Episode 49 - The Vinyl Community, with Collectors Carol and Matthew

In this episode we sat down with a couple of collectors and friends, Carol and Matthew, whom you may recognize better as @carolsvinyl and @harma808 on Instagram. We talk about the vinyl community that has emerged over the years on social media, how it has created strong bonds between music and record lovers, but has also come with its own set of diversity and inclusion issues. It's Women's History Month, so what better time to talk about the vinyl community then now.

Check out:
Carol's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolsvinyl
Matt's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harma808

Huge thank you to Calgary singer / songwriter Emmyjane for the use of her song “Green" off her new self-titled EP out this summer. Find this and all her music on your favorite streaming platforms.

If you’re listening to this and it’s still March, please consider donating to our Women in Vinyl Women’s History Month drive. As a nonprofit 501(c)3 we can’t do what we do without your help.  All proceeds are tax deductible and go right back to furthering our mission to educate, demystify and diversify the vinyl community. https://www.womeninvinyl.com/donate

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS! Keep your records clean and sounding great with GrooveWasher. Use WomenInVinyl10 at check out: www.groovewasher.com

Commercial-Free & High Resolution version of this podcast, along with membership options and ton of other discount codes available at: https://www.patreon.com/womeninvinyl

You can also contribute to furthering our mission by donating https://www.womeninvinyl.com/donate as a 501(c)3 all donations are tax deductible. Visit the website to check out past episodes, features, and our ever growing library of resources to further the education, demystification and diversification of the Vinyl Making Space.

We were listed as number 11 on Feedspot’s Top 25 Vinyl Records Podcasts! Don’t forget to like, subscribe and give us a review on your favorite podcast delivery method! Want to be a sponsor or just get in touch? Email us: [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Women in Vinyl Podcastwith Jen Dugenio, founder of Women in
Vinyl, and contributor Robin Raymond.This podcast facilitates conversations with those working from
the vinyl record industry to educate,demystify, and diversify the vinyl community.

(00:29):
Take me on a journey. There'sno place that I'd rather be than here
with you, Jesus, as faras I can see, some shot beaving
on your own leftone puffy led home, great older. I get enough of

(00:57):
you, the comfort, the chiberfew, the memory in my core feeling.

(01:22):
I don't ignore all the world.Thank you for joining us. On
episode forty nine of the Women inVinyl Podcast, you just heard Green by
Calgary singer songwriter Emmy Jane off hernew self titled EP out this summer.
Find this and all her music onyour favorite streaming platform. On this episode,
we wanted to talk about the vinylcommunity that has emerged over the years

(01:47):
on social media, creating strong bondsbetween music and record lovers, but has
also come with its own set ofdiversity and inclusion issues. We asked the
community some questions and then sat downwith a couple of collectors and friends Carol
and Matthew, who you may recognizebetter as at Carrol's Final and at Haarma
eighth eight on Instagram. Let's diveinto why this community is so special and

(02:10):
how to make it an even betterplace for time to come. If you're
listening to this and it's still March, please consider donating to our Women in
Vinyl Women's History Month Drive as anonprofit five oh one c three, we
can't do what we do without yourhelp. All proceeds are tax deductible and
go right back to furthering our missionto educate, demystify, and diversify the

(02:31):
vinyl community. We also were listedas number eleven on feat Spot's Top twenty
five Vinyl record Podcasts. Please continueto like, subscribe, and leave us
a review, and thank you forbeing here. Now here's the episode.
Well, thank you both for joiningus. Hello, Hello, thank you
for having us, Thank you forhaving us. We're super excited to have

(02:54):
some friends here. We always justget to talk to each other and then
people that we like fan girl over, not just the people that we interact
with all the time. So it'sso funny. Yeah, I see you
guys in real life. I thoughtCarol would have like more of a Southern
accent for some reason. I mean, I really don't. It depends on
if I'm drunk. I'll get reallydeep and then I'm around people that have

(03:20):
a very thick Southern accent. Istart to pick it up a little bit.
My action speaking voice is country.So even though I'm from al Birmingham,
Alama. So well, and that'swhat I was going to say,
because like, you guys just livein the internet box. I don't know
where you guys are from, LikeI have no concept, like where do
you live? Right now? Yeah, tell us a little bit about yourselves

(03:43):
in the heart of downtown Birmingham.Now you can see right now this is
my new plate, just moved into go. I yeah. I have
been collecting records for probably like fifteenyears. I feel like the first time
I created my record account, Isaid it was fifteen years. It just

(04:05):
you know, I think at thispoint it's pretty much been. I've been
collecting more than half my life.So my collection is over here on this
side. So right now, No, this is a podcast. So right
now I'm sitting in my living roomand I have all of my records on

(04:26):
one one side of the on oneside of the wall. I have about
twenty five hundred records right now,and yeah, but how are they organized?
Right now? I have all ofeverything but soundtracks. They're all in
alphabetical order. I decided to dothat since I have all of my records

(04:48):
on one wall. I actually nowhave like eight cubes of soundtracks, so
oh wow, two or three eight, So I have a lot because there's
been so many great like soundtracks thathave come out lately, and so I've
just been collecting those for the lastseven years. But what's your number one

(05:12):
sound that's my question. In myopinion, it's top Gun. I mean,
it's that one. I have tolike, fight me everyone, but
top Gun number one, number two, Dirty Dancing. It's embarrassing the amount
of times that I listened to DangerZone, like within a week. So
I don't think that's embarrassing at all. I mean, I'm sure a large

(05:34):
contingent of Archer fans that will probablysupport you in that, and I am
also I'm totally fine with that.Yes, so I totally agree with top
Gun being a very high contender.Mine would probably be almost famous because there's
so many good like seventies rock songs. On there, and it kind of

(05:55):
introduced me to it. Seventies rockwhenever. I mean, I've always listened
to that's a lie. I've alwayslistened to seventy seventies rock my dad.
I grew up with it. Mydad listened to all that kind of music.
But Almost Famous kind of made mefall more in love with it,
if that makes sense. So that'sprobably my favorite. I have one of
the original pressings of that soundtrack,which was released I think like ten years

(06:20):
at like on the tenth anniversary ofthe of the movie, So I think
nineteen or two thousand and nine iswhen they released that one. And actually
it says untitled the front and ithas it's hand numbered and some of them

(06:42):
were signed by Cameron Crow. Unfortunatelymine wasn't. But yeah, so that's
when you put it out into theether. Maybe maybe it'll happen. Who
knows. Maybe, And Matthew,what about you? Yeah, So I
have just turned fifty and I thankyou. And I've been collecting music since

(07:04):
I was six years old. Wow. When I was six, my family
went to a restaurant on Friday nightsand they had a jukebox and I became
obsessed with abba super Trooper, andso I got my parents to take me
to the library because you used tobe able to take out records and bring
them home and tape them. Andwe pulled out the ABBA and behind it

