Recently Deanna Dahlsad (avid collector of many things, but especially kitschy) interviewed me for the websites Collectors Quest and Inherited Values.
I’ve known Tom Casetta, host of a weekly radio program Listen Up! (on Internet radio station G-Town Radio), for over a decade now. He’s my music guru. If I have a question about records, bands, music history, or just want to discover something cool to listen to, I contact Casetta. I figured it was time to share the resource.
Hey, Tom, pretend I don’t know you… How long have you been collecting records?
I started acquiring records at a young age, but I probably started to seriously seek out music during high school. It was more a means to discover these records, bands, and singers I was reading about. I grew up in a time where vinyl LPs were the main format and I didn’t pay much attention to the fact I was suddenly gaining a decent size library.
Did you consider yourself a record collector originally?
Not at all and I still don’t. I obviously collect records, but I don’t look at them as these sacred museum pieces. < read rest of interview at Collectors Quest.
Can you tell me the story of your radio show? Was it inspired by your collection — or just a way to rationalize it?
I am currently doing a weekly radio program on the Internet radio station G-Town Radio called Listen Up!. Each week, I guide you through a labyrinth of music shining a beacon on the unsung, should-be-sung, and will-be-sung recordings that clutter the maze’s dusty corridors. The station is based in a Philadelphia neighborhood called Germantown and it offers diverse programming originating from this community in Philadelphia that can be shared through the wide range of the Internet.
The Listen Up! show in some ways does rationalize my record collection as it serves as the library for much of the source material of the show. I love sharing these recordings with the public and exposing them to music perhaps they may not have heard of before. I want to share that excitement, infusing my personality into the show. It’s pretty much you, the listener, hanging out in my music library for two hours.
As a DJ, how liberating is today’s digital world?
I don’t see it that much different. I still approach my shows the same way as before. < read rest of interview at Inherited Values.
LISTEN UP! with TOM CASETTA 