Friday, September 23, 2011

Steal Wilson's Records!

For the first time, the inner sanctum of a Wilson & Alroy critic (in this case, Wilson) will be opened to the public. More importantly, you can take any of the CDs, LPs, and cassettes you see there. Five winning entries will be selected from comments submitted on the theme "Wilson's Worst Review Ever... And Why."

Speaking of "why," why is Wilson doing such a thing?
1) Out of space. Over the years, Wilson (referring to oneself in the third person never gets old) has kept more or less everything he's reviewed, plus a bunch of stuff he never got around to reviewing. By now he has no room for any of the accoutrements pertaining to, y'know, a normal life.
2) Going digital. As wonderful as cover art and liner note are, the convenience of keeping music on hard disk (not to mention the various cloud options - look for my trenchant analysis of Spotify soon) is impossible to ignore.
3) Can't sell 'em. For four reasons - Wilson tossed his jewel cases years ago to save space (see 1), most people don't buy music anymore (see 2), a variety of cats have torn the LPs to shreds, and most of the library is out-of-favor stuff like The Spinners' Live! - record store guys have advised that the fair market value is approximately nil. Or, as Spinal Tap would say, their appeal has become much more selective.

Application Deadline: 7 October

Golden Ticket Scavenger Hunt Date: 15 October

A few caveats:
a) Wilson's lair is in downtown Jersey City.
b) Two cats live there (see above), so if you're highly allergic you may want to pass.
c) Wilson is keeping a very few physical discs, mostly for sentimental value and a few because they don't seem to be available online. So don't make the trip out there hoping to get Godmoma's Here and go home disappointed.