(07:28):
there was a record with a cannonwhich was ACDC because alphabetical, and I
needed to know what that was,and then the next week I needed to
know what was after that, andafter that and after that. So I've
been collecting ever since. At themoment, my collection is about thirty five
hundred records, about five thousand CDs, and probably about five hundred cassettes,

(07:51):
and pretty much everything out of viewof this immediate image that we are looking
at is records and CDs and tapes. Because we all know each other from
Instagram, we're not going to saylike photos or it didn't happen, because
that's how we all know each otherso well. And Robin, I think
for once, you're not the onlyCanadian on the call. It's true,

(08:13):
absolute yes, yes, yes,And I should have said that I'm calling
in today from Kingston, Ontario,Canada, which has been my home for
the last dozen years. So wouldyou say your home and native land?
Yeah? Hey, Eve, Atragically hip did you see the announcement today
for Records? I did, andin fact I was super Today's been a

(08:35):
great day on Instagram the day thatwe're recording this. First of all,
the tragically Hip have just been announcedas the Record Store Canada Day Ambassadors for
twenty twenty four. Rob Baker,the guitarist from the Tragically Hip, filmed
the video announcing it in one ofour local record stores in zapp Records shop

(08:56):
at every week. So super excitedto see the local shop rep resented.
And then as well, on theday that we're recording this, I happen
to notice that the women in VinylInstagram post was celebrating Linda Rots That's Hurt
Like a Wheel, which is myfirst musical love because that's my mother's all
time favorite album. Ah. Ilove that. It's a good one.

(09:18):
I love it. That's so great. It's nice to have another Knaviian on
here. I mean, I wasn'tsure. I was like, are you
from Canada? Are you from Dakotaor all talk like that a little bit.
And I've lived in a number ofcountries and I was a teacher for
a number of years, so Iflattened out my home and native accent,

(09:41):
but again it comes back at certainpoints. Well, we wanted to have
you all on because we haven't talkedmuch about collecting, and we thought it
would be interesting to discuss the vinylcommunity because I don't know about you guys,
but I feel like things have changeda little bit at least this past
year, and it felt a littlebit different. And so I put up

(10:05):
some questions because I figured would getthe most traction there, and I wanted
to ask you all the same thing, and then we can kind of talk
about some of the responses that camein. So to start, what is
your favorite and least favorite thing aboutthe vinyl community the vinyl community, I
think my favorite thing is that weall get to talk about our favorite artists

(10:28):
all the time and share our collection. But then also that's kind of my
least favorite too, because a lotof people will just buy a whole bunch
of stuff to kind of like showoff, in my opinion, and it's
gotten kind of out of hand incertain experiences. I actually went through all

(10:50):
of your stories and I think Ianswered a few of the questions that you
had on there, and I thinkthat it's changed a lot because a lot
of the current influencers and Vinyl,I guess are on TikTok and they're getting
a lot of traction there and rightnow, like Instagram has changed a whole

(11:11):
lot throughout, Like I think that'swhere everybody kind of found each other at
first, but then it's it's spreadto TikTok obviously, and it's easy to
do that. But like I justI'm not as comfortable with like videos and
stuff. I don't I like pictures, taking pictures and doing things like that.

(11:31):
So I have tried TikTok and Ihave been successful a few times,
but it's just it's not my favorite. I feel the same way. Yeah,
on in the comments, people canread it if they want. People
can not, like they they cansee my pictures. I don't like having

(11:52):
to talk in front of a cameraand talk about my music, even though
I probably could because I have somany things that I have written. I
could just say that camera, butit's like to me, I've actually tried
to do that and it's just awkwardlike that kind of that's why I collect
records, like because I don't reallywant to. It's kind of a solo

(12:13):
thing in my opinion, Like youknow, and when you add it to
TikTok, it just kind of seemslike it's not a solo thing. Oh
my god, I feel the sameway, Like every time I have to
record, like I've been trying todo those things for women in vinyl,
those videos, and I'm just like, it takes ten thousand takes. I
feel so awkward. I'm just like, I hate it. Gonna be honest,

(12:39):
it takes ten thousand takes for meto take a picture sometimes, but
like it's way different when it's videobecause you like can't edit out for certain
parts. And yeah, and Iknow, okay, also variant collecting too,
Like there's been so many variants.I know you have this problem,
Jen because you are the biggest variantof Black Sabbath. I know, But

(13:03):
it just seems like every other daythere's a new variant put out of a
very popular record. And there's alot of records that I want on vinyl
that have never been pressed, andI would rather those be pressed than getting
another variant of a Taylor Swept albumtotally, because yeah, one day they

(13:24):
are going to be a lot wortha lot of money because they're live an
edition. But like I can't affordanother tailor shipt down Matthew, what about
you. Yeah, Well, Imean, going back to the things that
I like about the community is thatI mean, the reason that I'm an
active member of the community is becauseI like the discovery. I just I
love learning new music. So anyavenue that allows me to discover something that

(13:46):
I didn't know this morning is great. So I do love that. There
are many of my new favorite bandsand bands that I love now that an
artist I love that have come fromliterally just seeing a picture or on Instagram
on someone's account and something about whatthey said about it or something about the
album cover has drawn me into it. So that's always been the great part

(14:07):
as well. It really is insome ways has been a true community for
me. I've made several very strongin person friendships with people over the years
that started off, as you know, likes on an Instagram page. And
I would say that one of mykind of best friends in the universe at
this point was a direct result ofInstagram. So in the vital community,

(14:28):
so that there are Yeah, sothere are fantastic things about it for me.
Going to the other side of itand talking about the changes in the
last year for me I came froma background of blogging and previous to that,
radio, so it's always been anavenue to share. So I've always

(14:48):
been into the writing aspect and thephoto aspect, which is why I joined
Instagram originally back in twenty fourteen orwhenever, because it was the photo platform
and and that's what I really enjoydoing, and that's where I sense what
I try and get out of it. And much like what you were saying
with the move that the changes tothe platform trying to be more like other

(15:11):
platforms, trying to be like TikTokand other platforms with video content, it's
not something that I enjoy doing orfeel like doing, because that's not it's
not how I approach my page.My page isn't super staged. Most of
the pictures that you'll see on myaccount are literally taken as I'm putting the

(15:33):
record on the record player. Occasionallythey'll do something a bit more showy,
but that's in a very rare case, and I'm still listening to the record
as I post it. So forme, I found that that's a little
bit of disconnect because, like yousaid, it's moved away from the written
aspect and the photo aspect to allthese little kind of content videos where I'm

(15:54):
not really learning anything about the banditself. Yeah, it is a true
interesting how that's changed. And Imean, to Carrol's point, it's like
a lot of us our record likeas record collectors, I feel like we're
inherently a little bit more in ourbasements for lack of a better term,

(16:15):
you know, it's like we're notreally like those kind of like showy people.
So I think like sharing as itis is like it's easier to do
in a static format and have conversationsthan about it because you found your people.
Yeah, And having said all that, and Jen you can probably speak

