b'final mattersMy Vinyl Life with theStereo KidsAfter too many months of online learning,heres how our family went analogue again BY DONNY LEVITThe writer\'s children, Jack and Alexina, learn all about turntables and vinyl.IAlso, can you pour me some milk? GeorgeFinolaplaysjazzforpeople admit this sounds like a plot point right out of a Judd Apatow movie: 1) Wife seeks advice from husbands close friend about turntable and stereoI didnt hear you say please. who want to hear jazz as it should be speakers. 2) Husbands close friend is a hardcore vinyl collector, stereoPlease? played;withguts,fireandimagina-aficionado, and owner of over two thousand records. 3) Amazing wifeTheirheadsarerotatingintwintion, he reads. Jacks also sparing my orders said items for Fathers Day. 4) Husband almost passes out withcircles as they follow the movement ofmiddle-aged eyes from squinting.joy from gift.the vinyl. I flip the album over to playAlexina is digging the beautifully-Now if only Apatow would cast Paul Rudd to play me, Id really winside two. Wait, theres more music oncolored vinyl of the album Seeds by the jackpot.the other side? asks Jack. You bet.the band TV on the Radio. The records But back to reality, yes? After a late-night record player assemblage bonanza,We need to listen to the second half ofareawashwithswirlsofpink,aqua, I crawl out of bed early the next morning and pull Murmur by R.E.M. out ofthe album.andpurple.Shestryingtoconvince its record sleeve. Before I drop the needle, I take a minute to admire the strangeRememberthatmomentinPulpme to let her bring it into show and tell kudzu on the album cover as memories of my college years living in GeorgiaFiction when John Travolta opens thewhen she starts kindergarten next year. start giving me all the feels.briefcase and stares in awe at the gold- Im feigning hesitancy, but that would Enter my 7-year-old son, Jack, who freezes in his tracks as he watches meen light shining from inside? Woah,fill me with great fatherly pride.carefully balance the record by its edges. That smells weird but good, he says,thekidssay,almostinunison.Al- Thecomputerisshutdown.The referring to the vinyl mixed with that unmistakable used-record store scent.though they dont exactly sound likeTV is silent. The Nintendo Switch is in Weird but good, indeed. Vincent Vega. the cabinet. And instead of screaming I gingerly place the record down on the platter, move the tone arm over theAfter watching him read off a com- Alexa, play Lava by the B-52s, my lead-in groove, and drop the stylus on the record. Jack starts reading the sleeve.puter screen for more than a year, itskids are listening to the bands entire Whats Radio Free Europe mean? (He fumbles over the word Europe) a calming tonic to see Jack work hisdebut album. Its a song by R.E.M. Its the first one the band ever put out.waythroughanaloguelinernotes.Heres hoping for many more ana-His questions continue: What is 403?While hes become an expert in log- logue days ahead. Well, the song Radio Free Europe lasts four minutes, and three seconds,ging in with a comedically long dis- Donny Levit is a writer and Maplewood I explain.trict email address on a daily basis, itsresident. He is the author of Rock n Roll So, I can add all those together and find out how long that record is?a pleasure to watch him sit on the floorLies, 10 Stories. You can hear him DJ Leave it to vinyl to bring out the math nerd in my kid. and sound out unfamiliar words. Cur- hisindierockshow"UndertheInflu-By the time we get to the songs chorus, our 5-year-old daughter, Alexina, isrently, hes reading the back cover of aence" and his jazz show "Kind of Pool" dancing down the stairs and makes a bee-line for the record player. Hey, makelive Dixieland jazz album I bought atonBonePoolRadio.Followhimon it louder! I do.a used book shop on Magazine StreetInstagram @undertheinfluenceradio and Even louder! she says.inNewOrleansmanymoonsago.@kindofpoolradio.46/ matters magazine / school 2021'