We went to the computer store. We saw over five record players that day.
He just received his allowance and my son wanted to have a new motherboard and CPU built around his current power supply. But what did we keep running into?
new phonograph at Falabella
On the way, we stopped at Falabella, an upscale department store here in Argentina, to see how much a new computer would be. There were only laptops, not so good for gaming, but we saw a record player among all the electronics. "Hey, look at that." I said to my son who had no interest in the novelty. Only one thing going through his head. New computer. New computer. Upgrade. Upgrade. Faster games. Like a song stuck in his head.
I could tell that he would not be happy until he got that wad of cash out of his pocket and into a better gaming machine. Continuing on to the computer store, we confirmed the quotation and dropped off the parts that would be reused in the build. The man behind the counter said, "It will be done in about two hours." If you have a teenager, there is no going home and relaxing when your computer will be done in only two hours.
Longest two hours of my life
We stopped to grab a Coke and see this gramo-phone on the counter where customers sit and eat or just have a coffee. Now this is just getting creepy.
These things can't actually be functional, I thought. Not even two years ago, I saw a street artist who had LP's, probably out of the trash, and he was turning them into art. He would paint your portrait, a Rolling Stones logo or even a sunset on one for just a few bucks. No hook necessary, they hang on the wall by the hole! Now people are buying these black disks new again. I did a search, yes they are back but I am not sure to what extent globally. Here's the first site that popped up.
So we are killing time and walking around
Waiting for that magical two hour mark. We went to all the stores in the area, there are hundreds just related to computers, then more if you walk out of Galeria Jardin. We ate, we sat where the smokers sit, we went to the fountain downstairs, and that killed only forty-five minutes.
Then I catch a glimpse of another record player. No, it was an entire record store with music playing on what we used to call a turntable. I have no interest in building a new "Hi-Fi" set with separate amplifier, tuner, cassette hehe player and turntable. Yes, this is where we get the term Wi-Fi, but I guess y'all can Bing that and find it. No I don't talk or search like that.
This store did have the whole set, but he only sells brand new records and perfectly new Rush, Led Zeppelin, Stones, Skynyrd, Tull, and Priest t-shirts. I flipped through them all as my son kept looking at his phone to check the time.
If you think about it, what happens when music apps and platforms similar to Netflix house your music collection and nobody owns a CD player any longer. The industry has to find something to push. I am not much for conversation in Spanish but the owner did tell me that he sells more records than CD's.
It has been a while since I thought about it, but I had been wondering how music stores stayed in business. In a country where they still sell new and refurbished type-writers, I had lost the shock and awe of seeing strange things as strange things a while ago.
It may be that I am just out of touch
The Vinyl Revival started in 2007 according to search results. I didn't notice until now. Or maybe it just arrived in the southern tip of the Americas. What about where you are?
pictures are all mine taken by me