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’ 50^th 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.