October Pandemic Record Shopping At Speck's.

The pandemic rages on, but the Goodwill bins are open and taking safety precautions, so I've been there finding stuff to trade. Got another fat stack toghether and took it to Speck's, where I can use it as currency for things I actually want. Like that The Last Dragon soundtrack cassette above that I picked up. Here's what else I got this time:

 

Ween - White Pepper (2000) 

I noted on my last trip to Speck's, after picking up a live Ween double LP, that I was finding myself thinking of a copy of White Pepper I passed by twenty years ago. And, as has been known to happen sometimes, I manifested it into reality, finding it on the top shelf upon my return. White vinyl, original UK issue. My favorite Ween album. Just a beauty.

V/A - Your Spirit Lives On: The Musical Legend of Harry Truman (1981)

Songs dedicated to the crazy ol' coot who stayed on Mt. St. Helens till the very end. My copy came with an accompanying book! Very excited about this one.

Oregon State University - The Faces of Oregon (1959)

Always on my Oregon shit.

Pooh-Man - "Run Brotha Run" 12" (1993)

AKA MC Pooh. Sealed and on the Scarface label. We got the street version, the radio version, and the instrumental. That's the goods right there.

Jr. Cadillac - Hamburgers to Go (1974)

Blues-rock bar band out of Seattle who I keep getting more into as I collect more of their records. This is the earliest one I currently own. They do a decent amount of covers.

Butch Paulson and the Rare Breed - Live At The Circle (1969)

Recorded live at The Circle in Seattle. There's also a Tacoma address on here. This NW rock is where it's at. What a cover.

Wheels - Wheels (1982)

Bar-band southern rock that ain't no joke. Here's a vid of them getting the job done.

Dangerface - Dangerface (1983)

Released on their own Sexual Records label. Just four songs, but I'm prepared to be rocked.

The Carolyn Hester Coalition - The Carolyn Hester Coalition (1968)

Had been looking at this one on the shelf at Speck's for a long time, and finally decided to pick it up. Great cover and it's in great shape.

Prince - "Sign o' The Times" 7" (1987)

Just got the super-deluxe reissue of this whole album. Not sure why I felt the need to buy this but here we are.

Wazmo Nariz - The EP 7" (1979)

Grabbed this on a whim because it contains the songs "I Hate My Life" and "I Just Want to Have Sex." Should be something.

August Pandemic Record Shopping at Speck's.

I once again forgot to take any photos while I was shopping, so here's a picture of Mark Lanegan's new book, which I just read. He pulls no punches in this thing and it's a well written, extremely wild ride. Never been a huge Screaming Trees guy but this book's got me listening to them, and his solo work, more.

I took a Friday off work and armed with a fat bag of trades I rounded up from thrifting and thinning out my own collection, I hit Speck's and ended up spending a few masked-up hours there flipping through records and shooting the shit. Left with a bunch of great records. Here they are:

 

Franklyn Ajaye - Comedian (1973) 

I picked up my first Franklyn Ajaye LP in Chicago about four years ago and just happened to come across this one and thought I'd give it a go. He likes to talk smoothly about smoking reefer and being black in America in the early 70's. It's funny and relaxing.

The Howling Hex - Introducing the Howling Hex (2003)

Neil Michael Hagerty from Royal Trux on the solo creep. Limited edition of 500. And hey: if you hate the Trux, I'd be willing to wager you'll hate this, too. Probably more!

Harry Nilsson - Nilson Schmilsson (1971)

Been lazily looking for this LP for a while. Just to listen to. This is not an early copy; just a nice clean one to play while I do the dishes. Never got into this one.

Ween - Live in Toronto Canada (2001)

Original double white vinyl that's in real good shape. This is, believe it or not, the first Ween LP I've ever owned. I have always had their stuff on CD because the LPs are not cheap and I just couldn't even get started. But now I'm eyeing an original copy of White Pepper because I passed one by at Jackpot in 2001 and have never let it go.