(16:36):
to this as well. We areboth known within the quote unquote vinyl community
for the challenges that we hold.So for every year, for the past
seven years, in February, I'veheld a Vinyl Challenge where I list a
theme a day for the twenty eightdays or twenty nine days of February,

(16:56):
and people can choose and put recordsthat they think match the themes. And
of course you've been running the MayFinal Challenge for even a bit longer,
right, eight or nine years now, and so I find that every February,
because it's February now while we're recording, the number of people who take

(17:17):
part of my challenge and are goingback to basics and actually posting a record
today and writing about why they choseit kind of restores what I love about
the community. And every year Ido this challenge and I think this is
going to be the last year becausethings have changed, And then the challenge
starts and I start seeing people's contributionsand I start getting excited about music again,

(17:37):
and I start getting excited about talkingto all the different accounts and new
accounts that I've never heard of before, and it kind of brings it all
back. And I'm not sure ifyou feel the same way about your challenge,
Jen, I do, and everyyear I'm like, am I going
to do it again? Because it'sexhausting, But then also, yeah,
oh very much. Yeah week intoit and yeah, I'm spending all my

(18:02):
time. I can actually hear myphone buzzing beside me. Is all the
notifications coming with people posting. Ihad to turn off my notifications for Instagram
because I just get so many.I don't know what that sounds like,
but I mean, yeah, itgot really overwhelming. Yeah it does so
I don't know it does it?Yeah, I can't have mine on either.

(18:26):
Matt. Do you have your recordcollection organized alphabetically as well? Oh
yeah, I was going to mentionthat when we were doing the introductions.
Yes, so mine is recognize organizedalphabetically A to Z except for jazz,
which is a separate section, soundtrackswhich is a separate section. And for
the artist if the if it's asolo artist whose band is more famous,

(18:52):
than to get filed with the band, so Stevien so Lindsey Buckingham, for
example, is with Fleetwood back.If the artist has become almost more famous
as a solo artist, then theyget to go where they would normally be.
So Sting is in the essa's,not in the p's with police.
And of course it's alphabetized, youknow, last name, first last name,

(19:17):
called my first name, except forVan Morrison, who I put under
V because I know if he foundout it would tick him off. The
reason why I do it I justlike knowing that I've done something that would
personally offend Van Morrison if you ifhe ever happened to be on Instagram and
not I have it by their firstname because that's how the discogs does it.

(19:38):
Yeah, so I can like gothrough and make sure I have all
my like categorized and then also indiscogs. So are you Are you guys
both up to date on your discogs? No? Actually I let myself get
out of date and it drove menuts. So now it's as I play

(19:59):
the record the first time. That'svery smart, honest, I haven't.
So I moved in my place probablylet's see three months ago, and I
have everything in alphabetical order. Butin the alphabetical order, it's not like
does that make sense? So likeeight it all? It's not necessarily AEI

(20:26):
ou right, So you're like therecord store app of the weekend rush right
right? Well, we asked whatis the main reason that people share their
records on Instagram? And the numberone result half the people almost said to
discover and help others find new music, and then secondarily to discuss with others.

(20:48):
Generally interesting that the other two werewere split twelve percent and thirteen percent,
and some said to archive their collectionand the others to show off what
they've got, so whether that's arecord or other things. Well, so
then the next question was do youthink that the vinyl community is sexist,

(21:14):
and uh, seventy of people saidyes, which coach now comments I've gotten
over seven years, Oh my gosh. Yes, yes, it's very much
getting better slightly. And you knowwhat, the music industry is sexist.

(21:37):
Let's be honest. Come on asas a woman vinyl collector, as a
woman music lover, as a womanwho loves rock music, as a woman
who likes any genre of music tooalong with rock. Yes, they're very
sexist. Like you can't like BritneySpears and led Zeppelin or metal and Black

(22:00):
Sabbath Slip. Not Christina Aguilera,you can't like all those people like Taylor
Swift. You can't be a bigSwiftie and like rock music. Why the
not? No? I mean like, it's my money, it's my ears.

(22:22):
I'll do what I want, ButI get comments. Name three band
name, three members of the band, name, three songs name. That's
probably your dad's record. No,my dad actually gave away all of his
records in the eighties. So thisis all stuff that I have purchased myself
or have like. If it isrecords that have been given to me,

(22:42):
it's stuff that I've gone through andtaken out of a collection and Kepta and
held on myself like I don't puta record in my collection that I don't
know what it is. Yeah,I mean it's crazy. I've had people
tell me the same thing, likethose are your husband's or boyfriend's records.

(23:03):
You don't deserve to listen to thatkind of music. I hope you die.
You don't deserve to be a Crampsfan, like what like okay,
And it's the same thing. It'slike. And interestingly, in the last
year or so, maybe like everybodygives ideas for the May Vinyl Challenge,

(23:26):
and this past year and maybe theyear before, everyone was like, no
more guilty pleasure because of that exactreason, Like you should be able to
like what you like, Like Iactually love Dualipa and I was like ashamed
to like share posts about it becauseit was like not in the genre that
I typically like. But then itwas just everybody started to kind of be

(23:48):
like, no, it doesn't matter. So hopefully that will continue. But
I mean, I think being avinyl collector is a guilty pleasure, Like
you literally spend thirty forty dollars ona record, Like why would I let
anybody who doesn't believe in me determinemy outcome. I like doing what I'm
doing. And yes, there's alot of negative there. I mean not

(24:15):
a lot, but there's a lotmore positive. So that's that's that's reason.
And like and like Matt said,like, I've met some of my
best friends in the entire world,literally in the world, because we have
followers all over the world, whichis super wild. But like, some
of my best friends don't live anywherenear me, and it's because I met

(24:37):
them through the vinyl community. Soand you become friends with people that way
because they do the same thing youdo. They go to antique malls and
dig dig through boxes of records,They scour the internet looking for that perfect
variant, and they understand you whenyou talk about that kind of stuff.

(24:57):
So those are all things I've actuallygiven up going to. When I go
to antique malls, I look forother things now, because like my whole
days were consumed just flipping through things. And also in antique malls, they
like to make the records really expensivethere for no reason, for no reason

(25:18):
but time. Everybody just trying tomake a buck off of the vinyl resurgence.
Yeah, but I'm not going tospend twenty five dollars on a journey
escape. Sorry. It's a greatrecord, but you can find that in
every record on y'all the only okay, so the best record, I'll tell

(25:45):
you. I did find some reallygreat stuff though, And this is when
I like decided to stop in antiquemalls because I was like, there's nothing
that can ever touch this. Therewas a dealer in Atlanta when I was
over there. I was going flipthrough and he had apparently worked for subpop
and had like the most amazing subpop collection and he had a lot of

(26:11):
other Seattle based bands and he Ithink it was moving or something, and
he was getting rid of everything andit was all fifty percent off. So
I got like Green River's first recordNice for twenty five dollars and like a
Door by Smashing Pumpkins, that's right, a Doors, That's that's it.

