This highly entertaining event invites fans of Modern design, midcentury lifestyles, and retro aesthetics to the captivating world of vinyl records that paved a path to today’s well-being podcasts and Instagram influencers.

We'll explore vibrant album covers and intriguing sound samples illuminated through the lens of design and cultural history. Rescued from charity shops and castoff boxes in attics and basements, instructional albums such as Better Golf Through Hypnosis and Hear How to Achieve Sexual Harmony in Marriage create windows into the past and suggest intriguing stories from midcentury. Mix up a compelling cocktail for the patio party. The Art of Mixing Drinks and Music album from 1969 offered “365 excuses for a party.” How about a Sunshade cocktail (pineapple juice, dry vermouth, light rum, and grenadine)? We just might provide the recipe. A book signing follows the event.

Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder are a creative team, writing, teaching, and collecting vinyl records together for over 30 years. Powered by PhDs in psychology (Jonathan) and philosophy (Janet), their enthusiasm for Modern design, retro aesthetics, and travel found expression in Designed for Hi-Fi Living: The Vinyl LP in Midcentury America, named a best book of 2017 by the Financial Times and a best music book by Vinyl Factory. Overthrowing conventional assumptions, this analog rescue project pulls vintage vinyl out of the bargain bins and reveals the cultural relevance of these overlooked midcentury records. Their books include Designed for Hi-Fi Living (MIT Press, 2017), Designed for Dancing: How Midcentury Records Taught America to Dance (MIT Press, 2021), and Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records (MIT Press, 2024).