Ian De La Cerda Written and Designed by Tanvi Sehgal
hen Ian De La Cerda’s car broke down two days before the concert, he and his buddy, Will, had been long anticipating, he knew he had to find another way to make it all the way to the concert grounds in Los Angeles, from his humble home in Sunnyvale, California. As a college student working part-time at a coffee shop, buying a last-minute, express plane ticket was out of the question, but taking the MegaBus from San Jose to Los Angeles seemed like a feasible option. After spending all night brainstorming a plan to make it to the concert, Ian and Will woke up at 5 am one October morning and made their way through persistent pouring rain to the bus stop with nothing but the clothes on their backs and cell phones in hand. After being crammed on the bus for six hours, they finally made it to Los Angeles, yet they were still lost, with no sense of how to get to the venue. With the help of some friendly strangers, Ian and Will ended up at a
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bus stop which dropped them off a mile away from their destination. Running on a very tight budget, nearly no sleep, hours of public transportation, and a mile of walking, they finally end up at the concert they had been waiting months for. De La Cerda is someone who feels so passionately for music, he would go through great lengths just to see his favorite artists perform. Not only did they make it nearly 400 miles south, but after hours of dancing to live music, they somehow got through a night at the train station and ended up back home, ready to go to work the next day. De La Cerda is part of a community of passionate music
lovers, but his love for music centers on vinyl. Records, in this digital age, are thought of as an outdated, expensive form of listening to music. Why would one spend twenty dollars on a single record, not to mention the record player itself, when music is readily accessible and costs nearly nothing to be played anywhere, anytime on our digital devices? De La Cerda not only wholeheartedly supports the vinyl industry, but he does so on modest means, as he is still a college student juggling a part time job. Although much of this passion shared among him and his peers is an independent experience, this interest connects him to others in a different way. “One
of the many great things about music is that it brings people together. Music is such a shared experience” (7 Calamar). From searching through crates for records to attending live shows, people are connected by the love of music. “He likes all types of music...it’s so out there”(Montanez). Ian enjoys listening to music from all different countries and genres, connecting him to people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. This passion is something that doesn’t discriminate based on position or socioeconomic background, making it one of the most organic, diverse forms of community. Ian De La Cerda was born and raised in Sunnyvale, California. Growing up, Ian’s family has always listened to music, from his dad’s love for reggae to his mom’s interest in punk. Ian’s interest in vinyl music stemmed from
the fact that his parents had a record player, but it wasn’t until his late teenage years when he began forming a record collection of his own. Ian’s taste in music is eclectic and ranges from different types of world music to lo-fi electronic, but is particularly grounded in old school reggae music from decades past. When
Ian was sixteen, he spent two months living in Spain with his grandmother. Never having been outside of California and moving all the way to Spain was a huge culture shock for him. One of the main differences Ian was especially intrigued by was the strong sense of community in Spain. “I think he had a taste of what community is really like, where everyone’s working towards the benefit of the entire area”(Chisholm). Gallo In the town Ian was living in, everyone knew each other and was connected to
“One of the many great things about music is that it brings people together.” Calamar and
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one another in some way. The community would gather in public places and all of the kids were friends with each other. Living here, in the Bay Area, a lot of that sense of community is lost as people are more spread out and focus more on themselves and their group of established close friends. Ian has grown to truly value the sense of community he was able to experience in Spain, and music in general, particularly vinyl, has facilitated those relationships he yearns for. About a year ago Ian
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and his friend, Will attended a concert called Beach Goth in Santa Ana, California. In 90 degree weather they were surrounded by a mob of people eagerly awaiting the arrival of an artist to perform. While patiently waiting in a crowd of eager concertgoers, Ian hears the distant thump of a beat. He immediately recognizes the beat as a reggae tune, peaking his interest. Excitedly, he pulls Will through the crowd to follow the beat of his favorite genre of music. He arrives at the source of the reggae music, a stage with
two artists spinning tracks from his favorite artists. Overcome with energy and complete joy, Ian makes his way to the front of the stage and starts dancing, the only one moving in a crowd of relatively uninterested people. After a while of being the only one dancing full of energy, one by one people start to join in with Ian. Soon, an entire crowd of people start dancing with Ian and praising him for singlehandedly getting everyone to come out and enjoy the music. Ian’s said that most of his relationships have stemmed
from or are centered around music, and although he may not have made any lasting relationships from this concert experience, his spontaneous, adventurous personality along with his love for music brought people together in such an organic manner. “I brought some cool people together that didn’t really know each other to dance”(De La Cerda). People were genuinely glad that someone like Ian made the first move to make people comfortable and interested in enjoying the music. No matter what background or interests one has, music was able to bring many different unique individuals together. “Why vinyl?” is the first question that pops into many of our heads when we
encounter a record collector. Upon asking Ian about it, he describes the sound as fuller and more natural than when listening to it digitally. Digital music is compressed and doesn’t have the full sound quality that records have. Also, Ian listens to a lot of music from a time when records were very popular. “A lot of the artists that I like, their music was made for vinyl so that’s the originality of it”(De La Cerda). A lot of the artists he’s interested in made music to originally be played on record players, so he would prefer to listen to music in the form it was originally intended to be listened to in. Although he feels very strongly about these aspects of listening to vinyl, the aspect that he felt
more passionately about he had a harder time explaining. Listening to records, although can often be an independent activity, is enjoyable with company. “Vinyl has always offered a more intimate experience”(Aguilar). There is something so unique and novel about the presence of an actual record player and having to take out the vinyl records, set it up, and enjoy it in all that it is. Ian also enjoys giving vinyl records as gifts to his friends, as he is able to share his love for music through a medium he enjoys. Ian’s love for music is not going to fade and it will continue to be a central part of his life and important in his future relationships. He plans to continue to grow his record collection and be a part of not just the vinyl music community, but also the public music community, attending live shows. Listening to music and dancing, and incorporating this love in his daily life and friendships are and will always be Ian’s greatest passions.
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Work Cited Aguilar, Mario. “Why Vinyl Is the Only Worthwhile Way to Own Music.” Gizmodo. N.p., 19 Apr. 2014. Web. Oct. 2015. Calamar, Gary, Phil Gallo, and Scott Calamar. Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Chisholm, Will. Personal Interview. 26 September 2015. De La Cerda, Ian. Personal Interview. 9 September 2015. De La Cerda, Ian. Personal Interview. 12 October 2015. Montanez, Mia. Personal Interview. 10 October 2015.
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