(26:33):
Yeah, I got that for fivedollars and they're both like first pressings of
it. So I was like,you know what, I'm not gonna look
at antique mallls. I mean,I'm gonna look, but never I might
go to find anything like that.Well, Matthew I'm interested to hear your
perspective as well. Yeah, Iwas just gonna say, as the as
the token dude in the room rightnow, so put too much of a

(27:00):
burden on me to answer for everyoneat this present? Why'm not so interestingly?
I mean, it's it's obvious becauseI've followed your accounts. I followed
you know, many other women collectorsover the years, so I get to
see firsthand the various levels of sexism, misogyny, what have you hate that

(27:26):
take place? You know, Ithink any account that has any traction in
my account as well. Since we'rethrowing out the numbers, I've just passed
sixteen myself, so doing okay,we'll attract hate. And I've had my
fair share of haters over the yearsfor many of the same reasons, especially
because my collection is very diverse andon any given day I may post Britney

(27:49):
Spears followed by a Sepulteura, youknow so, and people are obviously doing
that same. You can't like onewithout the other. I had one person
who was obsessed with hating my oldfootstool. That was a very odd one.
What Yeah, just anytime I hadit in a picture, they would

(28:10):
send me like DMS basically telling meto die, so obviously triggered something in
them. But it was probably JackWhite's burner account because we all know that
he's an upholsterer. Yeah, exactly. So, Yeah, obviously I have
experienced, yeah, some of that, but certainly never to the level that

(28:33):
I've seen on other pages. SoI guess my question on behalf of mankind
would be, Yeah, I seea lot of people saying that they want
to be allies. They want tobe better allies for the Women's Final collectors
and any other marginalized group of vinylcollectors because obviously you have to look at

(28:56):
you know, the racialized Yeah,anyone from the uh, from any of
the other communities. Uh. Somy question to you is, in what
way do you think collectors like myselfand others could be better allies in those
situations? Because I agree with Carol, I would hate to see the haters

(29:18):
win. You know, I lovethat you still post. I love that
other collectors I know who've gone throughsimilar things still post. So you know,
how can we ensure that you canstill post in the safest community possible.
I think, like, just ifthere's somebody that is constantly harassing,

(29:41):
and it's it's common knowledge that thislike particular person. There's been about probably
ten people I can count that havebeen harassing like her, have harassed women
throughout the years or like not onlylike harassed, but like gone into DMS

(30:03):
and been really creepy and like,and you see that somebody posts about that,
like a woman posts about that,Like it's it's just helpful for people
to believe that person and to notsupport and not allow for that person.
Like I hate to say, tolike not support them, I mean,

(30:27):
but they're not being supportive of us, so why would anybody really want to
support them. I had a problemwith with somebody's like significant other attacking me,
and while this person was like afriend of mine, So there's been
a few times that that's happened.So I think that just hearing listening,

(30:52):
I guess, and not letting thehaters win. I mean, I don't
even know. I don't know howto explain that anymore, but yeah,
I mean I think I think likeoutwardly in particular, like if someone leaves
a comment and you saw something beforeit was deleted or removed or whatever,
like standing up for them, youknow, I think it's really interesting in

(31:14):
particular with the Vinyl community account,Final Collector's account, Final Collection. I
think that's what it is, VinylCollection post. Yeah, that that account,
because I see so much hate thereto the point where he at this
point, I'm pretty sure doesn't evenallow people to comment on the top ten

(31:36):
anymore because it was like usually tenwomen and the comments were just so mean
that he's like now turned them off. But yeah, I think, you
know, not enabling that. Andhis point was that his selection is always

(31:56):
based off of what people have liked. It's the top ten, so that's
what the masses have spoken for.So yeah, well with that too,
Like, if you see people beinghateful on those comments, like that means
that if they're putting it right thereand they're not they're being nice to the
actual person's post, they think thatthey can get away with it. Actually,

(32:17):
I've had I've had to block probablyfifteen people throughout the community, and
I've had like four or five ofthese people come either into like my personal
accounts or go on Facebook Messenger andmessaged me. I've and then I blocked
up them on all of that,and then I've had people email me and

(32:42):
I've had like the same, LikeI've had three people that that's happened to
me before, and I've posted theirnames and everything, and I hate to
do that, but like I'm like, listen, y'all, like these people
are predators, Like they have Ihave blocked. I've given them usually I
give them like a a warning andI'm like, hey, like you're kind
of overstepping a boundary. I'm gonnalet you. I'm gonna let you be

(33:07):
for a little bit. And thenthey overstep that and then I blocked them.
And then I've had that happened forthree people, and I posted about
them and with the vinyl community sincesince it's actually them reposting it, or
there's like the uh, there's anotherlike vinyl girls, like vinyllettes or whatever.

(33:30):
I've actually seen the people that I'veblocked have commented on those type of
things. They'll either say something reallyugly about me or they'll be like,
well, where did Carol go?You don't get to see Carol anymore given
your choice, Like you've you've crossedover that line a few times, so

(33:54):
and like I'm really really understanding,but like if I'm a comfortable, I
want to be comfortable in my community, okay, And it doesn't come from
me hating this person at all.This is me trying to keep my sanity
totally and I don't want to bebombarded. Also, like there's I know

(34:15):
this is like there's certain people thatlike my every single one in my stories
like all the time, and likethat's starting to bother me, Like come
on, y'all, like be cool, Okay, I see your name.
Oh oh my one of my mybiggest pet peeves, And like I purposely

(34:37):
will not follow someone when they unfollowme and then follow me back every day.
Well, and that was actually oneof my questions, is like with
the popularity of your accounts and withthe challenges and stuff that we do,
do you like, how do youchoose if you follow someone back? Or
like is that a weird thing becauseit used to be you were like,

(35:00):
oh you didn't want your followers orthe people you followed us or past your
followers or whatever. So hm,I'm gonna be freaking honest with you.
If you are a woman collector,sorry Nat, and you you get a
follow from me, because you know, usually that's safe if I see that

(35:21):
you are an active like if myfriends start posting about you that like I
have no I know in the community, I'll follow you back like. So
that's how I determine my following backsnow. Actually, not only it's girls,
yeah, women, gays, youknow, they all like and like

(35:46):
you know hi. How does thatdiffer for you, Matt? A lot
of my followers are just based oncontent. If it's someone whose account I
see it very often, it maybe because you know, uh, they've
liked or commented on a picture,and I'll usually check out an account even
if I'm not actively following them ornot. But a lot of them are

(36:07):
just ones where something about their commentor something about their post is appealed to
me, and when I look backthrough their feed, it looks interesting enough
that I would like to learn more, kind of like what Carol said,
you know, if it's someone thatI see a lot of my friends are
following or commenting about, then youtrust your friends, right, So that's

(36:30):
where a lot of it comes from. Typically, a lot of my new
accounts come when I do my challengein February, because there's all constantly new
people every year and bringing interesting perspectivesand talking, you know about the themes
I've set so it's a great wayto kind of connect with people, but
yeah, it's certainly it's tricky becausein an ideal world, I would follow

