A few tables of records and a room full of music set the scene Monday night at Lucia as East Lawrence Record Collectors hosted their monthly gathering, drawing club regulars and curious newcomers.
Founder Amanda McDowell said the club grew out of her longtime love of records and a desire to create a space where people could share music and gather casually, even if turnout varied from month to month.
“I just wanted to be a nerd with my friends, and also I get excited about it,” she said.
She also wanted to make record collecting feel more welcoming and less intimidating. She said there can sometimes be a “culture of pretentiousness” around collecting, but that is not the spirit she wanted for the group.
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“We are not that at all,” McDowell said. “You don’t even have to collect records if you just want to come and sit and listen to physical media.”
Records on the tables reflected the club’s broad tastes from Japanese jazz, Latin albums, doom, indie rock—and a SpongeBob soundtrack.
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The event originally started in a basement before moving to Lucia, where McDowell said the space made more sense as the group grew.
Attendee Jeramiah Alspaugh said records are about more than just the music itself, describing the experience of listening on vinyl as something digital platforms can’t match.
“You could play all that on Spotify through your car stereo all day long, and it’s never going to be as good as a record, never,” Alspaugh said.
Others came looking for discovery.
First-time attendee Nathan Schwermann said he hoped to meet people and find new music, adding he had already heard a couple of songs he’d never heard before and liked.
McDowell said that openness is part of what she hopes the club continues to offer.
“I don’t care if you have one record. If you only have one record right now, we want to listen to it,” McDowell said.
East Lawrence Record Collectors hosts a different themed event each month, with August’s gathering set to highlight local sounds. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17 at Lucia, 1016 Massachusetts St., and updates can be found on their Facebook.
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Courtney Lane (she/her), reporting correspondent, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2026. Originally from Arkansas, she’s a graduate of KU’s Journalism school, where she worked as a reporter, opinion section editor, and eventually editor-in-chief for The Kansan.
Read her work for the Times at this link, and see her photography for the Times at this link.
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