Some of you might have noticed that I’ve been on a bit of a blogger’s holiday for the last few weeks. The reasons are manifold. Been busy. Been uninspired. Been conflicted on where I want to go with this whole blog thing.

I’m all over the map when it comes to posts. Everything from family stuff to politics to sports. Whatever strikes my fancy. I do none well and have a hard time keeping it current and keeping up with the velocity of information coming at me from all those various sources. So I shut down.

One thing that I have been blogging about lately is music, radio, classic rock, Dallas rock radio history and what not. To that end I think I’ve found a raison d’etre at least for the next several weeks. I may have reported in this forum that I received an iPod for my birthday last month. The frustrating thing about the iPod is that all my music collection is on vinyl. Lots of recent stuff on CD and of course iTunes is great but at a dollar a pop, a little pricey to recreate all my faves. So I’ve been looking for a tool to rip/record all my albums to digital format. To that end, allow me to present the Father’s Day present:

The USB turntable from Ion Audio. Purchased at Circuit City for a mere $149 this miracle device is going to help me bridge the space-time continuum and resurrect all my lost tunes as digital mp3 files. The set up was pretty simple and the Audacity recording software that was included is fairly easy to use. The downside is that it takes time. So with all that spare time on my hands sitting here at the computer I’ve decided to “live blog” each album as I convert vinyl to mp3.

I’ve selected a stack of albums to start with. Here’s the list:

• Aerosmith – Rocks and Toys In The Attic
• Allman Brothers Band – Beginnings (actually a two album re-release including their “Allman Brothers Band” and “Idlewild South” albums)
• Johnny Duncan – You’re On My Mind, Straight From Texas, Greatest Hits, See You When The Sun Goes Down & In My Dreams
• Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs & Long Misty Days
• Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon
• Poco – Rose of Cimarron
• Average White Band – Cut The Cake
• Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak & Johnny The Fox
• AC/DC – Highway To Hell
• Bad Company – Desolation Angels
• Elvin Bishop – Struttin’ My Stuff
• Boston’s self titled album
• Foghat’s 1972 self titled album
• Neil Young – American Stars ‘n Bars
• David Houston – Greatest Hits Vol. II
• Ray Price – Night Life (circa 1963)
• Gary Stewart – Little Junior & Out Of Hand
• Dave Mason – Certified Live
• Chicago’s 1970 self titled album aka Chicago I
• Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
• Eagles – Hotel California
• Journey’s self titled album
• Souther Hillman Furay Band – Trouble In Paradise
• Richie Blackmore – Rainbow
• Toto’s self titled album
• Sea Level’s self titled album
• Deep Purple – Made in Japan
• Merle Haggard – Big City
• Johnny Rodriguez – Just Get Up And Close The Door
• Rare Earth – Get Ready
• Gary Morris – Why Lady Why
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – pronounced
• And a 45 from Chicago – A/I’ve Been Searchin’ For So Long B/Byblos

So sit back and relax. First on the turntable is Aerosmith’s Rocks album released in 1976. First track? Back In The Saddle. To quote Steve Tyler & Joe Perry who wrote this track:

“I’m baaaaack! Back in the saddle again.”