(36:52):
everybody, but with yeah, alot of followers my own, that would
mean I would spend all day scrollingand scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, right,
which which I'm doing anyway. Butyeah, that's my that's my question.
So, like you guys both startedas everybody did, with zero and
then you've made it into these things. So how has that taken away from

(37:16):
your actual like day to day life, your job and what like what kind
of like pressure do you feel tomake a post every day or make a
post every two days or like,you know what I mean. I think
for myself that, as I alludedto earlier, when I'm posting something,

(37:37):
I mean, I don't watch muchTV. I generally, if i'm home,
I'm listening to music, So I'mreally any post I'm doing is pretty
much what I'm listening to, SoI would be listening to that regardless,
So I'm not really thinking about isthis an album that I've posted recently or
is this an album that you knowpeople are going to be drawn to I'm
thinking right now, this moment,this is what I want to listen to,

(38:00):
and sometimes that seems to connect withpeople, and sometimes not. Sometimes
that may be the fault of thequote unquote algorithm. My favorite word in
the world, our buddy else.Yeah, so I would be listening to
that album regardless of whether or notI was posting. So really it's not
impacting my day all that much eitherway. I don't I don't feel a

(38:20):
burning need to kind of keep upthe community. It just happens to be
what I do. It's like astream of consciousness job too, Matt,
Like you have a job that you'relike, I go and do my job
every day. Oh yeah, ohyeah, oh yeah, No, I've
got I've got a full time joband I've also got a weekend job.
So that's because pretty much what I'mdoing. Yep. Well, my accounts

(38:46):
actually opened up my life to becominglike social media managers. For my actual
job right now, I'm currently doinga whole bunch of random things. So
I'm a graphic designer, freelance graphicdesigner. I have my own company that
me and my friend started last yeararound this time, and it's been pretty

(39:09):
successful and so I when I'm notcollecting, when I'm not on Instagram,
uh, that's what I'm doing.I'm planning parties and events for bars and
restaurants in town. I'm also soI lost my like nine to five job
back in August and since then,I've just been trying to figure out what

(39:31):
i want to do. And Ialso work as a bartender at a restaurant
in town. So yeah, Imean when I post, when I like
a lot of my posts, Ilike doing like anniversary type things because also
it lines up to a lot ofthe repressings that are coming out too,

(39:55):
Because like let's say that Alison Chainshas a has an album that came out
thirty years ago. They're going torepress that album so that people will remember
it, and then I'll write aboutit, like I won't buy the repressing
of it, because I have allof the Alis and Chains that I like,
But you know, I like Ilike doing the anniversary ones because it

(40:15):
also because nostalgia is a huge,huge, huge selling point and always I
also like to combine fashion. Ifthere's something that comes up in pop culture
of a reference from something back inthe past, then I'll talk about the

(40:35):
artists or the musician that they peopletalk about. If a musician has passed
unfortunately, then I'll talk about them. So that's how I determine my postings.
So how much much like your dayis that? Though? Like how
much is like research? And likewhat are what are you? Like?
What goes into Carol's vinyl post?Like? Well, recently on Sunday,

(41:01):
actually one of my friends came overand we did like a photo shoot thing.
That's what my last post is aboutthat, So she helped me kind
of curate some content there. WhenI first moved into my place and got
everything set up, I decided thatI wanted to take a picture in my

(41:22):
new hallway thing. So it reallyliked I can I can spend all day
putting together a few posts. Ilike to kind of spend one day a
week creating stuff, but usually itdoesn't happen like that. I've also been
posting a lot of like my olderpictures because I have some really awesome things

(41:45):
that people haven't seen over the past, Like probably two years, I've gotten
half of my followings. So threeyears ago I had some great stuff and
they haven't really seen up on myfeed. So I just repost things like
that, So it's funny. Anotherthing about followers too, I didn't I

(42:08):
forgot to mention this. If Isee someone that has been supporting me and
commenting on like every post and it'sactually what I think good commentary, I'll
go follow them. I've had alot of issues with following people or like
allowing dms and then it getting turningbad really quick. So that's why I'm

(42:34):
very hesitant about following, specifically menin the community, and because I've been
burned a lot unfortunately. So thatis one of the reasons why I am
sexist when it comes to my following. I guess, but you know,

(42:58):
I've been doing this for seven yearsand I think I actually was going through
my settings and I think I havelike sixty people blocked from Yeah, it's
great, that's a lot. That'sa lot. Now what were you gonna
say, Oh, I was goingto go back to the anniversaries aspect.

(43:22):
So going back to your question aboutthe how you spend the day. Typically,
for myself, I wake up andwhile I'm having my morning coffee,
I usually read the news, andthen I always check to see which albums
are having an anniversary, which artistsare having birthdays, mostly because that with

(43:44):
my foggy, sleep deprived brain,allows me to choose my first spin of
the day. So it's like,oh, I have that album has an
anniversary, I'm going to play thatbecause that will negate thought for the next
little bit. And so about halfmy posts I would say end up being
anniversary or birthday post, just becauseit's a way to make sure that I'm

(44:05):
actually listening to all the records inmy collection, because it may not be
something I had initially thought of.But just a side note to that was
that I'm lucky enough in my dayjob that I often get to work remote
still for many of the days,and whenever we have staff meetings, I
always set up my computer so thatmy background is my record collection. And

(44:29):
one day while we were having ameeting, someone said, what's the record
that's on your display stand? AndI said, Oh, that's such and
such that's having an anniversary today.And that's now become the icebreaker for all
our staff meetings. It doesn't matterfun what we're talking about. The meeting
will always start with to start.It's almost like you know, saying the
Lord's prayer. It's like the meetingwill start with Matthew explaining which album is

(44:51):
having an anniversary or which artist ishaving a birthday. So I've had a
few of those experiences, like Iwork had the two companies ago, I
got to work from home and that'suh, that's what happened. Like I
would just have step up on myon my wall and they'd be like,

(45:13):
well, what's that, and Ilike would explain it and then I'll be
like, oh, let me postabout it. Yeah. We actually had
an in person meeting a while agowhere is the same thing. We were
doing it in person and someone kindof jokingly to start off the meeting said,
well, it's a real shame morein person because Matt's not able to
show off today's anniversary. And Ithought I had and I whipped out the
cassette. Cassette here it is,here's today's anniversary. Well record with me.

(45:42):
I mean, I have to say, I guess I feel a little
bit of like pressure to post,like if I haven't for a while or
something, I'm like, I haveto spend some time because to your point
earlier, Carol, like I meanone of my photos I have like fifty
before I choose the one that's theright lie light, the right setup,
the right whatever before you know.So I think it's a lot of commitment.

