Time for me to rest a bit

11-25-09 Time for me to rest a bit

I am going to be taking a few days off from blogging at this time. There’s a bit of travel coming up, and I will return to regular daily posts on Tues. 12-1-09!

I always welcome suggestions for topics upon which to write. Lately, I’ve been trying to write the blogs right before I post them – not months in advance.

Lately I have been feeling like I have a lot of stuff; I’ve found some ‘want list items’ recently (like the 6CD Joe Cocker live set!). As usual, I never have any idea what will turn up in San Francisco / Berkeley, so I will advise if something neat walks down the pike. These days, there is a lot of stuff we get to do in SF bay area that isn’t record collecting – many great bookstores left there, some good shoe stores, extra nice restaurants, good friends / family etc.

But I will always take a look and see what’s on offer at the 2 x Amoeba stores up there. Heck, last Xmas / New Year’s – I found the Stump CD box in San Francisco!

I have been regularly going to San Francisco / East Bay / San Jose / Santa Cruz for about 30 years. I’ve seen many odd stores come and go; I’ve sold (& bought) at assorted swap meets up there. It’s another concentration of humans; humans mean “used CD’s / vinyl”. I sometimes get ‘tired’ of L.A.’s bounty – something different will be on offer in S.F.! But…what?

I miss Tower Records! It was always interesting to see what was going to be for sale in Mountain View, Berkeley, 2525 Jones St., Bascom Ave. – Bascom Ave is still good, with a great Streetlight and a Rasputin’s!

A big shout out to my S.F. / S.J. crew – Scott & Deb, Ruth & Ken! And my former S.F. / S.J. crew, Big Mark (!), Cameron! Both no longer in S.J., sadly. Still love to go to S.J., and it’s these men I have to thank for my knowledge and lore of Cupertino, Sunnyvale and El Camino Real in general. Whatever happened to that guy at Chimera in Palo Alto who used to hum tunelessly to the Velvet Underground…or Debussy? All hail Rex, “The Dedicated Record Collector”! Rex remembered that I wanted a Heinz LP for well over a decade!

So, I’m real ready to get on a plane and make it up north. Thanxgiving in Pacifica! Daiso @ Serramonte! Amoebas! Get me some 24SF’s (shoes)! Upper Playground in the house! Japan town mall! Kinokuniya stationery store! Aquarius! Medium Rare! Ti Couz! T. Rex BBQ in Berkeley! Vik’s, Berkeley Marina! Half Price Books! Down Home Music in El Cerrito!

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading while I drool. Coming next Tuesday: 1969!

- Ron