Mailbag!

Once in a great while I get a comment from strangers which is always nice.  Nicer still are the even fewer times that I have gotten comments from record store owners who saw their post and let me know they enjoyed it.  

I don't go out of my way to trash anyone and I have thought long and carefully about how difficult it must be to earn a living running a record store.  I know in today's marketplace who much online reviews can mean and while I do not have delusions that my blog is some kind of important 'taste maker', I try to keep it civil unless things are laughably bad.  With that in mind, let's review!

Not shocked to see that they were pleased with their post because I was pleased with my visit! I remember it clearly even though it has been a few years and it is a great feeling to know that I brought them a tidbit of happiness.  Rainbow Records - you are welcome!

This was even longer ago but I remember it just as clearly.  Even then, I will admit that my post may have been mildly critical.  But obviously the good reverend took it in stride.  Once again - I am glad to know that the owner got to read their own post.  I recommend this store to anyone going through GR!

Ok...here we go! Yes, I remember this place very well and I did not hold back in my post.  But let's take the time to break down this ridiculous retort just a bit:

Hater hating. Record store wannabe. 

According to my records, I now have 82 posts tagged 'record store'.  I'd say that qualifies me quite well to be if not an expert on the topic, then at least someone far, far beyond 'wannabe'.

So many fabrications. If i could bring legal action against this clown. 

Why is this an 'if'? What is stopping you? Gladly welcome it!  

WRS by peer definition is considered one od the few real music stores left. 

I certainly do not argue against this place being a 'music store'; my definition of the term would only entail a place that asks for money in return for some type of recorded music.  If being a fairly dirty facility that also sells pipes and bowls, etc is what makes it 'real', then I stand corrected, it is indeed as REAL as can be!

Next i fo not operate a goodwill store as this person is used to shopping at. He obviously is looking for dollar items to resell on ebay. 

God knows I have been to many, many Goodwills (and other thrift stores) and certainly not, I do not expect those kind of prices in a record store.  In fact, I don't visit record stores nearly as much for this reason.  That being said, upon review of my post my only criticisms regarding price were for the CDs.  I can attest that the market for new or used CDs is far beneath that of vinyl.  That isn't snobbery - in fact I have even bought a couple used CDs this year.  And while I generalized a bit (I didn't really dig around as I came to look at vinyl), the $10-15 price tags (which the commenter seems to acknowledge) is insanity.  I would have a lot of trouble believing that customers visit with any regularity to purchase CDs at all, even if the price was half of what I had seen.  And I certainly do not purchase any media to 'invest' or try and flip on eBay.  I guess the eBay reference was in regard to my own mention of the app, which I only explained that I use to monitor for the existence of certain releases.

Facts all records have product not for sale. 

(I assume 'records' means 'record stores').  When you already have a fairly limited inventory and you actually shoo customers away from a portion of it, no, that is not good for business.  Why was it laying out in the middle of the store then? I wanted to look because I may have purchased something.  Your loss.

Luckiky for indy i do put out high quality stuff for to cheap. 

I'd have to say that defining 'high quality stuff' is subjective but 'cheap' is not.  And I actually applauded the store for the price I paid for the item I did purchase. 

Bins are solid wood. 

Good to know.  Very proud of you.  So are mine.

The sticker is not my store. 

I can see you've had some college! We've got a real Mensa member here with us on my blog today! This is obviously in reference to the Tom Jones LP I found (which I almost purchased as a duplicate to one already in my collection over the sticker which is 'nor your store').  I never insinuated it was, it is clearly very old, I only pointed it out because it actually made the item more desirable to me, the actual cost shown on it was irrelevant.

The reciept is not ours. 

Not sure how to respond to this one.  The receipt shows that I paid $4 for an LP which even I attest was a good deal.  I can't figure why you would disclaim that it came from your store, or what my motivation would be for lying.

Price in cds .. dumb ass they are new. 

And I'm sure you sell lots and lots of 'new CDs' because everyone knows the market for them is HUGE.

I am a real store. Not a garage sale. The only reason there is used its service to My less fortunate customers i've had these past 45 years. 

Well I certainly commend anyone who can keep a place up and running for 45 years so I will give you that with a hearty congratulations.  Trying to decipher the rest of your comment, I guess it was in regard to the dollar bins, but I certainly have no issue with that, they were the first place I looked.

