for those who never gave up their turntables
EARLIER THIS YEAR, I posted my first Amazon review, this one of the Rolling Stones’ album THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST. It had the over-long and grammatically cumbersome title of “Clearly their answer to PET SOUNDS—or at least Good Vibrations—SGT. PEPPER is actually as disparate an artifact as REVOLVER.” [Continue reading]
IN 1970, local rock star and entrepreneur Joe Nardone opened a teenage dance hall on the Public Square of downtown Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Formerly the Stardust Ballroom, it was a second floor affair where couples had practiced ballroom dancing. It was just above the old Paramount Theater, then a first-run venue for new movies. [Continue reading]
IN THE OPINION of many pop music aficionados, the best all-around album by a white female pop singer recorded and released in the ’60s was Dusty Springfield’s DUSTY IN MEMPHIS. But, for my taste, the lady with the best pipes and the best all-around taste in the songs she chose to record was Petula Clark. [Continue reading]
I INITIATED A NEW TOPIC on the Record Collectors Guild website in September 2004 titled “The Pseudo Psychedelic ’60s.” I had hoped for a lengthy and engagingly argumentative and informative thread that went on forever. Below is what I got instead: it was fun, but I did not really leave it with more knowledge that when I launched the conversation. [Continue reading]
THERE IS SOME CONFUSION regarding the use of certain terms for buying and selling records that is rampant on the Internet! It is also true at record stores, record collectors conventions, and through the mail using self-published sale lists, ads in magazines such as Goldmine—but not to the degree that one encounters it on the ‘Net. [Continue reading]
I WAS 28-YEARS OLD and living in St. Helena, the heart of California’s Napa Valley. I had a job learning the care and maintenance of plants at Four Seasons Nursery, which I enjoyed, as plant people tend to be friendly people. I was in love with a beautiful woman who was in love with me. [Continue reading]
WHAT’S A “MARIJUANA OVERDOSE”? That rhetorical question was inspired by the headline “Here Are All The People Who Have Died From A Marijuana Overdose” to an article in today’s HuffingtonPost (September 4, 2013). It states that US Attorney General Eric Holder wouldn’t intervene as Colorado and Washington implement plans for a system of legalized marijuana:
“In a joint letter written to Holder on Friday, law enforcement organizations warned that his move would lead to more crime, violence, and even death. [Continue reading]
BUYERS AND SELLERS of collectables, whether records or record related memorabilia or bloody Beanie Babies, often fail to achieve their goals of financial success because they do not understand a few basic concepts concerning the nature of a collectable—any collectable. Because this a record collectors website, I will refer to records in this essay, but you can substitute almost any other collectable and the comments remain virtually unchanged. [Continue reading]