(46:07):
And I get a lot of peoplewith mistress of reality. They're like,
when are you going to post thenext one? When you know?
And I'm just like, do yousee how much research I do on this,
Like I'm not just posting the record, like I'm literally looking into the
history of where the stampers came from, Like give me a break. So
well with that. Another thing withthe pictures, like when you are taking

(46:29):
a picture of a record, ifit's got a sleeve on it, or
it's got a sheen to it,a shine, it is so hard sometimes
to take pictures a little bit ofa glare on it. I'm telling you,
taking pictures with objects, especially havingan entire discography behind you, is
an absolute like what do you callit? A talent? And okay,

(46:53):
here's a question that could only beasked of this group that, yeah,
someone listening to this years from nowwould have no idea what we're talking about.
What is the most difficult album coverto photograph? My my vote is
Metallica's Black album. Mm hm oh, yes, it's just you know,

(47:19):
when I when tools Pearinoculum came out. That was the biggest pain in the
ass because the whole box set partof it is like rainbow like shiny board,
like silver board, and then therecords themselves, the backsides are all
They all have etchains, so it'snot you don't even have grooves to help

(47:42):
reflect the light a little bit.The whole thing it's just like and then
you're in it, like you're takingthe picture. You see your phone,
You're like, damn it, Likeso, yeah, it's a whole thing.
So I do a record that's reallypopular in that people post a lot
about, I want to remake thatrecord album. That's why I do the
album remakes. That helps break thatup a little bit and are dressing up

(48:10):
like yes, like Taylor Swift,everybody's be posting about her, Lanna del
Right, everybody's gonna be posting Lonnadel Ray's records. Love those records.
But like, I don't want tosee all that on my feed all the
time constantly. So if I dopost that, then I'm going to do

(48:30):
it in a in my way,like in a caraway where So like with
The Midnight's One, I remade thecover because it's very easy, it's like
a little her face is like so, and I had one of my friends
is a candle maker and she hashad a lighter and I showed that off
in it to help her company becauseshe's a female who owns a business and

(48:53):
independent business. So I think thatin order too, if you do want
to post a record that everybody elsehas been posting, do it like that
make it interesting? Well? AndI think that like it kind of goes
into that sort of competitive thing thatsome people mentioned and we kind of touched

(49:14):
on, is like that's sort ofwhy I have stepped back recently is because
there's this like weird one upping thinggoing on, and that to me is
exhausting. Like I've said in oneof our other podcast episodes, it's like
I didn't start collecting Black Sabbath MasterReality variants to have more than everybody else.

(49:36):
That wasn't the impetus to that.It was because I work in manufacturing,
and to me, it's fascinating thatall of these different covers and versions
of the exact same record got made. How is that possible? You know?
So that's why I started doing it, and now there's all these people
are like, do you have thisone, and it's not in a fun
joking way, Like there are thosepeople that we joke about it, but

(49:59):
then there's other people that are justlike almost aggressive about it, and I'm
just like, I don't. I'mnot trying to one up anybody. I
just it's a weird rabbit hole thatI'm in, that's it. So I
agree. I mean, like likeyou with the different variants. If I
get a different variant, I wantlike the rare band covers. I love

(50:22):
the band covers like guns and Roses. I have that copy of Appetite.
I have the the Jimmy Hendricks onewith all the naked ladies on it.
Of course I think I posted aboutthat, so those are interesting to me.
Like that's why I got into collecting. I got into collecting because of
the album art. And my firsttwo records that I bought like myself were

(50:49):
led Zepplin three and Some Girls becausesome Girls like it changed. You can
change out the pictures on it,and I have like four or five different
versions of Some Girls because then Ifound out that not only with that my
Some Girls I was actually have Ihad the the overproductive or overproduced version of

(51:10):
it, and there was another onethat was banned because I had pictures of
women on there that weren't didn't okayto have their picture on there, so
that made it even more interesting.So so yeah, I did. I
collect records based on like the music, but also like how they look and
how and the record covers. Ido judge. I do rudge judge records

(51:38):
by their covers. Okay, it'sinteresting because I, as I said,
whatever I'm posting, I'm playing andI like music, so you know,
I may like the album that eightyseven other people are posting that day because
that happens to be what I'm listeningto right now. I think my hope

(51:58):
has always been that someone looking atmy page, coming across my page,
sees that, you know, ifI'm posting something that's hugely popular, you
know, like the Taylor Swifts ofthe world and all of those that you
know, they think, wow,you know I like Taylor Swift. You
know, he's playing Taylor Swift,so he must like Taylor Swift. So
maybe I should take a chance onthis other obscure act that he's also posted.

(52:22):
Like that, To me, it'sthe whole and it goes back,
you know, to hosting a radioprogram when I was back in college,
where that was literally me in frontof a microphone sharing my music tastes across
the airwaves, right, you know, and sliding all these little tiny bands
in amongst the bigger bands. AndI guess I've always kind of hoped that
that's how people would perceive my Instagramas well. Right, it's not.

(52:45):
You know, I'm trying as muchas possible to be the opposite of a
music gatekeeper. You know, Idon't want that little band that's only my
thing, because that band, forme, deserves to be, you know,
the biggest band in the world totally. So it's it's aspirational, but
that's my hope. I follow pressingplants. I follow people that work in

(53:07):
pressing plants. I follow I mean, if I if I'm collecting something,
I want to know everything about it. I want to know it all down
to the core. And I've allthat way. One of the reasons why
I collect records is because probably aboutmaybe twenty five percent of the current collectors

(53:28):
now, like through Jack White,I wanted to actually go to a record
pressing plant. There was only oneat the time, and it was near
Nashville, and I wanted to goin there and walk around when I first
started, but they didn't have itopen to the public. And then Jack
White started talking about it, andthen Jack White opened his stuff, and

(53:52):
and I've just been obsessed with everyprocess of it. Yeah, I think
that's definitely what we try to do, is like we want to share more
of it so that people can geteven more excited about how their records are
made, and not just records made. But I love the representation. You
know, anything that is showing womenin this industry, in any skilled trade

(54:15):
industry and any industry right is alwaysgoing to be a great thing. My
part time gig, I work ina high end stereo store. So I'm
approaching this from two different sides.One's the actual music loving side, there's
the actual audio file side, andit's not a big store. And our

(54:36):
kind of main technician is a youngwoman a strong technical background, So of
course, you know, I thinkit's fantastic, and anything I can see
to promote other women to choose thatas an option as a career option,
I think is fantastic. So byall means, you know, the more
you can direct us to posts abouthow the you know, how the Hamburger's

(55:00):
made or I started collecting records.I've always been a collector of like CDs,
cassettes, like whatever. I've alwayswanted a physical form of music.
I was that person that sat infront of the TV or in front of
the computer, downloading stuff illegally offof LimeWire, making playliss for people doom

(55:22):
like. I love music to thecore of it. Music is my favorite
thing in the entire world. IfI'm not listening to my records, I'm
listening to music on I have bothSpotify and Apple Music. I know I'm
a little bit I'm insane, butit's fine. Extra lover of music.

(55:44):
I too, have about six hundredCDs. You said five thousand, so
I picked my CDs down. Ithink I have thirty five and that I
know I got rid of mine.God bye. Tracts that have the same
thing that Jen has right behind her, that player. I have the same

(56:08):
one as her, and I havecustom made Britney Spears tracks. The only
person in the world that has BritneySpears on eight tracks. You have Britney
Spears eh track bootlegs exactly. Yes, Yeah, which kitty is this?

