Saturday, October 30, 2021

Boo On You Bargains-Black And Fool's Gold





The Goodwill Outlet reminds me of the Pick n Save St Vinnies in Madison, tho this Goodwill throws everything into one tub and they wheel it out to the shoppers.  It reminds me of the Buzzards circling around a dead body, and then they all go all in.  I just looked at disbelief at some woman, picking up a handful of cds and throwing them in her shopping cart.  Basically, I just hang around and managed to find a couple John Wayne movie DVDs and the much needed Clueless S/T, Dumb And Dumber S/T and Elvis Number one's in great shape.  All for a dollar fifty. 

More finds from the buck bins

Elvis Costello Get Happy
Eddie Money Greatest Hits-The Sound Of Money
The Specials-Protest Songs 
Bobby Enriquez-Mad Piano
Louis Armstrong-Mack The Live (Live Newport 1957)
The Royal Guardsmen-Snoopy Vs The Red Baron/The Return Of Snoopy

45's

The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget-The Raindrops (Jubilee 5455) #17 1963
Write Me A Letter-Bobby G Rice (GRT 014) 1974 #9 Country 
Add Some Music To Your Day-The Beach Boys (Reprise/Brother 0894) #64 1969
Breakin' Up Is Breakin' My Heart-Roy Orbison (MGM K-13446)  #31 1966
Somebody Changing My Sweet Baby's Mind-Little  Milton Campbell (Cadet 1231) #22 1970 R&B
I'm Just Waitin' (Anticipating for her to show up)-New Colony Six (Sentar ST-1207) #128 1967
The Rodeo Song-The Patriot Band  (Party Records 209) 1981
Gypsy Woman-Brian Hyland (Uni 55240) #2 1970
Race Among The Ruins-Gordon Lightfoot (Reprise RPS 1380)  #65 1976
Mumbles-Oscar Peterson Trio (Mercury 73242)  #101 1965


The Patriot Band's version of The Rodeo Song is the one that I remember more from the days of hanging at some hole in the wall bar, The PG side is the one with the car horn replacing the F bombs.  Gary Lee And Showdown did the original, but I liked the car horn version better.  After the number 2 success of Edmund Fitzgerald, Gordon's follow up Race Among The Ruins faired much much poorly on the chart. Little Milton's single was arranged by Donnie Hathaway and produced by Calvin Carter of of Jimmy Reed fame, but the b side is a cover of Savoy Brown's I'm Tired, which is why I bought this in the first place. I'm Tired follows the Savoy Brown version but adds more horns and blues guitar.  Taylor made for Little Milton.  Bobby G Rice had some meddling chart success on the country side, I can't remember who did the pop version but I do recall Rice's version of Write Me  A Letter. B side Sweet Satisfying Feeling was a early Earl Thomas Conley/Nelson Larkin comp to which both would figure greatly in the 1980s as performer and producer. Gypsy Woman pairs Hyland up with Del Shannon and scored a big hit.  You and Me (#2) is weird even for Brian's sake, but then again hanging with Del Shannon could bring out the dark in anybody it seems. The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget is from Ellie Greenwich under the The Raindrops banner and one of the all time great girl group singles ever.  It's good to discover the Bubbling under website so that some of the singles that I found did chart.  Such as the New Colony Six's I'm Just Waiting, which foretells about the pop move that they would make when they went over to Mercury Records later in 67.  While Roy's Monument songs are pretty well known, his MGM sides seemed to be forgotten   Breakin' Up seems to be a update of Running Scared. I'm surprised Raul Malo never covered this one with the Mavericks.  B side Wait, could have been another bubbling under single.  A underrated single classic that will never be heard on corporate crock radio.  With the Beach Boys moving over to Reprise, their catchy single Add Some Music To Your Day stumbled only up to 64, but I don't recall hearing this on the radio. Mumbles features Clark Terry scatting away as on b side Incoherent Blues. Clark also plays a mean trumpet.

