1989-06-15 Rolling Stone
TECHNOLOGY FOR THE NINETIES
By Tish Hamilton and Lauren Spencer, Rolling Stone, June 15, 1989
Part of a spotlight article on various artists and their music-adjacent technology.
· JOHN FLANSBURGH, ONE HALF OF THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
My stereo has been prominently featured in every room of my one-bedroom apartment, and it is currently in the kitchen. It's the stereo I've had since I was thirteen. I bought it with the money from my first summer job. It's basically a college-freshman standard-issue stereo − they gave out a free bong with every sale, it's really state of 1972 hi-fi. It's got an AR turntable, which has a rubber band on it to change speeds, and a Pioneer receiver, which has been problem-free, except that about every three years another light on the radio dial blows out. My stereo has been slightly modified by John Linnell, my accordion-playing partner. He cut out a piece of terry-cloth towel and put it on top of the turntable so he could do some scratching. I've got these Advent bookshelf speakers, which are white with rounded corners and look kind of faux modern. I've played this stereo really loudly every day for fifteen years and only recently has one of the speakers blown. By the way, our dial-a-song service is celebrating its fifth anniversary. The songs change every day or so — it really depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Here's the number: (718) 387-6962. It's a good deal if you're calling from Brooklyn, but people who call from Germany don't think it's quite such a good deal.
Pioneer receiver, AR turntable, Marantz cassette player, Advent loudspeakers and Record-a-Call answering machines.