away. But before we do, I'm going to take the record player from it out because its unique... it runs fast, creating a higher pitch and faster play. I may never find anything to put it in, but I want to keep it anyway because I share a connection with it... its electrocuted me at least three times (rim shot). Yeah, yeah, bad joke I know but I like bad jokes/puns/wordplay.

Anyway, before we get this "new" beast of a stereo back, I decided to record some videos of a few Zeppelin songs that I enjoy. Its amazing how high Robert Plant sang in his prime but with the pitch being a half step higher on this record player it really brings it out... take a listen to a couple. And keep in mind that you are hearing the audio from pretty much just one speaker.











I'm guessing that after viewing these videos it will be pretty obvious which Zeppelin album is my favorite lol.

Your tax dollars at work (Most likely)

Yesterday, we had three former presidents, our current president, and our about-to-be president gathering together for a lunch. Three Democrats and two Republicans (who happen to be father and son). Who knows why, but it was Obama's idea for them to have a get-together before Bush left the White House. This is such a waste of money and food. What is the purpose of having five presidents meet? Discuss political agendas? Yeah right. Carter probably went so he could show off the Nobel Peace Prize he didn't earn and also earn some time in the press, the first Bush went because his buddy Bill was there, Clinton went probably to see if he could get anything more out of Obama besides his wife's appointment as Sec. of State, and Obama probably only suggested this to so he could discuss with the elder Bush about the kinks in his golf swing but invited everyone else to "be polite." Now, of course I am only kidding, but the reality of the situation is that the whole lunch couldn't have been that far from my joke. Its only too bad that they didn't have Ronald Reagan there, his sense of humor would've made the lunch at least half worthwhile.