Most of the stuff was found in Dubuque at the Thrift stores, tho the new Specials is a new CD release. that and the 45's came from Moondog Music.  Little Miltons a side is a bit rough sounding but all 45's played well despite the age and wear and tear on sleeveless 45s.  For CDs, it was more off the wall stuff, tho I really don't think Eddie Money Greatest Hits was needed. The Bobby Enriquez Mad Piano is fun jazz piano.  At that time, Portrait Records was going more into a Jazz Fusion label, which didn't last but a year but there some classic releases from Leon Thomas Blues Band, Oregon and Stanley Clarke's If This Bass Could Only Talk as well as Ornette Coleman's Virgin Beauty (with Jerry Garcia helping out).  Mad Piano is just that,, Enriquez going to town on a wild Classical Gas and All Blues.  the late Bob Theile producing and Al Foster playing drums, Eddie Gomez on bass. Mack The Knife, is Louis Armstrong playing the Newport Jazz Festival on Independence Day 1957 and it's a tight but fun event. Armstong made sure that this band would play.  Louis was right, these cats could play. As much as I have a distain for Elvis Costello, I still enjoy his early years with Nick Lowe producing and while Get Happy got raked over the coals, it still holds its own.  The Royal Guardsmen I don't think are nothing more than novelty, their Snoopy vs The Red Baron stuff is childhood fun memories.  I had the second album (my brother ended up taking it as his own), they could throw in a bubblegum pop song (So Right To Be In Love, I Say Love, Airplane Song) but I'm not sure why Christmas radio never plays Snoopy's Christmas or It Looks A Lot Like Christmas.  The great Phil Gernhard (Lobo, Bellamy Brothers) produced their two albums.  One Way originally called this a Anthology album, when Collectiables reissued it, they reworked it back to the two Laurie albums issued, Snoopy Vs The Red Baron/Snoopy And His Friends, to which Charles Schwartz, drew the cover art.  Which accounts for something. 

Goodwill CR 45's

Slipped, Tripped And Fell In Love-Clarence Carter (Atlantic 2818)  #84 1971
My Balloon's Going Up-Archie Bell And The Drells (Atlantic 2663)  #87 1969
Grits Ain't Groceries-Little Milton (Checker 1212) #73 1969
Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight-Tim Davis (Metromedia 0104)  1972

I'm been seeing a lot more soul singles, but also seeing a lot of soul singles that have their grooves worn off.  Tim Davis was the drummer for Steve Miller but went off and recorded a couple albums for Metro Media and Glyn Johns co produced this forgotten 45. Tho Miller doesn't play on this, this has sound of the Steve Miller Band having a influence.  Little Milton's Grits did much better on the R and B chart. and Clarence Carter was still delivering some straight forward soul singles that didn't do much on the pop charts, but Foghat covered this song in 1982 and got nothing to show for it on the charts. Clarence Carter really was one of the lost Atlantic soul singers, putting out another fine soul classic.  My Balloon's Going Up is another lackluster dance single and not one of the better Gamble-Huff production for Archie Bell n Company.  B Side Giving Up Dancing was much better.  The conditions of the records varied.  Milton's Checker single looked the worst but played the best. A major scratch on Balloon's Going Up but Giving Up Dancing sounded better.  There were a few more singles that I didn't pick up, the Wilson Pickett singles were trashed and Take It Off Him And Put It On Me looked beat but I'm sure it would play just as well as Slipped.

Just three weeks ago, Iowa was second in the nation and defeated Penn State and blew out Maryland.  And had the road to the Big Ten Championship all to themselves.  All they had to do was keep winning.  And then Purdue took a number 2 on Iowa and two weeks later, The Iowa Hawkeyes dropped off the Heartland Trophy in Madison as the Badgers whopped the Hawks and the no show offense 27-7, and it would have been much worse if Iowa's defense didn't play.  Brian Ferenez, the coach's son sucks as offense co-ordinater. Spencer Petras had no answer and neither did Alex Padilla as The Badgers tore through the line for six sacks.   Dreams of a national championship went out the door two weeks ago,  you can forget the big ten championship game as well.  Iowa went from contender to pretender in three weeks.   We can say the same for Michigan which Michigan State beat them 37-33 in East Lansing.  Hawks are now number 19 and fading fast.