Lastly what a waste of time. Mindless gibberish that only mindless people would believe from a wannabe.

Proud to be! 

Idaho Idocy!

A couple years ago I was fortunate enough to head over to Seattle.  I had a great time, and checked out some vinyl, and thus ticked Washington off my list.  On this trip, I had some work in Spokane and plenty of downtime.  I wasn't about to waste time running ragged in Washington - been there, done that.  However when I saw that Coeur D' Alene was only about 35 minutes away, I made breakfast plans for my last day.  I headed out early, got a bite to eat and then hit the track hard on the hunt for platters!

First up was the Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store.  It was raining pretty steadily and I found a spot on Sherman Ave and figured I could walk north from here.  I was blown away to find a copy of a Bob James effort in a place such as this.  Not much else to see however, so I headed out.

Just a couple blocks north was my second stop.  This was a smaller store and it almost felt high end.  Very tidy and a pleasant woman behind the counter.  My eyes caught the CD racks from across the room and I hoped I'd find some platters when I neared.  I did - but alas, nothing doing.  Onward and upward!

So after fumbling around in the rain for a bit, I determined that the 'Coeur D'Alene Thrift Store' did not exist, it's address was in the same building where St. Vincent's main offices were.  So I moved forward a few blocks to a St. V's.  This one was big - real big, and it was jammed with people.  They had a pretty serious music section and a nice double sided rack stuffed with records.

I found a couple decent scores, clearly all from the same collection, but all water damaged severely.  Most painful of all was the Gord album you see below.  It seemed to be the original incarnation with the original title.  I come across this record often, but never this version.  Had to leave it behind as it was literally crumbling in my fingers.  Next to it sat one of my all time favorites - of course, I already own this one.

Last up was a Goodwill.  This one had a weird sign that I've never seen before.  Don't know if this is something new or maybe a regional thing.  They had junk for vinyl but a handful of interesting Christian music.  Turns out the guy with the eye patch is fairly prolific and has put out a huge load of records over the years.  I feel a little bad for highlighting it here, as there is nothing funny about someone losing an eye.  I can't feel quite as sympathetic for the group in the second photo, because those clothes (and that mustache!) are truly, truly bad.

                               

STATE #36 - COMPLETED!

Burlington Records [Burlington VT]

Vermont - the last state on the entire east coast I have not been to, stopped in, had a meal, worked in, slept in.  The circumstances that set this one up probably will not recur, so I knew I had to take advantage.  I arrived on a Monday set to work on Tuesday about 30 min north.  My colleague picked me up and off we went.  With nary a record in sight to my knowledge in St. Albans, I knew my best bet (only bet) would be Wednesday morning before I got back on my flight.  I took a bus early Wednesday morning south to Burlington and rode around on a bike share for a while, killing time until one of the handful of record stores opened.

After coffee and a scone, I walked over to the shop. I was a bit early so I lollygagged around until 11am for the doors to be unlocked.  I was beginning to toe the line on how much time would be required to get back to the airport and get through security.  I wondered about everyone I saw - was this the owner? But alas they would walk on by.  Finally the proprietor did arrive and I jolted through the doors, the day's first customer.

I have to admit, I didn't give this place a good look over, I had cut it too close so I probably wasn't in the store for more than 10 minutes.  I gave the jazz section a once over but that was about it.  I will say it was a well organized space and clearly popular because even in that 10 minutes a number of other potential clients had already arrived and got to digging themselves.  This was such a cool, fun area I long to return to drink more coffee, ride more bikes and dig yet again in a state so unique and full of joy (at least in my personal memories) that it will be a special time to recount forever.

STATE #35 - COMPLETED!

Goodwill [Plainfield IN]

I have been through this store and this area too many times to count at this point - I just created a new label to keep track of all these trips so you know it is getting serious!.  I pulled some scores out of here over the years and even when I strike out I enjoy the hunt.  That could be said of all places as I am an optimistic and realistic digger, but especially here in central Indiana as I am almost always in a great mood when I get the opportunity to travel here.

I am a sucker for 12" singles and I love alternate remixes and that kind of stuff.  So it was a no brainer to scoop up this guy.  At work we use this sometimes as a triumphant theme song when we complete a big job (even though it is actually a forlorn love song).  Both versions here are interesting to someone like myself who has long enjoyed and analyzed the song.

