NW Side Finds: Tone Deaf Records
Tony doesn’t seem like an extrovert. But the space of Tone Deaf Records in Portage Park, and the whole business concept at its heart, is set up around the idea of live and genuine human interaction.
He has an unassuming but inviting manner, as he politely ushers me to park my Brompton bike in the back space behind his store, and offers me a seat in the lounge area. The lounge is comfortable without being at all slouchy: a couple of couches, a vintagey rug, and a vibrant mural. Muted light from a floor lamp, and several books on the coffee table encourage, well —lounging.
One day, tired of both his IT job, and the piles of records cluttering his living space, Tony decided to bring his love of the analog music experience into a space where it could be shared with others. He says he created Tone Deaf because he enjoys reaching out to people, and all the interactions and conversations that can happen in a brick and mortar store.
He considered other neighborhoods, including Uptown and Rogers Park, before settling on his current location in Portage Park. He was looking for a neighborhood in transition, where finding a store like this is an unexpected surprise that might go hand in hand with the sense of discovery record hunters feel upon finding a unique album.
“Of course, you can buy almost all of it online,” he says with a shrug. But —excusing himself to change the record— he explains, you could never duplicate the tactile experience: searching for an interesting find among physical stacks of records housed in simple wooden crates, the soft slap of the records against each other as you flip through, the feel of the worn corners of album covers against your fingers, the ritual of slipping the vinyl disc out of the sleeve to examine its grooved surface in the light.
It’s hard for me not to think of vinyl records as dusty relics of the past. After all, they were part of my growing up experience, and that was a good few decades ago, when I was going to Rolling Stone Records and 2nd Hand Tunes to find music that would help me tune out my parents. I learn from Tony that not only does new music come out on vinyl, but young people frequent his space looking to hear (or even play) music, learn about it, find connection with others, and occasionally —as in the case of a girl who brought a punk record up to the register— to find something to p**s off their parents. It seems that the more we think things change, the more some of them remain the same.
This is definitely a place where I would like to spend more time, looking for records I once loved, or maybe discovering new ones, from small labels, that I havent’s heard before. Or maybe to listen to some local bands. Every couple of weeks Tone Deaf hosts live events. Kicking off the holiday season on November 30, aka Small Business Saturday, they’ve partnered with Bloodshot Records, a Chicago based independent record label, to feature two local bands, The Family Gold and Los Gallos.
Check out all upcoming events at Tone Deaf Records on their Facebook Events Page, or better yet, visit in person at 4356 N. Milwaukee Ave.