Probably not so much as Arizona State who once again floundered and got blown to bits at home by Washington State who lost their coach due to his refusal to get vaccinated.   Like Iowa, ASU could have been in charge of their destiny for a good bowl bid, but that has gone out the door.  I wouldn't be surprised if Arizona came up and upset them later in November.  Herman Edwards is supposed to be the one that gave this team discipline....yeah right.  The Plastic forks looked like absolute shit  as WSU had a 28-7 lead at halftime.  By the time ASU got their act together, it was all over.  At least they won the forth quarter 14-6.  Too fucking bad they couldn't play the first three quarters.   Look for Edwards to be gone if he can't right The Plastic Forks.  Unlike Kirk Ferenenz.  

Also Iowa State lost to West Virginia and got knocked out of the top 25 again. And a former Charger took a pick six  back for a TD as the hated Patriots beat the Lack Of Effort Chargers.  So basically, another bad weekend of bad football all around. 

Going from number 2 to number 22 in a month has turned the Hawkeyes from a feel good story to yet another we told you so, from the halfwits of ESPN. The Hawkeyes have a solid defense but their offense has been suspect most of the season, and with Purdue and Wisconsin exposing the Hawk's glaring weakness, a lack luster offense.  Iowa certainly fooled Colin Cowherd this season, and probably the rest of the believers as well.  Northwestern is next up, then Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska, and all four teams are not sure wins.   Heads will roll if Iowa goes 2-2 or worse. For a team that did control their destiny, Iowa shot off two of its toes.  They're not in charge now.

Back to music side of things.  Back in 2011, I posted the best places to find music.  Even back then, the scene was changing, FYE got out of the mall in Iowa City and Hastings retreated to the desert and west coast.  Here were the choices that year.

1.  Mad City Music Exchange (Madison) (still around) 
2.  Record Collector (Iowa City) (Still Around) 
3.  Moondog Music (Dubuque)  (Still Around)
4.  CD's 4 Change (Dubuque)  (Still Around) 
5.  The Exclusive Company (No longer in Madison but in Janesville, Green Bay, Milwaukee)
6.  Co Op Records (Moline and Clinton)
7.  Borders  (History) 
8.  Best Buy (No Longer Selling Cds)
9.  Barnes & Noble (Cedar Rapids)  (Still Around)
10. Strictly Discs (Madison) (Still Around)

Used Music.

1.  Half Priced Books (Madison, Des Moines, Marion)
2.  Frugal Muse (Madison)
3.  Goodwill (CR, Marion, Coralville, Iowa City, Platteville, Dubuque, Madison QC)
4.  Stuff Etc. (Coralville, Iowa City, Dubuque, Davenport) 
5.  Sweet Living Antiques (Iowa City)
6.  Segal's Pawnshop (Not selling CDs) 
7.  Salvation Army (Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Moline, Marion)
8.  St. Vincent De Paul (Dubuque, Madison)
9.  Hastings (History) 
10.  Pawn America (History)

At that time in 2011, Cedar Rapids didn't have a record store.  Today, Analog Vault celebrates their 5th Anniversary and The Vinyl Emporium is close to being a part of the scene for a year.  Vinyl has made a comeback and very big one as well.  Ragged Records has returned in a new place in Davenport and Cedar Falls has Metro Records.  There are no shortage of thrift stores that sell cheap music. The turnaround of inventory of Goodwill in Dubuque and Davenport assures me of finding off the wall things, such as the ones I found recently.  45's remain hit and miss, CDs a better chance.  But when you have a open mind, anything can sound good, tho grabbing Cracked Rear View on Cassette was a novelty. But what's to do with a big CD collector, when you don't have time to really listen to everything. And believe me, most collectors have this same problem too. I grew up listening to many many albums, while people will continue to rave and talk about the usual suspect albums and cds, I really don't think I will be listening to much of Nirvana or Led Zeppelin, since corporate crock radio tends to shove the songs down our throats.  Boston was great 45 years ago, but I grew sick of hearing that album in 1985.  The CD's are collecting dust bunnies bigly.




But for the best places to find music, hasn't changed that much, except for the end of FYE or Wherehouse Music or Hastings. I have good friends in Australia touting their finds and sometimes I'm amazed of what they find, especially The Angels, Albert AC/DC albums and so forth.  Nowadays, I don't get too excited of what I find. Once in a while, a CD from the past will turn my head around for a couple plays.  To which this week Bobby Enriquez's Mad Piano was that  album.

