Shannon LaBrie, The TVD First Date

“A love letter to my first…stolen…record.”

“I didn’t know you when I was younger, because I didn’t know you existed. All I had was a white square thing with a guy sitting next to a pink giraffe named Stephen Stills.

I didn’t know what you were, when I was younger but, when I found you, tucked away in my Dad’s old boxes hidden up in the garage, I loved you. It was like I had found a precious heirloom that I had to protect. I hid you under my mattress for years. Granted, I mostly hid you because I was afraid to tell my Dad that I had gone through his boxes in the attic, but, that’s neither here nor there. You were beautiful and I didn’t have to play you on a record player to know your worth.

I would take you out every so often and stare at you, wondering what machinery I’d have to get to bring you to life, but honestly, you were beautiful just the way you were.

After Dad died, I put you on my desk, as a piece of art. You looked so prestigious and important. More than that, you reminded me of him in a way that no one else could. You were a part of his youth and now, a part of his youth is with me.

You were there in every apartment, house, van I lived and you traveled with me across the United States on my search to find whatever it was I was looking for. You were awesome. You were history. You were mine.

Finally, I took you to Nashville and everything changed. I took you out, put you down, and placed that beautiful needle against your vinyl skin, and voila! Like a time machine, I was played into a room with Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton, Booker T. Jones, Ringo Starr, Jimi Hendrix, and Bill Halverson. All your liner notes finally making sense and blowing my mind. Every turn making something new, giving something good and something real.

You brought me back to a time I never lived. I could imagine my Dad in his youth, listening to this record at my age and what this would have meant. Wondering if my Dad, somewhere, was nodding along with pride that I knew your priceless value as a young girl, and held on to you until I could take you in full.

Music will never be the same and you will never be replaced.

Vinyl.”
—Shannon LaBrie