I came across this photo in the heap downstairs. It’s of me sitting on my loft bed in the dorm room I had while going to school at UW Milwaukee.

That is correct… I am wearing overalls. It was a short-term trend when I was in high school. Hiking boots and overalls. Turns out they are more expensive than regular jeans, so this was my one and only pair. I loved them. There is some nice feathering in my hair too, but we will let that go. Salvador Dali posters on the wall from the bookstore were the decorations.

The real takeaway from this photo though is my stereo. It was a big rig. It makes me laugh to think now that most of my music I listen to either on my phone, or from an external hard drive that I connect to my PC or laptop. Ah the times have changed. The rig in the picture took 4 trips from the car to get everything up to my room. It was just a fact of life then, taking your music with you was work. Not to mention, what you can’t see in the picture, directly under the receiver was a crate of records. Those things are heavy too.

You can see in this picture the speakers I had (and still have for that matter) tucked neatly under my dorm provided loft bed. On top of the left speaker was a single tape deck, and on the right speaker, a dubbing tape deck. This was badass for its time. In between was my beloved record player, and underneath, the receiver. It was a sweet rig and it was during this time that I started borrowing records and tapes from new friends in the dorms to record. In the lower left you can just see the top corner of a tape rack I had. It was a glorious time. I experimented with all kinds of bands that I always wanted to check out but wouldn’t purchase without trying first.

Then, as I have related in another post, I got a backpack full of tapes the library was throwing out. Dub-a-thon! I was rolling in tapes.

I moved this rig a few more times before the components started dying off one by one. Except for the hearty speakers, all these pieces are gone now.

R.I.P. Dorm Room Rig.

You served me well.