Vintage Vinyl owner Steve Kay

Steve Kay, owner of Vintage Vinyl from Andrew Scoggin on Vimeo.

For some, collecting vinyl records is a hobby. For Steve Kay, it’s been a 30-year career. His record store, Vintage Vinyl, even helped inspire the movie High Fidelity.

In August 1979, Kay, a native New Yorker, opened up the store in Evanston.

“It was an outgrowth of a hobby, and I was going to art school [in Chicago] at the time,” Kay says. “It was a way to be involved in two of my great hobbies, music and art.”

The store has survived the tumultuous format changes in music, from vinyl to 8-track to cassette to CD to digital. Kay says business has always been good, and younger generations have even frequented the store lately. He credits this longevity to the fact that the shop is “conscious of quality.”

“There was never a point at which we were selling just records to sell records.” Kay says. “We only sell records of mint condition.”

Kay’s store has even influenced Hollywood, as it was a source of inspiration behind 2000’s “High Fidelity” from John Cusack, an Evanston native. Kay says Cusack and his friends would hang out in the shop after school.

“It was one of those things where you don’t even know what kind of effect you have on people,” Kay says. “When something like that happened, you realize that the things you may feel are second nature really have a very positive effect on people.”

Kay says famous artists and musicians stop by the store, including Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins. But Kay wouldn’t name anyone else, and says “we’re not name droppers.”

“There are a million fun stories. That’s going to be High Fidelity 2.” he jokes.

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Jack Eichorst: Inside an ASG Campaign

Northwestern senior Jack Eichorst is on his way out. But before he makes his exit, he’s managing Bill Pulte’s campaign to become the next president of Associated Student Government. Eichorst brings inside experience: he served as ASG Parliamentarian and as Speaker of the Senate. He talked about his new role, his previous experience and his other life as a guitarist. (excerpts):

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AS: What do you do as campaign manager?

JE: My role is setting the general strategy, what sort of message we want, and what general movement we want to make in the campaign. I’m the point person for the press. I work closely with Bill to sort of craft what he’s going to say. To be honest I don’t have to do much there, he just sort of talks and I say, "Good, just keep saying that one thing more."

What’s your personal relationship with Bill?

When he came into ASG, it was the first time I met Bill. I was actually very opposed to the addition of the vice president as a role in the organization. There was a little bit of professional tension there, [and] we didn’t initially get along. I felt that he was a waste of space at that point…. As someone inside the organization, I was able to see what influence Bill had on it. We definitely started to get along more; it wasn’t very tense after that first week.

How was your time as Speaker of the Senate? What did you do?

A lot of what I focused on was internal reform. This year is when the vice presidential spot was created…. The president and vice president are running on the same ticket. If you had a VP running against a president, and they endorsed their opponent, you’d get that sort of tension you got in the early United States when you had the runner-up be the VP [this was the case until the Twelfth Amendment was ratified in 1804].

Is there a particular Senate meeting you remember where something spectacular happened?

There were a lot of heated debates because of all these changes [ASG President Neal Sales-Griffin] was proposing. I think a chair was thrown at one point…not at anyone, it was just thrown against a wall or something.

Can you talk a little more about yourself?

I play guitar. I’m actually in a band here on campus called The Classics. We’re very well practiced but we don’t take ourselves that seriously as a band, which I think comes out in our shows because everyone seems to have a good time. I write solo music as well. It’s a good venue for me.

What are your plans for next year?

I’m basically at the stage in every senior’s life where they have no idea what the hell they’re going to do. It’s the lucky minority that gets to know exactly where they’re going and have a cushy job or a cushy spot at some school. I make a pretty mean cup of coffee if there are any jobs out there for a paid internship or an administrative assistant. (laughter)

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