Vinyl Dreams

I do believe that the music industry robbed society when they switched from vinyl to cassette. Not only did they take away the concept of fantastic cover art, they destroyed the romance that comes with holding a 12' square (approx) cardboard sleeve with pure magic inside. To reach inside, pull out the cool, shiny record; to flip it in your hands and admire the grooves; to place it gently on the player, the center being penetrated for the first time; lifting the arm and ever-so-carefully setting the stylus down and hearing the staccato burst of static as the record spun in it's hypnotic circle.

It's romantic. It's a love affair. You got what you paid for. Cassette tapes were pure shit. CD's brought back a little of the square packaging and the art and etc, but the damage was done. And now? Now?! Vinyl is being pressed for tons of new stuff. I was in ***'s (name hidden to protect etc) two days ago and found almost as much new vinyl as I did old. They charge from 12.00 to 20.00 for new albums, but I feel like I got my money worth with an album and not so much with a CD. I'm an average consumer. I fall for that kind of shit.

So I had a family member in town recently and she brought me 50 used albums. That kind of stuff makes my day more than some other things. Mostly 80's stuff, but I did get some vintage Aerosmith, Kiss, ELO, etc. Lots of live albums with inserts and etc. Awesome stuff. I now have about 250 albums, which doesn't seem like much and doesn't look like much. What started as a small hobby collection is becoming a nice getaway for me. I come down into the basement, sit at the pub table and put on some vinyl.

I have some great ones; Double Fantasy, the White Album, Sticky Fingers with a functioning zipper, Muscle of Love in the original box packaging. Great stuff. And I play them all. I don't collect shit for the purpose of collecting it. What's the point in that?

As mentioned, I went to *** and I have to say- it's not as great as the stores I hit in Portland, Oregon. Those stores are fantastic, grossly filled to the gills, and cheaper. I could buy Bob Marley for $5. *** charges $15 for worn copies. I don't want to knock the store, but I've been there twice and didn't get the warm and fuzzies. The place is picked dry, from what I could see. And buying vinyl, for me, is a treasure hunt. If I stop in a garage sale and find a huge stack to paw through, it's beautiful. Going to a smaller store is akin to walking on a beach with your metal detector. Right behind 20 other guys with their metal detector.

But I have found some decent buys in there. Springsteen, Talking Heads. I'm still looking for vintage Bowie, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel. I don't care what the value guide says they're worth. I want to listen to them. And so should you. So go out and buy a turn table and pick up some vinyl. New or old. Just don't buy up the shit I want. And if you're at a garage sale and find a pile of folk rock or classic rock, buy 'em up and give me a jingle. (If you know me.) I am always buying vinyl. It's my love affair.

Republicans

I'm sitting at the table, working on my laptop, and since I needed background noise I turned on the TV. The Republican National Convention came on at 10:00 or something. Rudi G is currently speaking and he has the whole group of Repubs chanting 'drill, baby, drill'. I don't know if they're talking about domestic oil production or prodding Levi to go after Palin's daughter again. That's what I get for not paying close attention.

I, as an adult, would never chant 'drill, baby, drill' so I can only look at these people and shake my head in mild amusement. Time to change the channel to Family Guy, where Stewie makes more sense than Rudy.

Brewery Dreams

I have a ton of work that I could be doing right now, but I keep having this dream...

There is this vacant property down the road from my place in East Lansing. It's on Park Lake Road and it used to be a golf course. I see this building and I start getting all kinds of ideas. For example, there used to be this restaurant down by the airport in Cleveland, Ohio. Or was it Toledo? Any way, it was called 57th Fighter Squadron or something like that. The front of the building was laid out like a 40's European street with brick sidewalks, phone booth, bare bulb lights strung across the walkway. They had a lovely Willys jeep in the drive among other vehicles and weaponry. The inside of the restaurant looked like an Enlisted club, right down to the jackets hanging on the coat racks. The music was WWII vintage. The outdoor pub was built inside the burned out hulk of a barn that had a fighter jet hanging down from the roof as if it crashed through the barn and burned out. Example: HERE

The place was AWESOME. It was designed to look like a French countryside farm. So what if that theme was coupled with a brewpub and it was plopped down on this vacant property?

