What has sexy grooves, gives eargasms- even when the finely tipped needle scratches and skips through the smell of music? Vinyl.

This view from my home is shared with many others including a friend of mine who is a local musician and lead spin master of the Viva La Vinyl night- Brad Hoshaw. Brad shared with me his reasons to spin, “Vinyl to me means setting aside time for music and honoring it, its reverence to music.” 

Brad started a Tuesday Vinyl Night in Omaha Nebraska back in 2008 in the neighborhood of Benson- which has grown over the years to be an eclectic masterpiece full of music, cocktails, vintageness and community. “I was inspired by a club in Davenport Iowa, a bartender would play the turntable throughout the night,” and so he brought that idea back home starting a once a week vinyl night.

I myself got done with my set at a local comedy open mic one night and noticed on the events calendar reading “Viva la Vinyl, a night to spin records.” I was happy to see something like this existed and attended the first of many one random Tuesday (the one day a week I could decompress while consuming Blue Dolphins: water on ice with an orange) and never looked back.

Like myself and many record enthusiasts, Hoshaw’s love for vinyl started at a young age – even mentioning his Fisher-Price® record player he had (super jealous) and the hand-me-down records from his folks. Through the years and expanding his own record collection he says he enjoys records and vinyl night because it is enjoyable, allowed him to reconnect with people and make new friends. It has also grown to include a Vinyl white elephant exchange during the holidays and some potluck nights along with ‘pickle juice shots.’

Picking vinyl to bring in on Tuesday night is sometimes a hassle. I have skimmed through many baskets full of someone else’s old vinyl in antique stores trying to find one that intrigued me or had some songs I knew. Over the past years- I have had pals loan me some of their vinyl to share as well as inherited (nicely asked) my grandpa for a hand cranked record player from his house that came with some records even from the 1920’s by Mamie Smith- in which I brought the entire record player and a few to share on a vinyl night. I tend to bring records from my folks collections, along with my favorite I brought for my first vinyl night “Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy” that I found in Wyoming at a record shop. When it comes to picking out his vinyl night spins, Brad says “I try to narrow down my picks from all my records, maybe see what happened on that day, sometimes no rhyme or reason- it could be modern, something everyone agrees is a classic or a personal favorite.”

Spinning records has gained popularity these last few years and for me it’s fanfrickentastic to see what I grew up on is getting the respect it has always deserved. When asked how the popularity increase affects Brad he said, “Records cost more now whereas I use to get some for .50 cents. I don’t feel like I’m part of this trend because I’ve been doing it for so long, so I’m fine with it being cool.”

Touché Mr.Hoshaw, touché.

My view from home as a young child was being downstairs in our family room with its fancy wood paneling, awesome pink flamingo mirror, the oil lamp that had a bronze naked lady in the middle and my parents record player that had a big rectangle plastic cover. I was given the record etiquette talk many times. Even with all the change in music over the years, our family record player still exists and doesn’t collect too much dust because on random days I will throw a record on to clean house and go back to 5-year-old Elle interpretive dance mode.

Nowadays- I am and will be forever grateful to arrive in a local tavern seeing Hoshaw delicately cleaning a record before the spin along with many of my fellow vinyl enthusiasts and engage in conversations regarding music that embeds my love for vinyl deeper in my veins. It’s astonishing to find a crowd that shares this same view and some nights, just like a record skips, my heart and soul does too.