“People are now thinking that little bit of plastic with a hole in the middle is actually a pretty cool thing to own.”
As my wife or any of my friends can attest, I’ve been talking about doing a blog dedicated solely to 45s for at least the past year now. Well, finally, I’ve created the beast, and it’s alive. Say hello to Circa 45.
The idea never would have come about if not for some hardwood flooring. Let me explain: My dad was replacing carpet with Pergo at my parents’ house. That meant moving a heavy Wurlitzer Americana 3100 jukebox (picture) he bought from a friend in Chicago and brought to Arizona when we moved here 20-some years ago. Sadly, the jukebox got little use other than serving as a decoration/conversation piece. He was prepared to sell it or give it away when I told him I’d gladly take it off his hands, along with about 250-plus 45s in dire need of some attention. (The poor things, they were out of dust sleeves and – gasp! – stacked on top of each other.)
So I spent a good couple months sorting, alphabetizing, cleaning and (still) cataloging. It’s an extensive collection, with mostly pop/rock from the 1950s-70s. Of course, I’ve supplemented the collection with my own records.
If anything, I realized I’m sitting on boxfuls of music history, if not possibly a small eBay windfall. So instead of letting them sit idly in a box, I decided I’d start a blog to digitize them and do some research and reading along the way about what I’ve inherited. I suppose I could have made it a regular feature on this site, but I don’t think I would have the same diligence in my research. Besides, I’ve been really fascinated/inspired of late by blogs with very tightly focused subject matter (History of the Button and Tape Findings, for example).
Also, I don’t expect to post every day on Circa 45 like I practically do here. In fact, I’d be surprised if I posted more than once or twice a week. As for the music, I will post songs old and modern, A-sides and B-sides; some days I may clean up the pops and crackles, other days I’ll revel in the scratchy warmth. Maybe (hopefully) I’ll even have some guest contributers.
One last anecdote: My reasons for doing Circa 45 became all the more clear on Saturday, when I browsed a used record/book store. A girl, who probably was about 7 years old, was looking at records and just had to ask her dad: “Daddy, what are these?” Her dad responded that they are records; they play as they spin on a record player. The girl: “Do we have any of these?” Dad: “Yeah, a bunch.” The girl: “Do we have the record machine?” It was very cute and very innocent and a welcome reminder that we should be passing on music in all its various – and sometimes alien – forms.
And that’s my big, dramatic opener.
But before I conclude a major thank you goes to Matt at the great Scrubbles.net for designing the excellent Circa 45 banner/graphic. You probably will be seeing Matt regularly write some record reviews for So Much Silence, a feature I’m eagerly anticipating.
Sub Pop officially has made an mp3 available from Low’s upcoming new album Drums and Guns, which I wrote about last month and included a (short-lived) song. Anyway, it always looks so much cooler as a premiere on Pitchfork.
