Half Price Books Memorial Day Weekend Sale and Another Generous Contribution

So, I wasn't going to go shopping for new vinyl for a while, then I saw a post in my facebook news feed about a Memorial Day weekend sale at Half Price Books. 20% off all weekend. Hard to pass up this opportunity, especially with a free day today, Friday. The sale started Thursday. So off I went this morning. But first I went over to my bandmate Mike's house. He told me he had about 50 albums that were duplicates from the merging of his and his wife's collections. (Mike also designed the title banner for my blog. He is contributing to this venture in more ways than one. He is also a hell of a guitarist and singer.)

Mike had some cool stuff. About 4 Bad Company albums, some Genesis, Clapton, Yes, Stan Getz, the Cars, Peter Gabriel, Billy Idol, ZZ Top. Gonna be fun listening through it all. Thanks Mike! After a brief hang out and sandwich with Mike, I was off to Half Price Books.

I didn't want to spend too much today, so I was picky. At one point I had about 8 or 9 records in my hand that were under consideration. They had Abbey Road there but it was not priced. I asked... $20... not this time. I ended up buying The Police- Zennyatta Mondatta, The Pretneders first album, Peter Gabriel's 3rd album (face melting), and Robin Trower- Bridge of Sighs.

Not a bad haul today. I am still listening through Uncle Eric's stuff and what I got at Cheap Thrills. I also purchased a record cleaning kit, paper sleeve liners and some plastic covers to keep my collection in good shape. Such a nerd. So now I think I will just focus on listening and finding some cool items to blog about. Look for blogs about The Velvet Underground, Jethro Tull, Joni Mitchell and the new King Crimson album in the next few days or weeks.

Last thought here today. I think that the original intent of recollecting my old collection in its entirety is not going to happen. First of all, there are some things I had back then that I don't care to have again, ever. Also, some of it may be too rare and therefor out of my price range, at least for the time being. Lastly, I don't think there is any way I can remember everything I had back then. I think what I am really trying to do is reestablish what I had in mind when I was collecting way back then, a collection that documents the development and expansion of my musical knowledge and appreciation. Of course, there are some favorites I cannot live without, albums I have had on vinyl, CD, download and will track down again on vinyl... ahh... full circle. But I will be really interested to see where this journey takes me and what this will look like at different points as I move into my late middle agedness... ulp... and beyond.

Cheap Thrills, San Luis Obispo, CA. May 14, 2011

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For Thanksgiving week 2009 we were down in Atascadero visiting my wife Liz's family. One day during our visit, Liz's Uncle Eric and I decided to go down to SLO to see if we could find a music shop so we could jam on guitars for a while. Eric is a really good guitar player and we share very similar tastes in music and have jammed together on a few occasions. On our trek through town we came upon a music store called Cheap Thrills, and decided to go in and kill some time. It's a big place. It had cds, dvds and games on the first floor. I saw stairs going up. I followed and found racks and racks of vinyl! At the time I was still turntable-less and in escrow on a new house, so I couldn't spend any money. I filed this place away in my memory, "like"d it on facebook and vowed to one day return.

This weekend was our first trip down that way since then, and with money in the bank and a new turntable on my bookshelf, I was all but salivating thinking about getting back to this place. So as soon as we arrived and the kids started playing with the cousins, I got the OK from Liz, so Uncle Eric and I jumped in the car and were off!

On the way there Eric said that he had a bunch of old vinyl that he would be happy to let me go through. What?... Again?... Maybe all I need to do is tell everybody I know that I am looking for vinyl and I can end this hunt real quick. Well, we continued on our way, but agreed I would plow through his records later.

The store did not disappoint. We spent probably somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 hours there. I was trying to stick to a budget so I didn't go too nuts and I considered my selections carefully. They have their vinyl all graded, priced accordingly, and stored in plastic sleeves. Some lower grade stuff was stored below the shelves. They have a ton of stock. I did, however, notice that certain artists are not very well represented in the used record market (if this store is any indication). Zappa on vinyl was non-existent in this store. This is distressing to me because I had planned to try to track down a lot of Zappa. I was all set about a year or so ago to download some Zappa from iTunes only to find out that his widow Gail had pulled his catalogue off of the site. So going back into this vinyl thing I thought I would try to get my Zappa fix. Looks like it won't be so easy. Oh well, not giving up yet!

Anyway I left with 11 new acquisitions. Some key items are a brand new pressing of Velvet Underground & Nico, on yellow vinyl, a bit expensive but totally worth it, such a great album, also Rush- Hemispheres, Rainbow-Difficult to Cure, Jeff Beck- There and Back, Carol King- Tapestry. Joni Mitchell- Ladies of the Canyon and Mahavishnu Orchestra- Visions of the Emerald Beyond. Still spinning it all. Not a skip yet, pretty accurate grading. They also gave me a bunch of plastic sleeves to store them in when I checked out, very cool. A great experience. Can't wait to go back soon.