David Cross - Shut Up You Fucking Baby! (2002)

Half of this album was recorded at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland at a show I attended and I've owned it on CD forever, but the LP has always been pretty hard to come by, I think. It's on red, white, and blue vinyl because American rules ironically.

Lenny Carr - Lenny Who? (197?)

Private-press LP from a guy who played organ at a popular restaurant in Lincoln City. My Oregon collection keeps getting more legit.

Laurie Brown & Rob McIntosh - A Touch of Sanity (1982)

Folk duo out of Eugene. This looks like it will be very gentle, indeed.

The Elements - Honest Enough (1985)

Rock trio out of Seattle who appear young and ready to get it done. The drummer wrote a good portion of the songs, and that's not something you see a lot. Good for that guy. And good for music. 

Tom Austin - Empty Nights (1977)

Soft rock out of Seattle that feels like it might be alright. Tom's just looking for love. Fill up his nights.

BLT - BLT (1977)

Trio out of Seattle who you would think would each have an initial that spells out BLT but they don't and I'm sure there's a story behind it but it's not clear and really it's a bit of a letdown.

Jerry Goebel - Dreamer (1980)

Recorded in Redmond, WA. That's a very contemplative cover. Very. 

Kidd Afrika - Kidd Afrika (1978)

Blues-funk out of Seattle. Private-press NW, that's how we do it.

Jamie DeFrates - Pegasus Inflight (1976)

Private-press post-hippie folk out of Jacksonville, Florida. Thought I'd give this one a shot.

The Nick Pyzow Band - The Dancers Let Me Down (1987)

What a great album title. Southern California rock. 

Mr Nice Guy - Mr Nice Guy (1983)

Rock out of Portland. This was mostly sealed and I cracked it open so I could get to the gatefold. Felt good. A lot of innuendo in this video.

Ken Roberts - The Start of Something New (196?)

My first song-poem LP. Not planning on going down that hole, but couldn't pass this one up.

On Wings of Song - On Wings of Song (1976)

Vaguely religious, possibly cult-y looking LP. Just sort of grabbed it because the dude on the back had a two-foot beard and was twirling on a mountainside. 

Bob Beland - Bob Beland (1982)

Early-80s rock out of California that I picked up because it looked possibly fun. We'll see.

Dice - On the First Throw (1978)

Country folk with fairly exciting album art for what will, judging by the mellow vibes of the duo on the back, most likely be some laid back music.

Dyslexic Artsehcro - Tomorrow Might Look Better In Someone Else's Eyes (1987)

This is a crazy record. Super dark goth-y, almost industrial noise? One of the more expensive records I picked up. I can see why people want it. It's nuts.

July Pandemic Record Shopping at Music Millennium, Speck's, and the Trunk of My Friend's Car.

Hadn't been to a record store in months, though I've been buying stuff from Music Millennium through the mail during that time. MM has been reopen for a while now, with strict mask and customer-limit guidelines, so I felt like they were doing it right. They had masks and gloves at the door, and everybody in there was at least wearing a mask. I met a friend there and we hung out for an hour or so, and I ended up grabbing more than I thought I might, as usual.

The picture above is of a jukebox that I saw in an old dude's garage later that same day. Long story. But it's up there because I forgot to take any pictures while I was shopping because I was in pandemic mode. Here's what I got at Music Millennium:

Ghostface Killah - Adrian Younge Presents: Twelve Reasons to Die (2013)

Ghost releases music at such a clip that I miss albums here and there and this was definitely one of them. Standard black vinyl original press that I paid a tiny bit too much for but whatever. I feel like I have so many Ghostface records and there are still a solid handful that I am missing. Like I said, he's prolific. I never copped that Ghostdini or Apollo Kids. Damn.

Crazy 8's - Nervous in Suburbia (1985)

Sophomore album from the early-80s Portland pop-ska legends. I think I've got about half of their full-lengths now. The music is mad dated but always fun and I'm enjoying learning more about this band and their fervent following. Their YouTube video comments sections are just full of 80s Portland stories.

