The Steinways - My Heart's Not In It Anymore/You've Been Leadin Me On

Cooper and I knocked out our early morning walk today, and somehow it was 70 degrees at 5 a.m. Apparently Mother Nature has decided North Carolina should feel like a Florida waiting room before sunrise.

Last weekend I spent some quality time recording a stack of deep album cuts, including an entire six-song mini album that ranks among my favorite records in the collection. Between that and the roofing project, the record room currently resembles an archaeological dig more than a listening space, but I'm looking forward to putting everything back together once the work is finally done.

The contractor took me up on the roof to show me the progress, and I was relieved to discover that my vaulted ceiling had more space inside than I thought and considerably more protection than I feared. I'm still glad I took every precaution anyway. They're not quite finished yet... sigh... but at least I'm moving back into my home office for work today. With rain in the forecast, I'm not sure how much progress they'll make, but I'm very glad the weather waited until today and not the previous two days.

As for records, here's the kind of thing that gets a record nerd irrationally excited. I recently picked up a 45 and somehow remembered I had a matching company sleeve hiding in one of my sleeve boxes. I've seen only 2 records on this label over the years, but this is the first company sleeve I've come across. To the average person this means absolutely nothing. To a collector, it's like finding the Holy Grail wearing the correct packaging.

The best part? I almost passed it by. I assumed it was going to be some forgettable pop record. Turns out it's an excellent soul 45 by The Steinways, who started life as a doo-wop group called The Laddins before their brief run under this name. Yet another reminder that judging a record by its label can be just as dangerous as judging a book by its cover.

Now if the roof gets finished, the rain cooperates, and I can get the record room back together, all will be right with the world. At least until the next "quick home improvement project" decides to audition for a multi-part miniseries.