Old Records Never Die

Book excerpt: Old Records Never Die is a memoir of one man's search for his lost record collection. Journalist Eric Spitznagel sets out to scour every flea market and dusty attic in the country, every cluttered used record store, every hoarder's basement and eBay seller's home, and every radio station that employs a friend of a friend until he is reunited with the precious vinyl artifacts from his past. As he embarks on his hero's journey, he reminisces about the actual records, the music, and the people he listened to it with old girlfriends, his high school pals, and, most poignantly, his father, who died the year his son was born. He explores the magic of music and memory as he interweaves his adventures in record- culture with questions about our connection to our past, whether we can ever recapture it, and whether we would want to if we could.