What does it take to start a brew pub? Where do you find good brewmaster's? Now, a few entrepreneurial spirits could really market a great restaurant, but you know, most restaurants fail within a year. I suspect themed restaurants rank higher yet. But if the theme is well received and you diversify your attractions (brew and a badass restaurant) and you have all this property out back,... hmm. This gets better. What if you allowed those military war re-enactor groups to use your property to do their thing and you had a pavilion for spectators and etc? You could really draw crowds. The interest in war hasn't faded. If anything, it's increased what with Band of Brothers, Flags of Iwo Jima, Saving Private Ryan, etc.

So who wants to get in on this with me? I have about $14.00 to use as starting capital which should buy 500 napkins.

Guns (and stuff)...

Since this is the blog that I created and my only point to posting is to vent, rant, or cyber-whimper, I think I'm going to sit here on a Friday night and go on about something I care deeply about. Guns. No politics. No 2nd amendment bullshit. Just flowery words that smell like Hoppes No. 9 and thoughts that flow like grain through a funnel.

I have a family member attending an auction tomorrow that's up in the UP and there's a remote possibility that I might add a few guns to my collection. Now, I won't hold my breath because I rarely get treats like that without much work or consternation on my part. I have a few friends that might disagree considering that they were present when I purchased a trunk full of firearms from a distant cousin for much, much less than their combined value. Sun was shining on me that day. Out of that collection I obtained a Remington Mle 1907-15. Look the sucker up. See how rare they are. No serial number. They were made for the French and most never saw action. Jokes about the French aside, many of the rifles never made it to action as the war ended prior to their delivery. And I had the bayonet to go with it. 'Had' as in I sold the bugger to buy my Bushmaster 223. Not much regret there as it was 8mm Lebel and not safe to shoot, though it was in great shape. I'm not a collector insomuch as I'm a shooter. Big difference IMHO.

I also acquired a Colt Lighting that day and regrettably sold it for next to nothing. I weep over that from time to time.

At this auction they're parting with a German Mauser 98 (already have one though it was bored for .308), an Arisaka Type 38, an Eddystone, and a Savage 720 in 16 gauge. They have others but my eyes are on these ones. I don't need another Remington 870 or a dumper like the Woodsmaster 742.

I haven't bought anything since my M1 Carbine and I'm hoping to score tomorrow. I told my 'in' to go as high as $200 each. I know that's low. I'm cheap when it comes to something I don't need. But for $200, if I scored even one of them, say the Savage, whew. I could profit on that one though I doubt I'd sell it. I didn't start off a shotgun fan but I have a few that I have a fondness for. I have two Ithaca 37's and one is a military & police style that's Parkerized and runs a short barrel. It's mean looking. And it's close so if someone read my inventory here and found out where the man lived, yea. Not recommended. '00' at close range can't be pretty and I'm a mean enough MF 'r to do it. Then I'd take some photos prior to the cops showing up and I'd post them online. :)

Any ways- I kind of appreciate the shotgun now and their history. I would very much like to acquire a WWI era Winchester 97 trench shotgun, if anything. Other than that, my knowledge and experience mostly lies with rifles and military rifles at that. Russian, German, US. And in the past handful of years, these other countries dumped their obsolete arsenals on the market and created a huge demand for milsurp rifles. But not the US. They have only lightened their load via the CMP and certainly not all that they have. So either the US government has stock piles of rifles and pistols and shotguns somewhere or they've done and sold them all to other countries for them to shoot it out with their enemies. And since no other country has flooded the market with firearms they purchased from the US (the Danish actually returned M1 Garand's to the Army that they borrowed during WWII instead of pretending like they lost them) then I can only believe that the US govt has them yet or they melted them all down.

And nothing fires me up more than mass firearm destruction. People are so stupid that they'll destroy firearms before selling them to honest and law-abiding citizens that may have an interest in them. Because, yea, you burned up 5,000 guns and now 5,000 criminals are without weapons of choice. If I ever go postal it'll be with a hammer or something everyday-like and I'll stamp every crime scene with a sign that reads 'I could have used a gun, but I chose to go with a circular saw'. Because anything is a weapon. Guns are simply convenient because flesh doesn't jam them up like it does to the circular saw......... not that I know or anything.

Music Review Numero Uno

I'm thinking of starting my own music reviews. Three categories: hummability- If I don't know the words, how good do I still sound if I just make shit up or hum to the song? Infectiousness- is the album still in my head long after the last note dies out but not so long to the point that I want to kill myself. Youtubeness- how easy is it to find videos from the album, legit or otherwise, on Youtube. Each category is ranked 1-5. Total possible is 15.

