my very first record player (a few words for bradly).

i recently purchased a record player. after literally years of talking about it and actually amassing vinyl (i worked at a record store, so it came cheap, if not free), i finally have something to play all that vinyl loveliness on. a hi-fi, if you will. and i will. so for the first of what i hope will be many new adventures in hi-fi (if you think that pun is bad now, just wait), i am endeavouring -- nay, i have already begun to endeavour -- to immerse myself in R.E.M.'s early catalog using only vinyl.

(see?)

i've been a big R.E.M. fan for a long, long time, but i'm not as intimate with the first few records as i want to be. Chronic Town, Murmur, Reckoning...i'm comin' for ya. and i'm gonna love ya. i'm gonna spin you right 'round, baby. right 'round. like a...oh, all right. that's quite enough.

painting by colin ruffell.