Sunday, April 21, 2013

Record Store Day ( a Summer Holidays Report)

So, What did I do for Record Store Day? Well, Starting at Midnight: I played Videogames way the hell too late, and ended up going to bed at 0200. So, While I meant to get up at 0700, I ended up getting up at 0800. I Took care of the cats, did a couple of minor chores, and took off to go to the Auto Repair shoppe. There,  I spent $200 on maintenance for the vehicle. Then, I took some doughnuts and Cookies to some co-workers. After that I picked up my adult son, and we had a chat about where his life is going. I am campaigning for him to go to state University, he's intent on going to another private college. I am suggesting he get a non-retail, non-food service job, he's been applying exclusively to that sort of job.  I think he should get his medical house in order, he wants to delay that. I'm advocating that he get a bike, he wants to use public transportation- you see how that goes, right?
Then, we got tickets and saw (along with his girlfriend- my wife is out of town) "The Lords of Salem" . I rather liked it, but it's a very non-linear experimental type of film, heavily indebted to Stanley Kubrick. Specifically, I saw lots of relationship with 2001, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Shining. Also there is some debt to Ken Russell's The Devils, and some surface-level connection to Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby". There's no way to actually spoil the film, so I'll just say that the plot is about creating an Avatar of Satan on this world, and about Witchcraft ( not actual Witches- more like the mythology from Hammer films like The Witches, and The Satanic Rites of Dracula . The story is told largely visually, and symbolically - the dialogue is filled with horrible clunkers like , well, the title- a group of witches called "The Lords of Salem"- The Lords??!?  Then, they're all female? But, as visual entertainment, it's good.You have to have a pretty deep level of commitment to late 1960's and early 1970's exploitation and Art-house cinema to decipher it, but it's there.
So, after that, I went to my local Record store and was thoroughly let down. Nothing released for Record Store day was worth buying, and their selection, otherwise, was lame, at best. Example:
Me: Hey do you have any Coliseum?
Them: Do you mean Alan Holdsworth?
Me: I'll take that as a no, then. How about some Kylesa?
Them: Who?
Me: Ok, how about Clutch- I'm looking to fill in my collection.
Them: We've got this new album "Clutch" by the Earth Rockers
Me: do you have any bullets, as well?
Them: Oh, yeah, we've got lots of bullet belts, and studded bracelets
Me: just point me at your bargain bin....
Sure,enough- in the bargain bin I found several items of note. Mind you, I already own all them, but I had to "rescue" these from their bargain bin. It's something that I think we all should do- if we see a great record in a thrift store, or bargain bin, we should take it because we value it so much more than this horrible shop ever will. So, I got New Model Army- Great Expectations, Die Kreuzen-Cement, Kyuss- Welcome to Sky Valley, and the Circus leaves Town,  Channels- Waiting for the Next End of the World, dEUS- Pocket Revolution, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - From Her To Eternity. All told, that was 15 bucks. This is why I give less and less of a shit about Record Store Day, as the years go by. It's not about celebrating great music, it's about ignorant, arrogant bastards throwing money around.
So, I then went to a thrift sore, and bought a really nice silk jacket for 10 dollars, and bought dinner, and drove home to drink a few Widmer Brothers' Drop Top Ambers.

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