(56:29):
Oh? Sorry, this is thisis Edgar, who has entered the chat
amazingly in many ways, possibly morefamous than I am because he's in way
more of my Instagram photos. It'spretty funny how how often Edgar gets called
out and going back to the wholemeeting people in the community. The number
of vinyl collectors who have made pilgrimagesto my little town of Kingston and then

(56:53):
asked if they can come meet Edgarpretty impressive. So never gets any hate,
right, Uh no? Oh acat? Oh people? Yeah,
oh yeah, especially if there's anypicture of him near the records. You
know, people are like, howcan you let him do that? Like,
well, here's a cat. Hedoesn't even have some you guys,

(57:17):
He's not going to put pap rintson it. It's going to be fine,
Yeah, exactly. But I mean, well, and like as a
hot take, like for the forthe floor, I mean, I love
asking the spicy questions like how dowe all feel about ladies and non ladies
and non lady types and the Rainbowcrowd? How do we feel about everybody

(57:39):
posing with their records? The same? To me? Then I'll like it,
you know, like I'll be drawnto it. I mean not saying
I think that if you post apicture of your record without you in it,
that's what I'm meant. That's whatI'm meant. Like, Yeah,
I love what people's faces are withtheir records, Like I think more people

(58:00):
should do it, because you know, when I first started doing it,
I was terrified. It was likebecause I knew I was going to get
so much hate, and I knewI was gonna because back then I was
one of the only like we hadlike four or five women in the vinyl
the Instagram vinyl community, and itwas terrifying, but it was It's gotten

(58:25):
to me to where I'm at now, Like I work in social media.
I did not go to school forsocial media. So I grew my account
from zero to nineteen points. Ithink seven that I have right now.
Okay, by showing my face,I guess, or by creating being creative

(58:47):
with my post. I see peoplewho post their records and they just do
it like next to their record therecord player, and if the record player
looks really cool. I like that. There's this one guy on here who
does videos of like the atmosphere ofhim like posting his records, animals with

(59:10):
their with records, Like I loveall of that if it's eye catching and
interesting to me. There's one girlon here who does like Spells Records.
I can't remember what her handle is, but she just so yeah. She
has absolutely beautiful like like landscape oflike it's gorgeous and like I'm like,

(59:35):
can I live in that picture?I love creators who do like total nostalgia
throwbacks where they like turn the entireroom into like a the era that the
record is. Like, those arethe things that connect, like I like
I like on Instagram. So likewhen you think of women in vinyl,

(59:57):
you think of like empowering women tolove music. Love records be a part
of this career path and community.So if someone is in you know,
no clothes holding a record and theytag women in vinyl in it, would
you expect to see that in ourtagged photos? Right? And that's where

(01:00:23):
I get into like a weird positionbecause I have to untag us from like
some people that are just posting likethings that just aren't representative of what we
want to be. If you're acollector posting a picture of yourself with your
record and you're a woman and youtag us, I'm totally cool with that.

(01:00:43):
But some of the stuff. I'mjust kind of like, you know,
we're trying to create role models here. So well, the one record
that I pretty much did that,like where I had a record in front
of me and I was quote unquotenaked, but I wasn't. It was
the it was the the Jimmy Hendrick'sband record of all the like Electric Ladyland.

(01:01:07):
Like that makes sense, Yeah,that makes sense. I don't.
I don't like that. I don'tlike women that it brings a It tarnishes
our reputations. It like tarnishes Wellthat's the reason that we get a lot

(01:01:28):
of the negative comments, right wellexactly to be fair, I think it's
it's kind of taking away from likewhat Carol's trying to do and being artistic.
Yeah that's what I mean. Yeah, Yeah, that's that's the reason
that you're getting you're getting some ofthe negative feedback that you're getting because of
what they're wanting from you to doand what they're not getting from you.

(01:01:52):
Yeah, what do you think,you're the dude in the room, what
do you think? It's a hottopic obviously, I mean everybody wants to
see, like I'll be with younow. Everyone wants to see attractive people.
Yeah, that's that's why why magazinesexist, why all it exists,
right exactly. The tricky part forme is I don't want to be the

(01:02:19):
person who judges the art versus whatis not art, because I don't know
it's It's much like why I willnever diss anyone for their musical choice,
right, whatever they post, I'mnever going to say that band sucks because
you know, there are things inmy collection which may be empirically bad,
objectively bad, but they that thatpiece of music ties into a very specific

(01:02:45):
moment in my life and will alwaysresonate with me. And I don't know
the journey of the person who isin front of that camera. I don't
know, you know. I think, going back to the original question,
I think it's fantastic anytime and someone'swilling to put their face in front of
a camera, because that takes confidence, That takes yep, you're you're you're

(01:03:07):
exposing yourself to the world. Possiblymore wisdom. One. I don't do
a lot of pictures of me onmy account, but I do it occasionally
when I feel good. But yeah, it's not for me to decide that,
you know, it's that whole oneperson's arts, someone else's whatever,
Right, I don't know their wholestory unless I go into research and you

(01:03:28):
know directly say, is the onlyreason that you're posting that because you know
you're trying to get likes? ThenI don't know the story behind it.
So I'm willing to give a lotof leeway to some of those. If
it's an account where I personally don'thappen to like how the pictures look,

(01:03:49):
then I just don't follow that account, and my life is so much better.
Yeah, everyone has their laying right, true. I mean that is
the kind of like the great partabout Instagram because there is the there is
room for everybody. It's whether uncleAl lets you interact with everyone or not.
Yes, I mean yeah, Wellif uncomfy to me, then I

(01:04:14):
just I don't. Yeah, AndI think that's the way more people should
look at it. If you don'tlike it, instead of complaining about it,
just don't like it, just theYes, there was a person who
This was a few years ago onone of my record shelves that you can

(01:04:38):
usually see in my wide shot picturesof my collection. I have some vintage
Walkmen, Sony Walkman and someone yellowsport one I have. I collect different
colors, so I do have ayellow one, I have a red one,
I've got a silver one. Butsomeone became obsessed with the placement of

(01:04:59):
one and every single time I posteda picture that would be in their comments.
And it took a while to realizethat it wasn't a joke. That
this person was very offended, tothe point where I had to say,
like, if if it's really botheringyou, don't follow me, like one
more left and then two inches tothe right. I would have been all

(01:05:23):
over the place and just been like, oh, this is for you,
that's yeah. But like all Icould think was, there's an easy solution.
Don't look at my pictures. That'swhat's offending you about them. No,
that's what I Just move on,Like, you don't have to tell
me. You don't have to like, I am a sensitive person, Okay,
even though I'm tough, I'm sensitivetoo. I'm a Gemini, so

(01:05:45):
I can do that. But yeah, here's here's a hot, hot question
for the man in the room.Do you feel like because you're a dude
with a big collection, that thatautomatically kind of has given you more of
a following and more credibility than somebodylike Carol who has to like you know,

