Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Viva Music Life #2


6-2-09 Viva Music Life #2


It’s always tempting to think I can try and stay out of record / book stores for a few weeks. This is good on two counts: I won’t spend as much money, and it’ll give store stock a while to change. I had a nice run through the Buena Park swap meet last Sunday, and I have some travel coming up in the not too distant future (2 x Zia Records in Las Vegas! Followed by visits to San Jose, Santa Cruz and San Francisco bay area).


But I can already think of an excuse to go to Record Surplus, in West L.A. – I need LP protective bags again! Yes, I bought some at the swap meet, but not enough (never enough?). I have LP inner-sleeves, re-sealable CD bags, and 45 bags – in plenty. But my everyday normal LP bags – I am fresh out. I have been bagging my LP collection for nearly 40 years now. Just about every LP / 12” I’ve ever bought since 1971 or so has been put in a protective plastic sleeve before it gets ‘put in the wall’. This way, stuff stays in nice condition.


Los Angeles has lost several of my favorite book stores – notably Dutton’s in Brentwood and Wilshire Books in Santa Monica. These days, it’s all down to either Book Soup in West Hollywood or Vroman’s in Pasadena. But weekend before last, I splurged on British music magazines at a Barnes & Noble store – “Prog Rock”, “Record Collector” (UK), “Mojo” and “Word” – because all had stories on Island Records’ 50th Anniversary. So, I do not feel like I have missed out on much lately. And I recently “subscribed” to Strange Days magazine, from the Kinokuniya bookstore in Little Tokyo, downtown L.A. – whenever I go down there, I always check and see if they have “Record Collectors” (JPN) magazine in stock.


My ‘mission’ since roughly February has been to find 45’s – it started by my GF spotting a 45 by A Certain Ratio that she didn’t recognize – and I haven’t looked back! I didn’t find any cool 45’s last weekend – is the ‘run’ over? It does seem to come and go…


I spent a lot of time during May ’09 playing records, making Playlists. Usually, I can fill an 80 minute Mini-disc in a single evening. In fact, I’ve been playing so much vinyl at home, I guess I should start thinking about getting a new stylus for my turntable – or even possibly the eventuality of getting a new turntable (maybe one of those funky USB ones).


I am going to be selling at the next Claremont record collector swap meet, in September. Six cartons of never-before-out stuff. Should be interesting. I always try to think of ways to shake it up. For instance, I won’t sell before the doors open to the general public. This always seems to grind the gears of some of the other dealers – which is just fine by me. Just LP’s this time – no CD’s, no 45’s.


So, this is the state of my “Music Life” on this gorgeous June, 2, 2009. Pictured is Strange Days magazine from Japan, Feb. '05 issue.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! You squander valuable music money on magazines?!! I stopped when Q went beyond US$5 a copy. That would have been in... '92-3? I stopped buying books for the most part. I will drop coin for a select few tomes. I've bought maybe 1 per year in the last decade. But otherwise, that's what libraries are for! Space is limited! No room for books! In fact, I've sold off a lot of my books already to free up space. Valuable space for music! Remember - music is your best entertainment value!

Speaking of music and value, I've got another swap meet coming up this Sunday. The last one was insanely fantastic - new CD promos 6/$20!! And as usual, there's enough delightful vinyl to drive me insane. The last 2 Asheville swap meets are the best record shows I've attended since the early 90s in much larger cities. I suppose I'll post another video roundup for Club Revo ex post facto.

Ron Kane said...

Best of luck with your upcoming swap meet. I did fantastically well at the one in Buena Park last Sunday.

The Japanese magazines operate as Reference Materials for me. Absolutely invaluable.