The marketing executive Pete Crighton discusses his memoir The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy (Random House Canada, 2025), with Joseph Planta.

The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy by Pete Crighton (Random House Canada, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Vinyl Diaries

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.  

When Pete Crighton came of age in the 1980s, he lived in fear of being found out by friends and schoolmates. Being gay then felt like a death sentence, and living in the shadow of HIV/AIDS could have meant death as well. The balm to his pain was and remains music. In his new memoir The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy, Mr. Crighton, who joins me now, talks about the music that meant a lot to him growing up, that he revisits regularly, and looks for meaning in from time to time. That’s a great lesson in the book, that anything worth its salt, music, literature, art itself, relationships, need to be cared for, listened to rigorously. It’s music that he’s shared with lovers and other strangers, and he does so in this book that often reads as a curated playlist. The book also chronicles how he struggles to make sense of his sexuality, how he entered two long-term monogamous relationships, and how they eventually failed. In his early forties, as hook up culture’s rise thanks to apps on one’s phone surrounds our society, Pete goes through a mid-life sexual awakening. He writes about that with great candour in the book. Frankly, his honesty in the book is refreshing, and the unapologetic way he finds love in all its forms could be seen as inspiring. It’s worked for him. Pete Crighton has worked as a marketing executive in the arts for many years. He’s studied comedy at Second City, graduating from their Conservatory Program in improv, scene writing, and performance. He sings in the Dolly Parton choir, The Tennessee Mountain Homos. This new book is published by Random House Canada. He joined me from Toronto last week. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Pete Crighton; Mr. Crighton, good morning. 

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