steve hoffman forums, C or D?

I wonder how many people who post on that forum are dudes.

I knew a guy once who used to frequent the local record store. Fussy collector dude, we all know the type. Anyway, one day he announced to us that his wife was pregnant, but he made her promise to keep the news from her family until after Christmas because he didn't want all the Christmas gifts they received to be for the baby. I've never forgotten that.

The guy in this article reminds me of that guy

I seem to have an innate feeling of unease whenever the amount of time/energy I devote to anything, an activity, a hobby, collecting something, etc, start to creep up. it just kind of instinctively makes me take a pause. that's not necessarily a 'good' thing in that it usually happens even when I'm healthily enjoying something, but it's why for instance I sold my Xbox One. just one weekend of spending like ten hours in front of it and I was unnerved by how much time I'd easily wasted.

xp jfc

see also Walter Benjamin's writing on the obsession behind collecting: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/10/26/walter-benjamin-history-collections-and-archives

My dad's most treasured collection was his record collection. He had about 4000.

He gave them all up without hesitation when mom pointed out they didn't have the space and they needed the money they could get unloading it

Never complained about it once afterwards.

Things are just objects

Even more damning is this line from that article:

Was it truly “wow?” Or merely loud?

The goal was never worth it to begin with, but he ended up torching everyone close to him for literally nothing.

and following on from that, "maybe he had it on the wrong setting" because there are so many variables he can't even keep track any more

The part that really got me was how his kid, who had for decades helped him work on it probably at the expense of his own sanity and life, just wanted to stay up and listen to some music on it and he wouldn't let him do it. He made that kid toil away for something and wouldn't even let him experience it.

Yeah. It was a layup and he still fucked it up

Fritz is a dud

I wonder how many people who post on that forum are dudes.

I've seen maybe three women total post on there, so, basically all of them. and when a woman starts posting the amount of obsessive attention she gets is cringeworthy, particularly if she posts in a Rush thread or something.

Whenever I lurk there I feel like "the kid" (I'm in my late forties)

https://stereocentral.freeforums.net

Imagine if you treated your meals the way a hot-stamp, one-step lunatic treats their music listening.

I feel seen.

My dad's most treasured collection was his record collection. He had about 4000.

He gave them all up without hesitation when mom pointed out they didn't have the space and they needed the money they could get unloading it

Never complained about it once afterwards.

Things are just objects

― Disco Biollante (Neanderthal)

This - and post above - both contain heaps of cautionary wisdom for me, a male human who has had bad collector brain since childhood (was it Star Wars toys? Doctor Who books? Bubblegum cards? It was some fucking thing that did it).

I actually feel really fortunate to have lived in the time of eBay, cos 20 years ago when it was still new and nifty to sell things globally I tried it out - and found both financial and karmic reward from selling stuff - and that opened up a life-saving little neural pathway

Still a terrible accumulator though - recently have been looking at my record collection and thinking that if liquidated it is probably a decent overseas holiday for my family - if not more - and once you put it in those terms (and consider that there’s only a finite amount of above-ground time…)

* ”post above” = previous Neanderthal post re unease about collecting impulse

I sold the majority of my record and CD collection because I was moving in with a woman and just wouldn’t have the space and didn’t want to move it either. Most of 30+ years of accumulation. I regret it sometimes, but not a lot.

https://i.imgur.com/Rkxu5nw.png

The elderly audiophile story is extra sad because that guy probably hasn't been able to hear above 12k since the mid '80s.

I wonder what the newest album in his collection was? Mentioned are the Countours (1962). I can just barely make out mid-80s Moody Blues and Kinks live albums from the spine. I would love it if he had like, a Target-exclusive color of Miss Anthropocene in there.

mid-80s Moody Blues

I can't imagine anyone with those albums having decent taste in anything later on.

the classics are the folks who buy whatever sounds good from an audiophile perspective rather than having personal taste.

you either buy equipment to listen to your favorite music or buy music to listen to your favorite equipment.