What an awesome record.  The vinyl itself was totally covered in cat hair and dust but the grooves aren't dirty, just surface filth.  Took that off easily with a microfiber rag and my custom 99% isopropyl/distilled water mix.  Nice to see that someone actually used an inner sleeve with a generic outer sleeve, often it seems like people think that because they don't have a legit outer sleeve it isn't needed.  Neglect! Ironically it looks like this did come with a proper outer sleeve, which leads me to believe (hope?) that this was used by a DJ or something somewhere.  The outer sleeve isn't beat up like it was abused, but the corners are so soft and worn it looks like it had been rubbed and touched and used thousands of times.  I just used it again to dub both sides and what a delight they are! The instrumental is truncated and is really more of an instrumental of the remix on side A than the normal LP cut.  Also pretty awesome that I was only charged for a 45 so I saved a few cents.  I don't care about the few cents but it is nice to keep it under a buck and not have to carry around a load of change the rest of the day!

Repo Records [Philadelphia PA]

About 2 1/2 years ago I got to hit up Philly under the same circumstances (same customer in Gap PA).  Once again, I made sure to budget an extra day into things to get around.  I had three cheesesteaks (along with the two I had on my first trip), as well as a pork sandwich, and besides the light weight record hunting I did in nearby Delaware and New Jersey, I did get into the city to check out a legit record store where I did strike a jackpot!

Repo Records is a chill spot in a hip neighborhood of which I do not know the name.  I came out this way to check out Woodrow's cheesesteaks which I heard (read) were solid- they were.  But I happened about Repo Record as I strolled down the street.  So after I went and devoured my cheesesteak, I went right back the way I came to see what they had going on in there.

                            

I dug around a while then even went and checked out the T-shirts.  They had quite a selection and I did not bring enough clothes as I sweat through everything in the sweltering heat that laid itself over the coast that week.  They didn't have much in an XXL, I did see one decent Iron Maiden shirt but I decided against it for $23.  So I got back to the records and finally found the jazz bin, so I tore it up.

If you know me, you know my predisposition toward CTI, and you know love for the 3000 series.  If you look in the lower left hand corner you will see the 'A' section, and of course some Cannonball.  And if you look even more closely in the upper right hand corner ('Z' section), you will see Cannonball's brother, Nat.  What he was doing in the 'Z' section I do not know, but it is that old adage for crate diggers: if you don't take the time to go through everything, you will miss something, maybe that which you desire the most.  In this case, it was just about the only thing I desired but man did I desire this one! I have seen it once or twice in the wild over the years, most memorably long ago at Logan Hardware as a promo.  Well here I only paid $8 compared to the $20+ I saw as a price tag on that day (which quite honestly, isn't that bad of a deal for the promo).  I have seen since that they did manufacture this album in a plain white sleeve as well so I am glad I got the real deal with the silver foil.

I later located the dollar bin in the back of the store and half heartedly went through it
but didn't come up with anything much of interest.

Village Thrift [Pennsauken Township NJ]

After driving from Coatesville Pennsylvania to Wilmington Delaware, I made the trip north to New Jersey.  I was rolling the dice that this place would have some vinyl, I couldn't find a phone number that anyone would answer and I was low on time to find anything further east from Pennsylvania where I needed to return to.  So onto Village Thrift!

Village Thrift was enormous and had a gigantic packing lot.  My eyes darted left and right in search of vinyl.  If they didn't have any, it would take some doing to find somewhere else on such short notice.  

Well I won and I lost.  They did indeed have vinyl, but only the saddest selection you could imagine, I think there were 5-6 platters total and all junk.  I kept thinking 'there must be more' but alas there were none to be found.  So I made my way back to green pastures in Philly.

So while I came up empty handed, I was able to legitimately check state #34 off my list and I hope I get back to explore what NJ has to offer in terms of vinyl soon.  I already have a trip planned to Vermont for the end of the month which will entirely complete the east coast - Maine to Florida! Stay tuned!

Goodwill [Wilmington DE]

It took me until I was all the way in Pennsylvania again to realize that Delaware and New Jersey were really close by! So I made some adjustments to my already packed itinerary to check these states off my list, as who knows when I will have the chance again!

I decided on a regular old Goodwill as time was so limited.  While I didn't find anything I was impressed with the nice selection of Eng records so I displayed them nicely for the world to see here.

So that would be state #33 for anyone keeping track - so glad to know that I was able to zoom through and handle some vinyl during my jaunt!