So back we went to Uncle Eric's. We headed for the garage and he brought out 3 dusty green bins. I started flipping through. Holy shit! Well, I may have gotten about halfway to my goal in one fell swoop! Damn! I left with two of the three bins. I would estimate somewhere between 150 and 200 records and some 45s! No way I can list it all here but I will post about key items as I start plowing through this bonanza. Basically a lot of classic rock from the late 60s through the 80s, lots of blues, and some jazz and country. I asked him about 20 times, "Are you sure about this?" He said "Yeah, yeah go ahead. I replaced it all on cd years ago." I told him that it isn't going anywhere and he knows where to find it if he ever wants it back.

Well, that was my vinyl hunting experience for the weekend. A very nice haul. I think I am set for a while and have a lot of records to listen to. For the next few installments I think I will probably focus on some reviews and other bits of info as I don't see the need to head out shopping for a while.

Music is a major part of my life. For as long as I can remember I have loved listening to music of all kinds. I learned to play bass when I was 13 and still play in a band. Music helped to make me the person I am today. A significant aspect of my love of music is the love of the vinyl long player album. When I was old enough to afford it I was at the local record shop buying records. I collected for years and at the peak I had a collection of somewhere between 3 and 4 hundred albums. Not huge, but it was a somewhat legendary collection among my circle of friends. I collected vinyl steadily from the late 70's until about 1990 when I very reluctantly gave in to the compact disc revolution. What finally convinced me to convert was the thought that I would no longer be able to buy new music as record companies were phasing out vinyl very rapidly. It had nothing to do with the sound quality of cd vs. vinyl (more about that later).

My collection comprised much of what was popular from that era as well as a smattering of jazz, blues, classical and some of the outer reaches of rock, independent and experimental music. I held onto my records throughout the decade of the 90's and many back breaking moves. At one point I no longer even had a working turntable, yet I still hung on to my records.

Then one day in a fit of practicality and listening to my wife (one and the same) I decided to go ahead and cash them in and see what I could get. Half of my collection was at my sister in law's house in Valley Center (near San Diego) and the other half in a basement storage space of our apartment building in Oakland. On a trip to visit the in laws I forlornly carted one half to a used record shop in Escondido. The owner was impressed by what he saw. I was so proud and sad at the same time. I got a decent trade in. Later that year I took the other half to Rasputin's in San Leandro and got a similar trade in. Party over.

I carried on buying and listening to cds and later hopping all over the iTunes revolution and downloading like a madman. The convenience of the digital format and the ready availability of SO much music was a huge selling point for me. But all the while I never felt anything close to the thrill I used to get after purchasing a load of vinyl. Something was missing. Was it because I was getting older and just not as into the music scene as I used to be or was there really something different about the format that was just not working for me? I honestly still can't answer that question.

Well about five years ago my mom called me up and said she had a bunch of 78s she was wondering if I wanted. 78s? She brought them on her next visit... not 78s, 33 and 1/3s! 78s would have been cool though. I took them off her hands. Lots of cool old country and other classic stuff from the era of my mother and step father's youth. I borrowed a record player from my school (I'm a teacher) as no one was using it, and gave them all a few spins. I got excited and went out to Rasputin's and added about 5 or 6 more to my new collection. The record player just wasn't exciting me though. Ambitions temporarily shelved. Fast forward to last month, over my spring break, my sister said she was getting rid of her records and asked if I wanted to go through them. Of course I did. Got a nice haul there. Also, a Half Price Books, which sells used records, recently opened in my area. The signs could not be clearer. It was time to buy a decent turntable, receiver, and pair of speakers and jump back in. It is all in place now and I am back on the vinyl warpath.

This blog will be a chronicle of my attempt not just to reclaim my vinyl collection but also my passion for the art form that is the vinyl lp record. I will update the blog with each purchase and trip to the used record store, flea market, garage sale, etc. I will not necessarily review the music but the lps as works of art in and of themselves. This will also be a document of the phenomenon of the search itself. Just what does it mean to be a vinyl collector in the digital age?

Speaking of which.... The following is my vinyl manifesto, or why for me the vinyl lp is the ultimate format for music recordings.

1. Sound. I will not pretend to tell you that I can tell the difference between digital and analogue recordings. I can't. But, a few years ago, when I read Neil Young's biography, Shakey, there was a point when the author describes why Neil prefers vinyl to cds. Neil can't tell the difference either but said that he can listen to vinyl all day but can't take more than a few hours of digital. That's it! I don't know why this is, but it is. Of course there are hisses, pops and skips on vinyl, but I find these relatively minor annoyances.

2. Art. Getting a new record was an event. There was so much more to a new lp than just the music. Inner sleeves with lyrics. pictures, stories, liner notes, posters, gatefold sleeves, even the picture on the label in the middle of the record was cool! Yes I know cds have a lot of this stuff but the artistic presentation of cds always leaves me cold and I hate jewel cases. With digital downloads, of course, virtually none of this is available. Can you imagine anything like what the Beatles did with hiding all of the clues for Paul McCartney's unfortunate early demise on their album covers, for about 5 straight albums, happening on the tiny art format of the cd cover?

3. Era. Quite simply, the era of the lp is the era of music I love. I do like new music, but for me the stuff that really resonates was first released on vinyl lps. This is my music.

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy my blog. If nothing else it will be fun to document my journey in recovering my love for this art form.

If you are interested and so inclined, bookmark it and stay tuned!