City Of 1500 Hopes

This first thing to say here is that is a milestone post. This is post number 1,500 that I have made on this blog since I started it back in February 2008. This month marks the 165th month since I started this blog, which means I have averaged 9 posts a month (or one post every 3.3 days) for 13.75 years. As ever, such stats seem crazy to think about. 'Where has the time gone?' and 'why the hell am I still doing this?' are the most obvious questions, neither of which seem particularly easy to answer right now.

Anyway, my friend Kyle used to sing for a band called The Damage Done. They were mainly active at a time when I was slightly out of touch with hardcore, so I missed out on them. But I decided to start listening to the band and collecting their records a few years ago. There are four 7" releases, with numerous vinyl colours and different covers for each and these days they are quite cheap to buy, so it seemed like a fun band to collect.

Well I reached a point where I was starting to build a pretty good collection, so I sent Kyle a photo of what I had. He then replied to let me know that he could help me with a couple of the colours that I was missing for the final 7" ('City Of Hope') that was relased on his label, Rivalry Records. He said he'd dig them out a couple of the transition colours at some point when he went to his storage unit. Fast forward several months, and I reminded him of this, and a few weeks later he made good on his word. I was missing the blue vinyl and orange vinyl versions, and he made sure that those holes in my collection were filled. I assumed he would send me a couple of copies of each, but when the package arrived there were a few more than I expected:

Each time I look at this photo I feel that I didn't manage to lay the orange copies out in quite the right order. But I still think it makes for a pretty cool photo regardless.

I figured that this was as good a record to mark the 1500th post because I think it kinda sums up the crazy, fun and endless nature of record collecting in one photo. But also it represents the social aspect rather well too. I have a few good friends spread across the world due to my passion for pieces of round plastic, and I just love how everyone is happy to help each other out if they can. And I guess that really answers the question I asked in the first paragraph. Why the hell am I still doing this? Because it still gives me some sense of enjoyment, which is largely due to the social aspect. So thanks to everyone I call a friend who maintains an interest in collecting records and helps me realise I am not alone.