Chris Robinson’s vinyl collection (part of it) in his Manhattan apt. All images courtesy interview piece by Mike Mettler in Sound + Vision, photo credits Sorrell Schneider.
Do you have a count on how many records you own?
I’ve probably got 4,500 to 5,000 records. I got rid of some to make room for more. And I’ve got about 500 to 600 records at a friend’s house in Brooklyn for when I DJ here.
What kind of turntable do you have?
I have two turntables and a little DJ setup for when people come over. They’re both Technics SL-1210M5Gs. I keep a lot of the super-weird out-there jazz and out there psychedelic stuff like the Third Ear Band in my office where the one ‘table is set up for when the family goes to bed and I want to get weird. I have amps, guitars, and half of my library in that office. If friends want to hang out, we can get pretty noisy in there. I don’t think the neighbors feel the same [chuckles], but Topanga is pretty hip.
My wife gets the whole thing. She told me, “I understand I married a man who’s having an affair in his office with his records and books and weird f—-ing Armenian cinema.”
Like it or not. As I was saying earlier, I would be doing all the same things in exile [laughs], or anonymously. No matter how much time I’ve put in, I still like buying records and going into dusty old bookstores. And whenever I’m home, we have music on all of the time. The morning could be made of just Ali Akbar Khan records, and then it goes on and on until you crash.
That’s a good day right there.
It’s hard not to be romantic about vinyl records isn’t it? I’d like to establish monthly “listening parties”, but who has the time or interest for that?
9-22-13
Hiya Chris, (if this is getting to you)
This is a shot out of the blue but it may spark your interest.
I come from 51 years of broadcast news—most of it on the air here in
New York for the late, great WNEW Radio. I’m probably the only
reporter you’ll meet who was actually dropped into the original
Woodstock by heliocopter as a reporter in 1969—and I didn’t even
know what I was getting into. My voice begins the IMAX film in the
permanent collection at the digital museum up there now at White Lake.
That said—I’m cleaning out a 3-foot high stack on albums from my
home on the Upper East Side. I also have the entire Classical collection from
Time-Life of many years ago.
I am not going schlep all this stuff over somewhere—but I was wondering
whether you would have any interest in stopping by and taking a look to
see if there’s anything you might be interested in buying.
Please let me know one way or another. I’m out of here on business in
other parts of the country as of October 10th
All the best,
Mike Eisgrau
[email protected]
212-535-3783 (H/Off-NYC)
917-747-4543 (Cell)
941-460-9464 (H/Off-Fla.)