James Gilstrap - Love Talk (1976)

Sultry disco that I picked up for no good reason other than the cover, which encompasses that sultriness.

Heart - "Never"/"These Dreams" 12" (1988)

Etched 12" single that I bought on a whim. It was cheap and an import and I am an unabashed fan of cash-in era Heart, plus I knew I"d never see it again and it's not the kind of record I'd bother buying on the internet. And what a conversation piece! I am, no joke, looking very forward to hearing the extended remixes on this thing. The etching takes up one side and is a band photo. You can see it here.

Quarterflash - Take Another Picture (1983)

Autographed by all five members. Been wanting a copy of this for a while (not hard to find, really) and this one, with signatures all over the front, is indeed a sweet copy to have. This and the Heart record and the next record were all clearly from the same collection.

Rail - Arrival (1980)

Also autographed by all members! I've had this LP for a while - these guys are a hard-rock outfit out of Bellevue, WA - but I think I'll be swapping out my non-autographed copy for this one personalized to a guy named "Brant," with whom they "hope to do it again."

Summit - The Tuna Boat Blues (1981)

Private-press Portland blues (?) that I am not familiar with and haven't listened to yet, but I really love the cover and the price was not high. Collecting local records is just the best. Always more to find. From what I can gather, that car is the "tuna boat" and maybe I don't want to know any more about that.





After that we were going to head to Speck's in our respective vehicles, but first my friend had some stuff to hand off to me that he and another friend were nice enough to secure for me during the recent closing of Salem's Ranch Records, where deals were being made and I was lucky enough to have a couple proxies. This first one is a doozy:

Beauregarde - Beauregarde (1971)

Featuring a pre-Wipers Greg Sage, this LP by Portland wrestler Beauregarde was reissued semi-recently and I've long had my eye on an original. Well, I got one and man: it is a sweet copy. Been putting in some work on my wrestling-record collection lately and this one really shines, sucka.

V/A - Rhino Royale (1978)

Rhino comp with a wrestling theme to the whole thing. Looks like the music is more "wacky" than directly wrestling-related, with the exception of "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Record is clear with blue and red splattered all over it. I enjoy the old Rhino wrestling stuff.

Dwarves - "Lucky Tonight" 7" (1991)

Three quick ones on black vinyl on the Sub Pop label. I think these versions are exclusive to this release. There's actually like five minutes of music on this thing, which is unheard of.

Dwarves - Sex and Violence...Live! 7" (1993)

Bootleg Dwarves on clear yellow vinyl. Exactly the kind of record I'd buy in a close-out, discount sort of situation. Like this.








Next we went to Speck's, put the masks back on, and got to work. I was trading some stuff, which meant I was more willing than usual to pick up whatever, including some mildly high-ticket items. Here's what I left with:

Johnny and the Distractions - "Guys Like Me" 7" (1979)

Portland's Bruce Springsteen. This is an early single, I think from right before the release of their full-length debut. These guys are gritty and they just hammer it out like a seasoned bar band. It's cool.

Uncle Sam - "Welcome to America" 12" (1984)

Private press patriot rock out of Seattle that really leans into the America shit. They had that Los Angeles Summer Games fever.

Madhouse - Madhouse (1985)

Private press hard rock out of Texas that has a great band photo on the back but I could barely find this shitty photo and I'm too lazy to take one of my record. They've got a keyboard player and big aspirations and I'm looking forward to it.

Rist Rocket - Rist Rocket (1978)

Hard rock out of Fresno on the private press tip and I'm not sure I understand the name of this band, but I do love their album cover. My copy is sealed, and I will break the seal when the time is right, and not a moment before.

Gigolo Tony - Ain't It Good To Ya (1989)

1989 rap that is most likely not going to be very good, but I'm a sucker for 1989 hip hop and the price was right on this one. 

As to which of those dudes is Gigolo Tony, it's anybody's guess.







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