The Vinyl Lounge

 

 

YouTube Playlist - The Vinyl Lounge 

Spotify - The Vinyl Lounge 

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This collection of music I’ve created for this playlist includes the songs that have always inspired me to create the Vinyl Lounge.

The idea for the Vinyl Lounge has been in my subconscious for years, and I can definitely credit my father for this inspiration. Growing up in the 80s, my father had the most incredible sound system.

My earliest memory is of his Realistic receiver (Radio Shack), Realistic turntable, and an 8-track player, which he used to play Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Alannah Myles’s Black Velvet, and, of course, my mom’s copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Towards the end of the 80s—around 1989, I want to say—my father came home with a brand-new, state-of-the-art sound system. This time, it included a Fisher Studio Sound receiver, along with a turntable, dual cassette deck, an equalizer, and a brand-new CD player. I had never seen a CD player before.

He also had two Fisher speakers, which, at the time, were bigger and taller than I was when I was eight or nine years old. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I was finally eye level with top of the speakers.

I’ve always had a love for sound and music. All my life, I’ve been trying to replicate the sound of my childhood. My goal has always been to find the best sound system I can possibly have. It’s always been a work in progress.

When I was in my mid-20s, I befriended a guy named Chuckie while living in San Diego. He had one of the most beautiful sound systems I had ever seen. He was an audiophile in the purest sense of the word.

The best part about Chuckie’s house was how he decorated it to look like a lounge bar. Beautiful red and black murals adorned the walls, neon lighting glowed under the sofas, and the decor created a true lounge bar experience.

I had never met anyone before who had literally turned their house into a lounge bar. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I thought to myself, “Wow, you can do this. I want to do this one day. I will do this one day. My house will be a lounge bar.”

And the best part about Chuckie’s place? The parties. The most epic parties, almost every weekend. In case you're wondering, I'm sitting in the middle wearing the white T-shirt.

In 2007, I moved from San Diego to Taiwan, and I’ve been living here ever since. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have landed in Taiwan and have lived in the same apartment with the same gorgeous ocean view for seventeen years.

Over time, I have slowly—but surely—been turning my apartment into my version of a lounge bar. It started with repainting the walls (a light shade of gray with Victorian red—because you have to have red in a real lounge bar). Then came the mid-century modern furniture with a number of antiques.

Next, I got my sound system. To replicate the sound of my childhood with the vibe of the 80s, I use a 1973 Realistic receiver wired to two Sansui speakers made in 1983. This is how I listen to music at home. Though it may not be pure audiophile sound, it’s pure to me.

Baby steps were happening. For the first sixteen years in my apartment, I was a renter. But in the summer of 2024, my wife and I were approached by our landlord about the possibility of buying the apartment we had been living in.

I jumped at the chance. My first reaction to the possibility of buying the apartment I’d been living in for the last seventeen years was, “Now I can keep my ocean view forever.” I have a full 180° view of the ocean.

The next thing that entered my mind was, “Now I can finally complete my lounge bar.” I had been sitting on the name The Vinyl Lounge for about fifteen years, just waiting to use it. I decided the time had come. Our apartment is now The Vinyl Lounge.

This is the Vinyl Lounge. It’s mine and my wife’s Fortress of Solitude, away from the world. This playlist—like our apartment—will always be an open, ever-evolving adventure.

YouTube Playlist - The Vinyl Lounge 

Spotify - The Vinyl Lounge 

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