apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Shout out to Enrique . . .
I put this deep in some other thread but . . .

there's a turntable with USB output on the market.

They had it at Urban Outfitters this Xmas,
but I didn't catch it since I (Rick Santorum) them.

But in June they are going to be more widely available
So you can preserve all that special vinyl
on the way out to Amoeba
(boy did I used to love their store in Berkeley)

Hate to do this here, but. . .

Carol Troy,

I'm interested in talking to you about your fab prefab for the new San Francisco AT site. How can I reach you?

Leslie
lpwebster@yahoo.com

guido: Thanks for the heads up. I think I should just let the entire record collection go and not look back. But thanks for the tip.

What kind of music?

Hey, how was the SF meet-up? Did anyone post photos?

guido & jon: Okay, I went to Urban Outfitters to check out the USB turntable and then looked up some stats on it online. It's a fugly-looking piece of hardware, but maybe I shouldn't be so hasty in selling off the entire vinyl collection--esp since a good percentage of my music will probably never be released digitally. [Off the top of my head: original John Robie-produced rough demo version of New Order's "Confusion", Human League's instrumental "League Unlimited Orchestra" album, Konk "Konk" extended version, Gang of Four "(I Love) A Man in a Uniform" dub version, Fashion "Streetplayer Mechanik" extended version, obscure indie SF punk rock singles, and countless number of obscure European disco albums.] Oy, one more project to ponder!

Konk?
click my name! click my name!

and by that I mean,
I think you're wise to rethink.

Guido! You are shitting me! LOL. Funny story about Konk. So a few years back when I worked for another record company, I was one of the people who focused on top 40 radio. The alternative radio guy (who started the same week as I did) had the office next door to me. When we grabbed lunch one day, he tells me that Madonna used to be a dancer for his band when he was living in New York. When I asked which band, he said "Konk". It turns out he used to play sax for the band! I, of course, freaked out and told him how their first single "Konk" was one of my favorite party songs. The next day, he brought in a few of the band's low-budget music videos; which everyone in the office got a kick out of... Pretty funny, huh? Esp since Konk is pretty obscure, unless you were part of the early '80s NYC club scene (which I wasn't).

Guido: Whoops... He actually played drums and percussion for Konk.

The SF Meetup was small...there were two of us. Myself and eBrown (who is delightful). No one else showed. :(

We should try it again. Not next week though, I'm moving on the 26th and will be in whirlwind/she's-gonna-blow mode till after that.

Oh drat on that! It may have been too close to our impromptu meet-up. Perhaps we should have one in April when the SF site launches. I can't wait to have our own little site.

I posted this on the nyc site, but figured I should post it here too: Does anyone in the SF area have a painter they can recommend? A friend of mine just moved into a new place and they are looking to have the kitchen a bathroom painted. Anyone know of someone reliable and (hopefully) not too expensive?

since a few of you west coasters seems to be tracking housing markets or urban planning or I don't even know what, I thought you might be interested in this Curbed chart on luxury housing and how it inflates the rest of the housing market.

[click my name]

...interesting, guido! I'd love to see someone run West Coast numbers.

I've made the purge-o-rama decision to get the "big" (1:12 scale) dollhouses down to my two favorites and am hoping someone nabs my CL listing before I change my mind.

Weirdly, lifting the heaviest house down from atop a tansu to make the go-bye-bye decision made my back problems better...

enrique-
yeah the ion turntable may not win any innovation design awards, but it is the only one that is usb- and that's pretty cool- although personally i didn't think it looked that bad- (if we're looking at the same one) i had a friend that jimmy'd his turntable to his computer and it worked pretty good- but it was very complex set of rca plugs- and this looks like it could be a great alternative- i've been dying to get some of my old 12" singles on CD as well- and then maybe get rid of a few that were, um... mild lapse in judgements...hehe

aquarabbit,
don't know of any painters (professional anyway. everyone I know just does it themselves. plus, up till today its never been something I've considered.

Am I the only one who noticed somebody's screwing with the votes on Smallest Coolest? I don't even have to say which entry I'm talking about. It's obvious. 300+ votes and climbing for white walls, gray carpet and vertical blinds.

It'd make me sad to see someone cheat their way into the finals with a rather poor entry.

How does AT handle a situation like that?

ahem - maybe they have lots of friends and friends of friends. i'm glad that the latter stages of the contest have a more formal judging process.

on a side note, does anyone know where i can get large sheets of foam board (50"+) in los angeles? in philly i use to go to pearl paint on south street, so i'll probably check the one here, but if anyone has any other suggestions, that would be super.

Hi aquarabbit:

Where in San Francisco are they located? And are they just looking for regular wall painting or special finishes?

I live in a loft apartment in Venice area, and have this large wall space that I'm not sure what to do with. Anybody have any ideas? Here are the pix:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shpanky/sets/72057594083167856/

And here's the wall I'm trying to fill:

http://static.flickr.com/51/113161964_735ef4e6e9.jpg

I'm trying to avoid spending too much money for a nice treatment...any ideas on what I can do to give it a sort of retro-modern feel to it? Thanks!

Hi Mark... they are in Bernal Heights, super close to my place here in "upper" Noe. I think they're thinking mostly simple stuff, except *something* has to be done about the clawfoot tub that the landlord's painter painted (yes, painted) yellow and blue. Ick! Do you perform such services?

Hi aquarabbit:

I do everything from design conception, to consulting to full service design work for residential, retail and commercial projects. I have different contractors and handymen I work with so can always refer or if they really need some guidance I can help them out. I also know of a decorative painter if they are interested as well.

If you would like, my website is under construction but you can see part of my portfolio on Snapfish. Just click my name and let me know.

Sorry, didn't mean to plug my business.