Goodwill, Downers Grove

I swore I had never been to this place.  I was tooling around and had to make a run to Trader Joe's.  The local grocery stopped carrying the coffee that my girlfriend likes and Trader Joe's is is other favorite.  I don't mind going as I drink the coffee as well and I also like to buy myself some random stuff there.  I normally go to the Trader Joe's in Glen Elyn but due to my aforementioned 'tooling around', the Downers Grove store was closer.  As I pull up I was shocked to see a Goodwill in the same strip mall.  How could this be? Turns out I have been there before, but it has been over three years!

The wall of records I saw back then was gone, replaced by the standard issue LP bin.  I found a load of Engelbert I haven't seen in a while and some other gems.  Largest of all (which I walked away with) was another Marion Lush album.  Great condition too! I have spotted the mono version of the Brasil 66 debut a few times, I got my own a while ago, but it is always temping to just pile 'em up.  I passed.

Two soundtracks - both with great title cuts, did a catch and release on both, though it was difficult.  Up at the counter, they even had a couple REO albums hidden back there.  I've seen Goodwill do this before, but then when I asked to see they were labeled quite cheap.  Who knows.  A worthwhile stop!

Estate Sale, Wood Dale

Been a solid minute since I hit up an estate sale.  I got a tip from a coworker that there was not only one down the street, but that they also had records! I was swamped at work and didn't think I could get away when I decided - you only live once! So I dropped everything and sped over on my bike.

The best part was that I just had gotten my new GoPro camera about an hour before.  So I took it with and even wore it inside! The bad news is that someone came through and scooped all the vinyl a half an hour before I got there! Damn!

                                           

Goodwill [Greenfield IN]

Nice to get back in the swing of things after a short while of inactivity.  I drove 4 1/2 hours to Cambridge City Indiana, did my work in only about 2 hours, then drove back west to spend the night in Indianapolis.  This was on the way and well worth it.


Roger Miller ‎
I scooped this in Michigan about 2 1/2 years ago.  Don't see it too often.

Arnett Cobb Is Back
Not familiar with Mr. Cobb but this one did look interesting.  I had terrible cell reception so I was having trouble doing any kind of research on artists and releases.  I wonder if it was this misprint (linked here) I found, I might have grabbed it in that case.

Force Majeure
I was sure this was a 12" single due to the short track list (either durations were not listed or I did not see them), which did seem odd given the limited info I had on this groups genre.

Let Me Party With You
Fairly outrageous disco album in beat condition.

Solid Gold
This one I have a little regret on not grabbing, it is nearly 50 years old.  The track list is solid and something about the font and the colors on the cover called out to me.  Again, I couldn't do any research, not sure if it would have mattered, maybe the lesson is to go with my gut once in a while.

Good High
Something about Mr. Brick here makes me uncomfortable.  Maybe it is that he seems very uncomfortable, despite his efforts to look like he is having a pleasant day.  This gives me bad vibes.

What A Diff'rence A Day Makes

Finally one I did grab.  I wouldn't pass on much Kudu stuff, it is an extension of my CTI obsession.  Nice bunch of sidemen here.  Still has the original inner sleeve to boot.  The price did seem low and now that I look closely, it seems like the lazy cashier accidentally charged me for a 7" and not an LP!

First Baptist Church Thrift Store [Oakdale LA]

I write this while I sip a cold Abita after one of the longest, hardest days of work in my life.  I got into town yesterday (flew to Alexandria) and desperately wanted to check Louisiana off my list.  I sped to a Goodwill and they had no vinyl! I knew that I wouldn't have much time today to look around but I was banking on that possibility.

Well I was right as I did not get to my hotel until 10pm! But I snuck away for lunch and had one shot at a small church based thrift store and I struck gold! Well not exactly, as it was all junk, but I hardly care about that.  One more state done!

I took each stack out and dug through them all.  The lady at the counter not only answered my question regarding the presence of vinyl, but insisted on walking me the 10' to them.  Really nice small town vibes.  But man was it hot out there! I don't know how people live in this day after day.

There were a couple albums from Mr. Gray.  It looks like he passed away back in 2005.  I figured he must be a Louisiana since I saw more than one record.  Funny thing is, it doesn't look like he was.  Looks like he was a Dallas based musician but when I dug a bit deeper, it said he grew up in Little Rock, but was born in New Orleans! 

STATE #32 COMPLETED!