Last Spring Break (Unless I failed Comps)

Still waiting on that whole pass/fail comps thing. Yup. Stiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllllllllllllll waiting...

Regardless, in honor of this, probably my last, spring break I took the Sunday bus to the Goodwill with high hopes for some 99 cent LP buying fun. 99 cents is an intensely satisfying price to pay for crazy, sentimental, omygoshican'tbelieveifoundthis, sowhatifthere'salittlescratchit'sonly99cents, ireallyonlywantitforthisonesong, mayaswellgiveitatry finds. Not that I had the extra funds for this little trip, but I took the 35 minute bus ride and threw caution to the wind, even ixnayed some of my choices in an effort to be financially responsible. $18 (not including tax) later, and 18 LPs--including three multiple record sets: Bach's Mass in B Minor and a set of Brandenburg Concertos, as well as Beethoven's Complete String Quartets, Vol. II. (At Lifelong, nee, Chicken Soup, they charge for each album, part of a set or no. sheesh.) Favorite find? Peter Schilling's U.S. release, Error in the System. One of those, omygoshican'tbelieveifoundthis coupled with ireallyonlywantitforthisonesong finds. Yes, the Hollister Elementary 4th, 5th and 6th grades combined ski strip to Pomerelle return bus journey remains a vivid, wonderful memory: all 30, or so, of us singing along to "Major Tom (Coming Home)" at the tops of our lungs. Every single kid on that bus. It was glorious. 14 additional fantastic finds, too, but the Schilling album was just random and something I thought I'd never run into for such a deal. I could see thumbing through a record store's inventory and paying at least $6 for it, but certainly not VG+ condition and 99 cents!!!! Now, if I could only be so lucky with some Replacements albums...

Ok, and I admit I bought a couple of records yesterday at the Value Village ($1.99/ea., unless otherwise marked) but I couldn't pass these up. Came home with Rick Springfield's first album, Working Class Dog, because it has "Jessie's Girl" on it, and Bryan Adam's Reckless. Just about every song on that one was a hit single. Holy cow, he was popular. Holy cow, I love pop songs. I like to think that I have a discerning palette and can tell the difference between a great, well-crafted pop song and schlock. Don't we all? But come on!!! Jessie's Girl?!!!! Omigosh it is good. I mentioned my find to an acquaintance and not only did he concur, but he also noted its ideal placement in that lofty tradition of rock/pop songs whose subject matter is longing for your best friend's girl.

This used record buying thing is a bit of a disease. Or an addiction. Both, I guess. I can talk myself out of looking for weeks at a time and then I'll be innocently passing the Village (note that this is said with an arch, pseudo French accent and not to be confused with any neighborhood in that eastern city where the bohemians used to live.) and think, I'll just take a look. Can't hurt. Mostly, it's the same albums I've gone through 50 times. But then there is something new. Something I haven't seen before. Something desirable and in non-scratched condition. Once I am reminded of the thrill of buying a used record, then I want to go around to all the G'wills and Villages and any other second hand store I can think of. Record stores, too, but they tend to be a bit pricier and though I do not begrudge them their price points, it's more fun to pay less for the whoohooican'twaittogethomeandputthison discoveries.

***The links are to You Tube videos of the songs mentioned, but I'm not 100% sure they'll stay active. If not, just search 'em out in that crazy You Tube universe yourself.