So basically, for 2021.  These are my choices for Best Record Stores.

1)  Moondog Music-DBQ
2)  Mad City Music X-Madison
3)  Ragged Records-Davenport
4)  Analog Vault-CR
5)  Co Op-Moline
6)  Metro Records-Cedar Falls
7)  Vinyl Emporium-CR
8)  Strictly Disc-Madison
9)  CD's 4 Change-DBQ
10) Record Collector-IC

Moondog gets first place because of location.  Otherwise Mad City Music X would be the destination. I haven't included Des Moines simply of the fact that I haven't been there and Wax Static in Marshalltown, ditto, but I am aware of what they do on Facebook.  I know where the Quad Cities and Dubuque stores are located at.  Perhaps ten years ago, I would be more gung ho of going to DM and Ames.  I know they got great stores there, time and age are against me at this point.  Marv's Record Store is one store in Des Moines I'd check out, ZZZZ's is the other, as well as their Half Price Book Store.



(Marv's Record Shop)

Used Music.

1)  Half Price Books (Marion ,Madison,DM)
2)  St Vincent De Paul (Madison, Asbury, DBQ)
3)  Goodwill (CR, Marion, IC, Coralville, Independence, DBQ,QC, Madison, Platteville, Etc)
4)  Salvation Army (IC, CR, QC)
5)  Stuff Etc (DBQ, IC, Coralville)
6)  Helping Hands (CR)
7)  Housewerks (IC)
8)  Disc Replay (Davenport)
9)  Sweet Living Antiques (IC)
10) Pre Played (Madison)

I could never think of that used entertainment store in Davenport so I looked it up.  Disc Replay can be madding at times, but they did have some choice quality stuff in the cd bins.  Books A Million drops out of both the new and used side of things since they quit selling CDs, as well as Best Buy.  I haven't mentioned Target or Wal Mart, both do have selected new releases but both stores are more interested in selling overpriced vinyl.  Likewise of Barnes N Noble, which is probably the most reliable for finding new Cds and Lps.  But if I want the latest releases, I have good luck getting it from Moondog (for CDs), most of the time.  Collector's Choice Music is best for online ordering.





With the demise of Hastings, the Arizona bargain hunts died right there and then, no thanks to old gruffy TSA dude who had a bit of fun rearranging the suitcase of 45s from the last AZ trip.  Say what you want about Hastings Entertainment but for me, it was a home away from home.  But time goes on, Hastings is nothing more a distant fond memory, a star in the horizon that shares the galaxy with FYE or Wherehouse Music or Rock n Bach or Relics Records.  Nothing against Streaming from your cell phone but give me a working AM radio and a bunch of 45s and a cool second hand store to hang at and I'll be happy.  If there's a afterlife, that's where I'll be, at some forgotten Hastings store in the great beyond.  Hope to see you there.




  
And BTW, the rock hall of fame inductees happened over the weekend.  Todd Rundgren, The Go Gos' Tina Turner, Foo Fighters and couple hours were enshrined. 



(Marvin Newman: Photo credit (via Getty Images)) 

Five Star Mud Game-Los Angeles 33, Green Bay31  at Milwaukee 11/20/1960

I suspect there are more mud bowl games out there, but for a mid November game even with the sunshine, players did play on real grass and real dirt.  Green Bay was up and coming thanks to Vince Lombardi   Paul Hourning had a pretty good game here, rushing for two touchdowns and throwing a TD pass to go with 4 extra points and a field goal but missed two FGs.  Green Bay had five turnovers  Billy Wade threw for three touchdowns including two to Red Phillips and one to Del Shofner.  Green Bay came back from a 20 point deficient to take a late lead with Hourning's second TD of the day.  However The Rams would win late in the game when Frank Ryan (future Browns QB) drove the team downfield for a 9 yard Villenevna FG gave the Rams an upset win.  Green Bay would get revenge in LA two weeks later for a 35-21 win and went on to the championship, where Philadelphia would win the title 17-13.  Lombardi would not lose another championship game again. 
 

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