(01:06:08):
like like you said, like You'relike, nah, I'm just gonna
post whatever, and Carol's like thistakes me fifty shots and I gotta do
this and editing blah, and You'rejust like never throw away blah. This
is you know what I'm like,I need to post more, like Matt
exactly the amount of effort, youknow, to correlate because you guys have
like similar kind of numbers for followers, like, but the amount of effort

(01:06:32):
to keep that engagement, grow thatengagement whatever. Like that one that to
me shows just like how the actualcommunity behaves because Carol, Carol's got to
work her ass off, Jen hasto work her ass off, and you're
like, dude, doo, dono shade. Like I celebrate everybody,

(01:06:55):
but at the same time, I'mjust kind of like my bummy person that
looks at this like this because asI'm an analytical bitch that way or is
this true? Is this true facts? I don't think it necessarily has a
correlation. For the most part,I would say that on average, I
don't get that many I don't getthat much engagement per picture all you know,

(01:07:19):
every but I post a lot becauseI'm posting stream of consciousness, so
maybe like one post a week willsomehow resonate with people or will get shown
by uncle al. I find thatand as well with my account, the
numbers are deceptive because Instagram and platformslike it aren't what they were a few

(01:07:40):
years ago. The bulk of myfollowers came in the kind of several years
ago. During the last while,it's been a very very slow climb same.
So yeah, I do find andgoing back to your point though,
I do find that I get alot less grief than other accounts. When

(01:08:01):
I've noticed that someone has a verysmall collection, I get far fewer.
I get more willingness to more willingnessto accept that I know what I'm talking
about when I talk about an artist, which I find hilarious because with thirty
five hundred records and several thousand CDsand cassettes, I'm probably listening to each

(01:08:25):
album far less than the person withfifteen. So really, I probably know
that music on an album far lessthan someone who spends all the time listening
to the same ten albums. Selfalliance, I am here for this.
I love it. So I don'tknow if it's necessarily the community engages with
me, but I probably get thebenefit of the doubt a bit more curious.

(01:08:49):
Yeah, it is curious. Yeah, And going back to what I
said earlier, When I work inthe stereo store, it's a very small
shop, big in stereo. AsI said, one of my coworkers,
young woman who's incredibly knowledgeable technical technicalis an actual technician. I tend to
be known as the actual music personrather than the person who understands the inside

(01:09:12):
workings of the machines. Uh.And when people walk in, you can
guess when they see the middle agedman versus the young woman who their first
question is usually too, which honestlyis my favorite part of the day because
then I get to say, that'san excellent question. Let me introduce you
to our head technician, and thenI just stand away. Yep, it's

(01:09:33):
fantastic. What jen you have anotherquestion? A burning question? No?
I actually I guess to close beforewe ask our final question. That's impossible
and will be even harder for youguys, is that overall, the feedback

(01:09:56):
from our survey was that, uh, if if they had to describe the
vinyl community. The fifty five percentsaid it's a fun place to chat music
with friends, twenty eight percent saidit's been it's become too competitive, ten
percent thought it was phasing out,and seven percent said it's a safe space.
So I think there's still hope fora fun place to chat with friends.

(01:10:25):
That's that's how long I'll be hereuntil they turn off the lights.
As long as they one another personwho wants to talk music with me,
I will be you know, Ibe that person, right, I'm the
person at the bar who gets reallyupset when they turn off the sound system
as they're turning in. Like,I don't mind that they shut down the
bar, don't mind that the lightsare off, But the minute they turn
off the sound system, it's like, oh, unplugg the jukebox. Then

(01:10:45):
yeah, yeah, I'm not goinganywhere. I have so many records that
I haven't shown and so many coolrecords. Think it's just when I get
the time is when I'll be posting. So yeah, I mean, owning
my own business and having so manyodd odd jobs to make rent and everything.

(01:11:10):
I do get to listen to myrecords a lot, but like I
don't get to talk about them asmuch on Instagram and create my post because
it does take me a lot,a lot of time to do a post,
so I mean my stories are prettyactive. So like, if you
are on Instagram and you want tobe annoyed first of all by me,
Second of all, you do wantto know what I'm listening to? Slash

(01:11:33):
do want to talk to music?Sometimes I probably won't. I don't allow
new people to talk about music withme because I don't allow dms half the
time because I've been burned. LikeI said, but if you do want
to talk about music, I thinkI'm gonna start posting more like comment wise
stuff. So and like it takesa lot for me to post something and

(01:12:00):
I listen to music all the time. So if you want to talk to
DM me, unless you're a newperson, and then yeah, you have
to be vetted. I feel likethat's kind of fair. Tell me creepy.
Yeah, just don't be creepy,everybody. I'm one of my old

(01:12:20):
a very detailed just like d Mthat you would like for me to know,
that's how you can get me toDM you. Well, the question
that we always ask our guests that'simpossible is if you could make your own
custom seven inch with anything on theA side and anything on the B side.

(01:12:41):
What would it be? Oh,I would love to have Silver Springs
by Fleewood mac on vinyl. Ihave a friend who has a seven inch
of it and is supposed to sendit to me. He has it and
he's just sitting there. I don'tknow. He probably kept it for himself,

(01:13:04):
but I do want that one.And then on the other side,
Yeah, I'm gonna have to thinkon that one for a second. A
side, A side, A side, Well, the A side's always got
to be the banger, right,So without a doubt it would be the

(01:13:25):
damned Neat Meat Meat, So thatwould be it. And then the B
side would be the song that I'mgoing to have played at my funeral,
which is the Rolling Stones Midnight Rambler. Oh that's a good one too,
mostly because I really want them tosay at my funeral that we are now

(01:13:45):
going to play a selection off letit Bleed, and everyone's going to think
that it's going to be you can'talways get you want what you want because
of the big chill. But thenthey actually play a song about a serial
killer, and then everyone of thefuneral is just gonna sit there awkwardly for
the six and a half minutes ofthe song, wondering why he chose a
song with a serial killer? Canwe pass out like little water guns with

(01:14:05):
like fake blood in them too?Oh? You can everything else, You
can do what you want. Butthat's the key. The key is that
yet but that rambler is the alltime greatest nighttime driving songs. So it
should always be a side beat likethat one like that bar coming back to
your beat? What do you thinkprobably on the B side. This is
really freaking hilarious because like, Ijust love this song and I don't have

(01:14:29):
it on vinyl, and I wouldlove to have it on vinyl. That's
why this challenge exists. It's sogood. Uh, trial Time by the
real mister Big is like one ofmy favorite Alabama player y'all. So yep,
Trial Time by the real mister BigAwes. I'm I'm a gangster im

(01:14:54):
pop princess on the outside, buton the inside I'm a gangster as hell.
Yes. Well, on that note, thank you all, Thank you
so much, thanks for having havingus. Well, we will see you
on the internet. Excellent. Allright, bye all, thanks for listening.

(01:15:16):
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(01:16:03):
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