Help "Keep the Vinyl Spinning!"

My friend Tom Blizzard fixes vintage turntables and record players, and does it with passion and excellence. If you appreciate vinyl records and vintage audio gear like he does, then you understand the need for expert servicemen like Tom, who is keeping a dying art alive as he repairs and reconditions hundreds of vintage pieces including treasured family heirlooms from the mid-1900s. Tom's Tennessee-based repair business, Turntable Medic, began to take off soon after he launched it in late 2020 to replace lost income during the COVID lockdowns and restrictions that made it impossible for him to continue his work as a performer, actor, and photographer.

Since then, Tom has worked valiantly to keep his business alive in spite of multiple life-altering circumstances, starting with his wife Aubrey's breast cancer diagnosis in March 2021. Just as business was picking up, Tom took on duties as both the family's sole breadwinner and Aubrey's full-time caregiver during the year-and-a-half-long process of surgeries and treatments.

Determined to build his business while singlehandedly working on a growing backlog of turntables and electronics for customers both local and out of state, Tom initiated partnerships with area record shops including Nashville's world-famous Grimey's New & Preloved Music, providing pick-up/drop-off repair service to their vinyl-buying customers. He moved Turntable Medic from his garage to a commercial location and had staffed the business with three technicians and a receptionist by early 2022.

Turntable Medic was in good health, Aubrey had regained enough of hers to work part-time, and Tom worked as many hours as possible while continuing to support his wife through her gradual recovery. It was an uphill climb to a more hopeful time . . . until October of 2022, when misfortune struck again.

Tom was riding his motorbike in his Murfreesboro neighborhood when a teenage driver struck him, throwing him roughly 40 feet from his bike. He emerged from a week-long hospital stay and two surgeries with serious injuries including 10 broken ribs -- three requiring titanium plates -- and a broken left thumb, a crucial handicap that took him out of the turntable repair business for nearly half a year, with no income. The at-fault driver's standard insurance policy covered hospitalization, but the Blizzards have weathered the costs of numerous followup visits; no compensation was made for the long-term loss of work and personal suffering that resulted from the accident.

His shop's employees moved on during the hiatus, so Tom was back to operating the business alone when he reopened in April of this year. Still in considerable pain, he again faced a huge backlog of work as well as six months' worth of back rent on his shop. Since then, he's been directing all his profits to catch up on expenses -- which means he hasn't been able to write himself a regular paycheck since October of 2022.

A lesser man might have given up, but Turntable Medic is still holding steady despite tremendous setbacks.

The Blizzards have bravely faced continued storms of life for two and a half years now, with residual health challenges and a long, slow climb ahead to anything resembling normalcy. They have needs of their own, but this fundraiser is specifically being launched to help keep Turntable Medic open to serve its customers, both local and out-of-state: all donations received in phase one will be used to cover the substantial losses incurred as a result of Tom's injuries and lengthy recuperation: $8,000 in accumulated back rent on the shop, and $15,000 to offset more than five months' worth of lost income.

In whatever way you can, even if just sharing word of this campaign with others -- or posting "likes" or positive comments to help this effort gain ground on Facebook -- please help us move the fundraising needle and buy Tom an opportunity to regain his groove -- so that he can continue to do the specialized and important work that will keep the vinyl spinning!