Shopping For Friends

I have spent a lot of hours in my life looking for Rhythm Nation: 1814 on vinyl. Every time I go into a store I check the pop section, the R&B section, the soul, rock, soundtracks (just in case) and I have never found it. It was up there with Doll By Doll's Gypsy Blood, Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation of Christ soundtrack, and any Prince record that I do not own. I could easily go online and buy in ten seconds, but I didn't. The goal is to have the record come to me. And last night it did. Adam bought it for me and then we started this blog. Thanks bro. Totes.

I bought my first records in 2000 on the way back from Wildwood, NJ at an antique store a few miles after the Cape May/Lewes ferry. They were all 50 cent 80s rock and in terrible shape. Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, David Lee Roth... all stuff that floods the $1 bins of every store I've been to since. But I bought as many as I could with the money I had in my pocket and worried about actually getting a record player later. Dude in the store wined and dined me with descriptions of his house full of tens of thousands of records, just waiting for me to buy them (if I was into that kind of thing). Not only did I have my first record buying experience, but I came face to face with what I would eventually become. A total record freak working in an antique store in DE. But hopefully my store will be a little more upscale... and not in Delaware... hopefully in Wilmington, NC and hopefully with Pacin' Mason by my side serving pancakes to himself while screaming at patrons to get the hell out of his store.

I bought my first turntable at a Mars music somewhere in Virginia... maybe in the Richmond area? Can't really remember. What I DO remember is that I owed my future wife Christy money at the time and instead of paying her back, I bought the record player. SMART. Adam's right when he talks about spending all the money you have on this stuff and having very little control over it. A week and a half ago I walked out of an Antique store in Cape May $70 poorer (note: included two cds and NKOTB comic book). I couldn't help myself! Richard Marx, Thomas Dolby, Lionel Richie and all their friends are just too powerful! Which brings me to my love of 80's pop vinyl. NOTHING BEATS IT. Collecting ALL the Eddie Money albums is extremely important to my existence. And please don't ask me to explain it. There is something about that crest of synth heavy music that moves me to FERVENT EMOTION. I guess it's that time period where music could be overtly cheesy and emotional (and thus immediately dated) without being worried about being cliche. What I'm trying to say is that The Outfield are geniuses. Cyndi Lauper can make me cry. Michael Jackson is and always will be the King Of Pop. Jam and Lewis are Gods and Michael Bolton is a White Lion of Greatness (but not in like an aryan race kind of way, yuck-o).

If you haven't guessed it yet, my posts are going to be heavy on 80's and early 90's pop... but not without the occasional gush about current trends in indie pomp and circumstance. But that will mostly be boring and completely worthless. Either way, here's to a new blog. The dream of our own record store (again, hopefully in Wilmington, NC). And also to pancakes, which we will rarely talk about.

Currently Listening to: Richard Marx: S/T