i need one of these!

I'm finally sorting out the bits and pieces to start broadcasting again on powerfm.org . I've a VPN set up and I'm ready to roll. Except that is for one small thing. I'm looking around the room at all sorts of turntables but only one of them plugs into the back of a mixer. As such I need another turntable, preferably a Technics 1200/1210, as the final piece in the jigsaw. Does anyone know someone who's selling one? If you do I'd welcome your help. Nice one!

a welcome addition to the family

Here's the latest arrival. There's no model number on it but I'm led to believe its a Philips GP 220 portable turntable. I know I said I was on a hiatus from buying turntables but I couldn't leave this one stranded. It was crying out for a home. That was about five weeks ago. Since then the replacement needle has arrived from New Zealand but I still haven't sorted out a power lead for it. As such it's pictured here with the six D batteries that it takes to run it and a copy of 'What time is love' by The KLF on the platter. It works like a dream.

you spin my records round

I was moving some turntables from one room to another last week. This new child has comandeered a room I was using to house many of the archaic musical objects that I collect. When the turntables were moved to their new resting place I thought that I'd take a few snaps. Here's some of the little beauties below.

First up is a little fella that I got in an Oxfam shop. It's cover detaches into two speakers. Its an old Phillips 447 but you can't really see it properly because of the shiny photo.


The next one is an old Sanyo that my Dad gave me a few years back. An aunt of his gave it to him so it really only had one careful owner before I got it. He also gave me a load of Scottish folk albums along with it. One of my kids chewed the stylus on it a few years back but I was able to get a replacement from some nice people in New Zealand.



This one was in my house when we bought it. It was wired to the electricty mains which I only found out after I cut a wire. The shock sent me flying across the room. It's an old 1950's Monarch and it's in perfect working order. I just had to do a little bit of rewiring so that I could connect it to an amp.



This next one is a portable Phillips from some time in the seventies. It belonged to my brother who picked it up back in the eighties. It sat in the attic of my folks house for years until I rescued it a few years back. It's in tip-top condition and is very similar to another one I have.



This is getting kind of nerdy now so I'm going to stop. I'll throw up some more at some point in the future but last but not least for today is my beast of burden. This is the one that I use most of the time and here it is hooked up to my savage JVC amp that I salvaged from Maynooth Studnts Union before they knocked it down to build a spanky new building. The amp has never given me any bother and its been lugged around the place to house parties, garden parties and kids birthday parties. It came with four 70w speakers that have also stood the test of time. The turntable itself is a really basic Sony model that I picked up for about £40 seven or eight years ago. It's a simple belt driven affair but its been steadfast in its music playing since the day I unboxed it.

It never rains but it pours

In the run up to Christmas I was oftentimes looking for stuff that was currently out of stock. I wandered into Road Records yesterday after purchasing some new running shoes and was discussing the relative merits and demerits of ASICS and New Balance when Dylan sprung a surprise upon me. My copy of 'Needle in a Haystack' by The Velvelettes on the Motown record label had arrived. There was joy untold on my part. It's a cracking tune and every home should have a copy to put beside Band Aid's 'Do they know its Christmas' and the RTE release of Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland. For all the pop-picking freaks out there, the b-side contains the original 'Really saying something' which Bananarama covered in the 1980's.

On arrival at my homestead another surprise package was waiting. My SABA McDisc portable turntable had finally arrived from Germany. After some wrangling with various voltage adaptors and hooking it up to an amp I was able to send it on its maiden voyage with the aforementioned Velvelettes record. Life is great.

I've decided that all future podcasts will be constructed using the SABA McDisc.

the vintage dj

I bumped into an old college friend whilst wandering the streets of Dublin city today. She's involved in the world of theatre and has been to-ing and fro-ing across the globe for the last couple of years. We were chatting about our respective lives and it turns out that's she's recently married. I enquired about the status and background of her husband and it turns out the he is no other than the Vintage DJ. Known to his friends and presumably his wife as Jonathon Jacobs, this New Yorker dj's with a little twist. He plays his classic vinyl on two Audiotronics Classroom record players from the 1950's. He goes so far as to get dressed up in his vintage gear for the gigs he plays. This fella sounds like a real buzzer. You can check him out on his website

I'd love to get something like this going in Dublin. Peculiarly enough I met DJ PCP at a party a few months back and he mentioned that he was getting a gramophone set together. It looks like I've missed the boat again.