sharon love

Falls Village, CT

Neil Edward Schlecht

wife

Concert ticket stubs. Neil's got the ticket from pretty much every concert he's attended, dating back nearly four decades to when he was 11. Of course, he's got even more vinyl and cds (he's always been the kind of music fan who alphabetizes and chronologizes his collection; how he can be so anal-retentive about his music and such a mess in other areas is frankly beyond me!).

His life-long collection of tickets reflects an unquenchable thirst for live music but also an evolving fascination with music, beginning at a very young age, and the tickets are great historical records, with venues, dates, prices and cool graphics. My husband's taste in music is eclectic, and the concerts range from Caetano Veloso to Lambchop, Betty Carter to Arcade Fire, The Flatlanders to the Replacements and Puccini at La Scala. I think he told me his first concert was Aerosmith in 1974, and he's also seen plenty of great really early shows, like U2's and the Smiths' first US tours, REM on the Murmur tour, the first-ever SXSW festival. I'm amazed that he's been able to keep the collection through moves from Texas to DC to Ecuador to Brazil to NYC to Spain and now CT.

At a minimum, I'd say hundreds, but I don't think he's ever counted (although I know at one point he'd written out a ranking of the greatest concerts he'd ever attended).

He's artfully displayed collages of some of his favorites in LP frames, along with seminal album covers (chosen for their importance and graphics), in a rock n roll bathroom. It's tiny, but wall-to-wall and nearly floor-to-ceiling with framed album covers, including a ceiling emblazoned with coltrane, beatles, hendrix and blondie posters. Nearly every week he changes it up a tiny bit, adding a different album to the display.

Most people think Neil's bathroom is the coolest thing they've ever seen. One time we hosted a fancy benefit for a classical dance ensemble, and a violinist played in our apartment. All the blue bloods and blue hairs in attendance who used Neil's rock n roll bathroom emerged with slightly perplexed looks on their faces. No doubt it was a shock to squat on the toilet beneath the Sex Pistols! Neil's only lament is that so many concerts, especially at smaller venues, no longer issue hard tickets!