"In Your Wildest Dreams" is great

that was a favorite when I was a kid, used to enjoy that one coming on 105.1 while cruising in the back seat of the station wagon

Oof, I don’t know…it kind of sounds like something that could’ve been a theme song to a family-friendly sci-fi show from that era. Which to be fair, could be a great thing to some, but it’s not to my taste.

I <3 ums, my musical doppelganger.

Another vote for IYWD. It was clinched for me one night when these 2 ancient hippies got up at the open mic I was hosting & played a rickety, broken-down but heartfelt version. Agreed the production is of its time — in a way that isn’t necessarily flattering.

As a kid I liked "The Voice" more than "IYWD" — it's got kind of an Ultravox vibe. I thought they were a New Wave band!

TIL!

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/cecilia-ann-by-the-pixies-yes-i-wrote-recorded-the-song-as-the-surftones-with-my-buddy-frosty.272578/

When two cranks collide.

<3 PBKR us Moodheads need to stay together

Late to this but long distance voyager is at least 60% of a great album

TIL!

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/cecilia-ann-by-the-pixies-yes-i-wrote-recorded-the-song-as-the-surftones-with-my-buddy-frosty.272578🕸/

big dust up over there yesterday in a now deleted thread where Hoffman initially stated that Palestinian flags were no longer allowed to be used in avatars; this quickly turned into both Palestinian and Israeli flags, but not until a few european racists showed their faces by declaring arabs and immigrants rapists and criminals. Lots of people said he may as well ban all flags as avatars if he's going to do this, as well as Putin and Zelinsky avatars (I don't recall anyone ever having a non-funny Putin avatar there but there were certainly some very strong Roger Waters proponents who piped up). Within about 12 hours the entire thread was deleted. Not sure what the policy is now.

I'm guessing no flags.

Better option: no avatars

every avatar needs to just be steve hoffman with a shakti hallograph stick

steve hoffman being zionist actually WAS on my 2024 bingo card

As I read on that dedicated H0ffman burn forum, apparently H0ffman's wife is super hardcore MAGA.

oh whats that forum spill the beans

Thought that was mentioned upthread, but just google "st3r3oc3ntral" obvs with the proper replacements there. Be forewarned, it can be a little toxic at times, but they do a good job of calling out the general misogyny and racism that can run rampant at H0ffman.

thankkkk youuuu

The existence of a Steve Hoffman burn forum is extremely 1999, love it

haha Pitchfork Reviews Steve Hoffman

I hate to ask, but is Hoffman's wife super MAGA nuttery visible somewhere on the web? I was under the impression he was very much anti-MAGA so that must be weird.

But yeah, quite a few reactionary nuts and even actual Nazis on that forum. I think they're clearly in the minority, but really fucking sad when they pop up and pledge allegiance to Trump or spew their vile racist shit about immigrants and minorities. IIRC one of the mods "Dave" had some really disgusting anti-Asian immigrant rants that have since been deleted.

I don't know, just taking it on face value from the posters over there - they are very often digging up (to an uncomfortable degree!) real world links and photos of notorious H0ffman posters, so I'm sure they've sourced something.

Hoffman appears to be vaguely on the left when he posts on Twitter

The rival board mentioned above - it can at times be very amusing, but some of the people there are so consumed by hate for all things SH.tv that they frequently come across as far more pitiful than the goofballs they make fun of

Yeah, was gonna say, the one thread I looked at on SC was full of far more reprehensibly misogynistic shit than anything I've ever seen lurking SHF.

Some on SC just seem to wallow in being as negative about pretty much all rock and pop music to the extent that I think: what exactly is the difference between this and the negativity/narrow mindedness/inability to just enjoy music on the Hoffman board? That ‘sacred cows’ revered on SH.tv are finally getting put in their place? Who gives a crap?