Lately I can't stop listening to By The Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This album came out sometime around 2002, so I'm archiving here. But from the very first track, this album rocks. I want to get out of my chair and dance around the room, kicking shit over, air guitaring, the whole thing. My favorite tracks are By the Way, Can't Stop, This Is The Place, Dosed, I Could Die For You.

I'm driving around in my 4-door Buick listening to this album cranked and while sitting at a stop light the other day some college kid (car next to me) asked me what I was listening to and said that it rocked. So yea, embarrassing for that kid to ask some old fart like me what music I'm cranking.

So on the Hummability, about a 4. There's a few songs where the pitch changes unexpectedly and I immediately sound like Britney Spears lip-synching at the MTV Music Awards. Infectiousness- total 5. I hear some of these songs in my sleep. Anthony Kiedis's talent is just amazing. He can go from funk to ballad to rock and never miss a beat. Youtubeness- I can find almost every song represented. Kudos to the copyright infringers out there. The legit videos are great because the band has a sense of humor and appear to just fuck off for the camera. The By The Way video is especially sweet. 5

Way to go RHCP, 14 points. Another worthless rating system from someone that has no influence on the music industry.

Barack Obama's 10 Point Plan

I was reading my NRA magazine and found an article about Obama's Ten Point Plan to 'change' the 2nd amendment. My point for posting this is not to spread the message, because I won't be a tool for the NRA. I can be my own tool, thank you very much.

My question here is for those that I know to be more knowledgeable in politics than I. Is this stuff NRA propaganda or what? Top ten:

1. ban the use of firearms for home self-defense
2. pass federal laws eliminating your right to carry
3. ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns
4. close down 90% of the guns shops in America
5. ban rifle ammo commonly used for hunting the sport shooting
6. increase federal taxes on guns and ammo by 500%
7. restore voting rights for 5 million criminals including those who have been convicted of using a gun to commit a violent crime
8. expand the Clinton semi-auto ban to include millions more firearms
9. mandate a govt-issued license to purchase a firearm
10. appoint judges to the U.S. Supreme Court and Federal Judiciary who share his views on the 2nd Amendment

Now, there are others reporting on this. Ben Smith has an article on it. I had to Google it to find it on the NRA website because they didn't exactly make it easy to find.

So, what gives? Obama has really made the claims listed in the top ten list or the NRA is loosely interpreting his actions and his position? I do know that the guy isn't pro-2nd Amendment, neither was Hillary. But I wouldn't vote for some dipshit simply because he promises to leave my firearm collection alone. I could call the NRA and ask them to explain this more to me but I can't stand sitting on hold for 20 minutes listening to their automated system ask me to donate more money for the next major crisis. I support the basic tenets of the NRA, but they're a political machine that employs propaganda like every other group so I don't trust them 100%. I wouldn't trust them to hold my shotgun while I tied my bootlace, so to speak. I'd no doubt get my gun back but my wallet would curiously come up missing from my back pocket.

There's my rant for Sunday.

Embarrassingly Yellow Moments in History

What a title, huh? Just what does it mean? It refers to cowardice, folks. There's a reason that cowards are referred to as 'yeller'. It matches the piss running down their legs as their bladders prove themselves unworthy under duress. These great moments in testicular abandonment are what I'm writing about. But I won't write long. I want to see what other people think are noteworthy episodes in the milksoppy annals of tail-turning pantywaists.

Now, back in 1943 Stalin had enough of the cowards in his ranks and issued Order 227, which read 'Panic makers and cowards must be liquidated on the spot. Not one step backward without orders from higher headquarters!' I love the term 'liquidated'. We won't stop you. We won't kill you. We'll LIQUIDATE you. Now that's messy. (Leave it to Stalin.)

So, come on. What are some events in history that stand out as the most cowardly acts one has ever seen? And I mean INDIVIDUAL acts of cowardice. Not Sept 11. Not WWII death camps. I want to know about situations where one person fell to the ground in a fetal position, sucked his thumb, cried out to mommy, and his failure to manage his emotions led to 5,000 Mongols to invade his village. I want to gnash my teeth at stories like that part in Shaving Ryan's Privates where the one,... oh wait, different movie. Saving Private Ryan. That one. Where the coward falls on the steps while his buddy gets shivved on the second floor.

So let's have it? Anyone?