If I told you that if you buy three or four cds per week for the past 20 years that they would add up would you believe that? Ever since 1987 when I bought Lynyrd Skynyrd Nuthin Fancy and the Motown version Vee Jay Greatest Hits I have been on a long 2o plus year journey in terms of finding the ultimate CD. Even in this late in the game I still manage to find something out of print that have been on my wish list and that list is long. But sometimes getting that elusive cd I might not like and can't seem to get rid of it. Which is why bargain cds can be a waste of time if you think about it.
Ever since 2003 when moving up to Blogland and broadcasting the finds and the weekly top ten this has been a labor of love that doesn't earn me a paycheck but rather a loss leader. But the music industry is dying, good music is seldom heard on the radio and all we ever hear is the overplayed that at one time meant something but nowadays is a guaranteed headache. The pawnshops at the close of last decade yielded quite a bit of cds that you can get on the cheap but nowadays they don't offer much, I get better luck at Half Priced Books in town or in Madison. Madison, which still has plenty of places to find cheap cds although Pre Played have moved on to Play Station and DVDs and Blu Ray. The end is coming for the CD and I can see it in the shrinking bins at Best Buy and Wally World (Wal-mart for those who aren't familar with the term). There's never much in Waterloo or Iowa City anymore. I quit going to Waterloo simply of the fact that it's a wasted trip and even their Goodwill stores lack substance.
Things are changing in blogworld. The readers at the Roost hardly post anything anymore and even the readership in My Space is been non existant although a small dedicated following still read them. Nobody cares about the new music out there anymore, most of it shit or overrated to the point of disappointmen. You can't trust Pitchfork nor SPIN or Rolling Stone anymore. Even No Depression, that handy Americana site even tauts the new Avett Brothers album as classic although after a couple listens it never captured me all that much. This year I decided this was the last year of me reviewing new music, most of what I do review gets traded in the next week. But even the old reliables aren't catching my ear anymore. 12 years ago I was into John Coltraine and Monk, nowadays they're in the closest with the less played and probably will be donated since I grew out of my jazz mode. And basically I can do without Steve Miller or Fleetwood mac's Rumours, when you still listen to Go Your Own Way 33 years after the fact on a daily basis on Corporate Radio, you don't need the cd or 45 anymore.
Music has been my way of life for 45 years and damn it was a wild ride and lasted twice as long as it should have had. Hell my girlfriend wasn't even born when Go Your Own Way was on it's initial run up the charts. Yeh, I was narrow minded until 1992 and the open playlist was born and I paid more attention to more than just music of the 60s and 70s that I grew up with or listen from the jukebox at Ole's Ham & Egger. And then paid a quarter for the used jukebox records at the bookstore next door before a fire destroyed that business (it since has reopened and now is on the main drag in downtown Marion). Life was so simple then till around 1982 when the CD was created. And then the CD opened new doors but in the process shut down the old ways and the old record stores along the way thanks to the emergance of the internet.
I'm holding on the notion that there's still cds out there that need to be bought and need to be listened to but the options are lesser and less. Monday, I took a day off work, the highway was calling and pointing the way towards the Quad Cities, to the Mister Money in Moline to where there was 50 cent CDs on sale and I bought a bunch of Bobby Vee and The Ventures CDs. Spur of the moment thingy, wrote a note to my GF telling her of my plan. She knows she can't stop me when it comes to bargain hunts, she's so understanding of the things I do. And come to think of it, most of my past GFs were cool with that except of Clarice and her twenty questions and then thinking there was somebody in Davenport that I was seeing. Or Madison, Or Phoenix. If she did go, she was bored right off the start. And it was doomed to fail since she couldn't get over that. You can't tame a bargain hunter or change him, for in the end, you will be sent packing back to your side of town but then again she had some guy in the background. Usually the ones that are doing the accusing are the ones cheating on you instead. Better to have 3000 cds then bringing in children that you can't handle. A method to my madness that does work, hit the road and hit as many record/cd stores as you can in a day. And hope to God that you don't get back spams from walking too much or standing in one spot too long.
I see that gas prices are creeping back up to 2.69 a gallon, which has risen 40 cents from last week. Another sign that the long distance bargain hunts will be coming to an end and after this year anything will be in a 50 mile radius and Madison will be a once a year thingy and not two to three times as was the case this year. The 10 days of Arizona and St Louis came spur of the moment with 29 dollar airfares one way and back to Mesa and St Louis was a suggestion from Nicole. They just happened. I don't think there's much left out there on CD that i haven't listen to or know about. I'm usually 10 steps ahead of everybody when it comes to reissues and new music. I thought the perfect cut off point would be when I turn 50 but even Nicole knows that I will never ever quit buying anything that's a cd or vinyl album or a 45. She knows me better than myself. But I think I'm done with new music. The new bands I can't deal with and don't even know most of whats on the radio anymore. I'm sure I'll turn in my reviewer's card and become an oldies' reviewer. Reviewing bands of long ago and far away.
Bargain hunters never die...they just confined themselves in the clarence bins at Half Priced Books and wait for the next bargain....Which is where i found Prince's The Black Album CD for 2 bucks.
Somebody wasn't paying attention.
