I HAVE , i THINK IT'S A TECHNICS TURNTABLE , AND A P.O.S. AMPLIFIER.....i ALSO HAVE A CD BURNER WITH THE BUILT IN TURNTABLE , THAT SOUNDS REMARKABLY GOOD . It PLAYS 45s , 33s and 78s , or "Vinyls'',  as clueless hipsters call 'em. I ALSO HAVE ONE OF THOSE PULLOUT TURNTABLES BUILT INTO A BOOM BOX/TAPE RECORDER. I  have a huge tube amp record player with foldout speakers FROM THE 50s or early 60s. Plays 78s , but takes up too much space and weighs too much to use often. I have a smaller RCA VICTROLA , TOO , from the 50's . 78 , 33 , 45 , and even 18.

I've yet to buy into digital, same with books I still hold onto the physical medium dearly.  I find that mnay people who buy into vinyl are audiophiles, the kind who spend hundreds and thousands on their players, speakers and amp in the search for the perfect sound, I find it insane.  I love records because they are not perfect, the surface noise, the mono sound, its supposed to be a bit rougher but more human for it unlike the manicured digitalised music.  I have a love hate relationship with vinyl, for they come with their issues; you need to treat them very carefully, newer reissues are commonly of poorer quality, some are even just taken from CD instead of the master tapes  and man they take up a hell of a lot of space.  But they are often the best way to listen to music from an earlier era (especially if you get hold of editions issued pre 90's).

I have equal love for CD's too, they haver their benefits over vinyl; no surface noise, far more durable, cheap and when done properly easily equally if not better sound than vinyl.  The biggest issues I have with them is that the trend for remastered reissues and compressing what would be a double LP release onto a single CD which ends up dumbing down the sound.  I think anyone who loves music should have access to both, too many albums I like only have been released on one or the other.

Heres my set up, assembled on a budget, I picked them up off ebay second hand, the record player is a Rotel RP-830, Rotel RA-810a amp, Cambridge Audio CD4 CD player, hooked up to a pair of JPW shelf speakers.

I have many CDs and MP3s, but the best sound still comes from the good old vinyl.
What kind of turntable you have at home?

My own:

A CEC (Chuo Denki) BD-2000.
Without automatic but with anti-skating

I inherited this beautiful record player from my grandma.
Many years (and wild parties) later, I learned that this is a really good one.

What about with you?

......"Well , that's another one we'll have to feed on Welfare" - The Classy Blassie.

I asked Johnny Legend if Blassie was really as egotistical as he came off as being.  He said , No , Freddie's not really like that at all.

Three degrees of separation , My first Ponderosa Stomp was when the show got moved to Memphis because of Katrina's crazy ass. Scotty Moore was supposed to play , but had just had surgery on his shoulder . He turned up , anyway , and a big party was held for him . Boy , who DID'NT turn up ? Hubert Sumlin , Kenny Lovelace , Steve Cropper , Kent Morrill , AND , Master of Ceremonies - JERRY LAWFORD , who gave a rousing speech about how it's time we got Memphis music out of the shadow of Nasville music , with all due respect.......

"AHHM FROM MOMMPHIS , TENN - UH - SEE !!!".

My Breakfast With Blassie! Classic video. Hey, Buddha! Lemme rub that belly...

.....But , you owe it to yourself to read Zmuda's book to learn about Andy's ultimate (Confirmed.) prank. iT'S ALMOST TOO....wait , here's Freddie Blassie to tell you more ..."It's TOO DIGUSTING TO TALK ABOUT . I WANNA PUKE IN THE FACE OF THAT SON OF A BITCH WHO WROTE IT !! YEAH , ANDY , I KNOW HE'S YOUR BEST FRIEND , BUT I LOVE A WINNER , AND I HATE A LOSER !!! COME ON , ANDY , DON'T SIGN AUTOGRAPHS FOR THOSE GIRLS. I KNOW YOU'RE GETTING JOHNNY LEGEND'S SISTER'S PHONE NUMBER , BUT , IT AIN'T SANITARY TO SHAKE HANDS WITH 'EM. PEOPLE WANNA SHAKE HANDS WITH ME , I SAY NO ! YOU DON'T KNOW , THEY'VE PROBABLY JUST BEEN TO THE MEN'S ROOM , DID'NT WASH THEIR HANDS , AND MAYBE DID'NT EVEN USE TOILET PAPER !!! PENCIL - NECK GEEKS !!! HELL , WHEN I GOTTA GO , I'LL USE HALF A ROLL !!!!".

You'd have to read about it , yourself . Words fail me. It took place at The Park West in Chicago , which , somewhat shockingly , still functions as a music venue.

