High Fidelity meets Killing Yourself to Live in this memoir of one man's search for his lost record collection.
Eric Spitznagel writes for magazines like Playboy, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Men's Health, Billboard, The Believer, and the New York Times Magazine, among many others. He's the author of six books, one of which was translated into German and features a cat on the cover for no apparent reason. He lives in Chicago with his wife and son, the latter of whom wants to be a "mad scientist" when he grows up. (That's now in print, so the author intends to hold him to it.)
“Calling someone’s work Nick Hornby-like is a bit cliché, but
Spitznagel gives high fidelity to Hornby’s feel for music and its
relationship to life.”
—New York Post
“In this, Old Records Never Die finds its true purpose.
It’s a classic, High Fidelity-esque revelation that has
Spitznagel in the midst of a 'what does it all mean?' moment
wherein he begins exploring what-if situations and finding that
things often pan out just as they should.”
—Pop Matters
“Spitznagel knows that a good story can sometimes lead to a greater
truth.”
—KQED
“Think of it as an updated version of High Fidelity.”
—Pause and Play.com
"Memories are far more indelible when married to the physical
world, and Spitznagel proves the point in this vivid book. We love
vinyl records because they combine the tactile, the visual, the
seeable effects of age and care and carelessness. When he searches
for the records he lost and sold, Spitznagel is trying to
return to a tangible past, and he details that process with great
sensitivity and impact."
—Dave Eggers, author of The Circle
“Spitznagel's quest for the actual records of his youth could have
been a gimmick. Instead it's a touching exploration of loss: of
opportunities, of loved ones, of the ability to even remotely
discern what's hip. Hilarious and heartfelt, this is a book for
anyone who has ever spent entire years of their lives haunting
record stores, dissecting the merits of Doolittle, and studying
liner notes with the intense focus of a Talmudic scholar.”
—Jancee Dunn, author of But Enough About Me
“I’m working on a list of things that make me laugh harder than
Eric Spitznagel’s writing. So far, it includes old Albert Brooks
movies, videos of animals riding bicycles and…well, that’s about
it. What I’m trying to say is: Eric Spitznagel is hilarious. And
this book is perfectly Spitzagelian: Funny, smart, even a bit
wistful at times. The way he feels about the Pixies – that’s
similar to the way I feel about Spitznagel’s writing.”
–AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
“A funny and heartfelt memoir about music collecting that gives
birth to a new branch of social science: Gen-X archaeology.”—Neal
Pollack, author of Alternadad
“The perfect combination of a vinyl completist's dream and
nightmare.”
—Patton Oswalt, author of Zombie Spaceship Wasteland
"To say Old Records Never Die is a book about music is to say On
The Road is a book about cars. Really, Eric Spitznagel's energetic
and endlessly engaging memoir is a book about the ways we seek to
discover and recover our essential selves. Music lovers will love
this book; unrepentant nostalgiacs, like myself, can expect to be
absolutely riveted.”
—Davy Rothbart, creator of Found Magazine and author of My Heart is
an Idiot
“I can't remember when a book had me get out my black pen and
underline so many wonderful things. Maybe never. Loss and laughter
and all those denizens of sonic ghost town record stores willing
but often unable to make us all whole again. Something on every
page to stoke the geek heart with sad recognition and
hope."
—Marc Spitz, author of Poseur: A Memoir of Downtown New York City
in the 90s
"Eric Spitznagel is just like Captain Ahab, if Ahab were chasing
Billy Joel albums instead of a white whale. As he recounts in this
very funny book, Spitznagel found way more than he bargained for.
And just like Ahab, he dies in the end. (Spoiler alert.)"
—Rob Tannenbaum, co-author of I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story
of the Music Video Revolution
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