IF ANDY FAKED HIS OWN DEATH , THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ULTIMATE ELVIS TRIBUTE , ON HIS PART......

I'VE SEEN BETTER ALLEGED PHOTOS OF A SIXTY - SOMETHING ELVIS THAN THIS ONE THAT COULD BE OF ANDY. BUT I'M NOT THOROUGHLY CONVINCED.....I DON'T RULE IT OUT , EITHER. BUT , DON'T GO BY ME. I BELIEVE THAT ELVIS DIED IN 1977 , AND THAT JFK WAS SHOT BY AT LEAST TWO OR THREE GUNMEN , AND THAT BOBBY FULLER WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED ( SPOILER ALERT! )  , AND JOHNNY THUNDERS WAS ADMINISTERED AN OVERDOSE OF METHADONE BY THE TWO CREEPS WHO RANSACKED HIS HOTEL ROOM AND TOOK EVERYTHING OF VALUE , BUT , WE'RE TOLD , HIS GUITAR........ IF KAUFMAN IS , OR HAD BEEN LIVING IN , ALBUQUERQUE , HE WOULD'VE BEEN TOO BUSY MENTORING , AND POSSIBLY EVEN POSING AS NOBUNNY TO MAKE IT TO AN OH - SEES SHOW.

All I know is that woman who's claiming to be his daughter DOES really look like him... but maybe she's just a really good actor and, yes, this could all be one giant post-mortem hoax. In any event, it's a lot more fun than any JFK assassination conspiracy theory.

Andy lives in Albuquerque. Saw him at Thee Oh Sees show Sunday night. http://www.krqe.com/entertainment/andy-kaufman-believers-say-hes-alive-and-living-in-albuquerque.

I THINK IT'S PROBABLY ANOTHER HIGH - CONCEPT PRANK THAT KAUFMAN DEVISED WHEN HE LEARNED OF HIS CANCER (AT ONE OF HIS LAST SHOWS , HE DARED ANY AND ALL DOUBTERS TO TOUCH THE HUGE CYST ON HIS NECK.). I'd love to learn that he's still alive , and happy as a private citizen. But , he's been so good at making an ass of the public (Which is why we love him.) , even his death was not taken seriously , like he was the boy who cried wolf.... If they had to go to the extreme of doing a DNA test to prove the young woman is his Daughter , I guess his Brother's DNA would be close enough(?) , they may have to . But , that'll probably never happen. When Andy instigated that beef with JERRY LAWLER , YOU COULD'NT HELP BELIEVING THEY WERE SECRETLY FRIENDS , LIKE SO MANY REAL RIVAL WRESTLERS . AND , GUESS WHAT ?!!

I'm surprised Bob Zmuda is'nt in on this. I wonder , too , what Johnny Legend has to say about it. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IN ANDY'S WORLD , BUT, I'D HAVE TO SEE MORE PROOF.

Read the story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/andy-kaufmans-brother-says-comedian-655760

What do you think?

i AGREE , DAN. "GHOST WORLD" CAUGHT THE MOOD AND TEH DRY HUMOR AND TEH "WONDERMENT IN THE FACE OF BOREDOM" OF TEH ORIGINAL COMIC SO WELL.   BUT , HAVING DAN CLOWES WRITE THE SCRIPT DID'NT HURT . IT'S TOO BAD THEY DID'NT USED "CARBONA NOT GLUE" AS BACKGROUND MUSIC FOR "ENID'S PUNK DAY". I GUESS THEY COULD'NT GET THE RIGHTS . CARBONA'S MANUFACTURERS PROBABLY WOULD'NT HAVE LET THEM USE IT IF THEY DID GET PERMISSION FROM THE RAMONES' PEOPLE.    THE HUGE RETROSPECTIVE SHOW ON DAN CLOWES' WORK JUST RAN AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN CHICAGO. IF IT COMES TO YOUR TOWN , JUST GO.

CLOWES , AND LIKEWISE , PETER BAGGE , WERE BEING COURTED TO DO MOVIES AND TV SINCE THE LATE 80'S. DAN MADE A POINT OF WAITING UNTIL HE HAD COMPLETE CONTROL. I STILL DON'T THINK IT'S TOO LATE FOR SOMEONE TO DO A "BUDDY BRADLEY" CARTOON. OR , EVEN A LIVE ACTION FEATURE. I KNOW BAGGE WOULD'NT DO IT UNLESS THE PEPLE HAD THEIR SHIT RIGHT. IT'S ONLY FAIR.

I think they are neccessary due to 9/11. People are afraid of this world they're living in, so we need comics and superhero's to be able to face the day. Example V For vendetta versus Asnonymous movement. Or any other robot comic film for that matter. We have become machines, work/home, eat/sleep. etc. 

I too, like Thor. I watched the Avengers and was bored - but I'd heard about what a popular character Loki had become so we checked out the Thor full length. I was suprised at how engaging it was.

I haven't read all the way thru the 10 pages of discussion but I'll throw out a few faves... Scott Pilgrim was awesome! Sin City raised the bar for movies from comics and (predictably) Ghost World remains at the top of my list. 

Well the ALA list has both fact and fiction so I suppose it is pretty open to interpretation.  For the purpose of this thread, let's stick to fiction since it is harder to find books with punk characters than artist bios, music history, etc.

Are you talking actual "literature", or just really good reads for people into punk and punk history? So, I guess I am asking the essential question that any library starts of asking: fact or fiction.

FYI: I am a librarian and a punk, too.

If I'm reading at all , it's never one thing at a time....I'm reading Peter Bagge's "Graphic Novel" (Fancy name for comic book.) Biography of Margaret Sanger , founderof Planned Parenthood , as well as the new Mojo (Johnny Cash cover. Life - affirming Wilko Johnson feature , too.) , Wally Wood's "Eerie" comics collection (Horror , Crime ,Sci - Fi , all non - EC.) , tHE CURRENT vINTAGE rOCK'N'rOLL (oR SOMETHING. Shitty name , VERY fine fan magazine from The UK.) WITH Little Richard , Vince Taylor , etc. , and some Archie comics.

Not so much....a few. Always liked "Infra Man". There's a realy insane fake Bruce Lee movie , in which Bruce Lee goes to Hell (Which looks suspiciously like Hong Kong.) and teams up with Popeye The Sailorman (!) AND OTHERS TO FIGHT THE ARMY OF DARKNESS - Dracula , The Godfather , The Exorcist (!) , James Bond(!!)., The Man With No Name and others , and liberate Hell in the name of teh good people who were wrongly condemned to eternity , there. But , I was never much of a Kung Fu cinema fan. "The Seven Golden Bros. Vs. Dracula" , a Hammer / Shaw Bros. collaboration  actually works.

Yeah, I love them. City On Fire's one of the best, especially as a certain Quinten Tarantino cribbed from that. The girls in them are just so pretty, especially Chingmy Yau and Carrie Ng. Shame the former colonial master never learned from these films and made some CAT III ones of their own, especially with some of the most exquisite females you can imagine.  

Quite a number of Viz strips are quite dark, like "Suicidal Syd" and the work of John Fardell. "The Critics" often has Crispin & Natasha Critic reaching violent ends at times. "Dester Island Teacher" has a teacher stranded on a rock, teaching the wildlife while slowly going mad. Suicidal Syd always ends in Syd being murdered when he feels life is getting better.

Wow. A friend of mine made a very astute observation , yesterday. He noted that "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" starts out as typical lighthearted teen fare for the 80's , then , at some point , turns DARK !! Very dark. But , real life has a tendency to turn very dark when we least expect it. And , anyone who says High School was the high point of their life .....well , I WON'T WASTE MY TIME FEELING SORRY FOR THEM.

......Recently , I got off my serious Japanese Horror /Sci Fi kick ( I recommend "Lake of Dracula" , as well as "Dagora" , "Atragon" ,"The Mysterians", etc.) , though , not forever , and started watching old Godzilla flicks , including "Godzilla Raids Again" , better known in the states as "Gigantis , The Fire Monster". It was the second - ever big "G" PICTURE , AND , UNTIL RECENTLY , PRETTY HARD TO FIND. I ALSO JUST WATCHED "NICO: ICON" , Tim Burton's original  28 min. version of "Frankenweenie" , several Kenneth Anger films , and a lot of Stones bootlegs I found , recently. So weird , "SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL" just came on the TV , in the background. I'M NOT KIDDING.

TV SHOWS - NIGHT GALLERY , BURNS AND ALLEN , KING OF THE HILL , THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW , THE HONEYMOONERS , THE TWILIGHT ZONE , FRIDAYS (The new box set.) , Midnight Special (Compilation.) , Robot Chicken , McHale's Navy , and even Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family (IF I HAD ANY SHAME , I WOULD'NT STILL BE LISTENING TO 70's/pre - HC PUNK , ROCKABILLY AND GARAGE PUNK AFTER 30 + YEARS.).

I THINK WE'RE ALL IN AGREEMENT THAT "TRILOGY OF TERROR" WAS KAREN'S APEX. I WATCHED IT AGAIN , RECENTLY. IT'S A VERY FEMINIST HORROR FILM , MUCH LIKE GEORGE ROMERO'S "SEASON OF THE WITCH". "Oh , I'm not drugging you....I'm KILLING you.".