I am covered in dust and will be schlepping home far more pieces of precious & cherish vinyl from my parents basement where it's been for over a decade. I thought I would be bringing back three and only three (there was one item that I imagined I had two copies of and was more than a little pleasantly surprised to find that I was right-- that I DO have two copies (out of a scant 2000 issued) of the coolest piece of vinyl - not only in my collection, but in my mind and oh so humble opinion, the coolest piece of vinyl EVER. More on that as soon as I free myself from these here parentheticals).

For the record (get it?) I was only going to bring back my copy of the 1st Ramones' LP signed by each & every one of them. RIP Joey, Johnny & DeeDee. My copy of the Cramps' "Songs the Lord Taught Us" signed by the late, great Lux Interior as well as Poison Ivy and Nick Knox. The very special treat on that one is the fact that Kid Powers crossed out Bryan Gregory's face and signed: Kid lives here now beside it on the back.

And then there is Pink Slip Daddy's "LSD" EP. What makes this the coolest piece of vinyl ever? Figure in the fact that it is a 10" gateway fold-out and the band re-do the Stones' Beggars Banquet photo inside, but the real amazingly delightful thing is the vinyl itself. Pink vinyl, sure, but get this: one side has 1 track at 45RPM that plays from the label to the outer edge of the vinyl; the other side has 2 tracks cut at 33RPM but the 2 songs are cut concentrically. What? Here's the deal: you put the needle down (kids ask your grandpaboy what that means) at the normal spot and it plays one song all the way to the label. Then you put the needle down again at the start point and IT PLAYS THE OTHER SONG! If anyone has anything cooler than that, I will give you a copy (maybe; I'll probably welch but I seriously doubt anyone or any record could top that!) as I do have TWO!!

In a future blog after I get them home, I will talk about some of the cool, 7" 45's that I found down there. As to not get too crazy, I refrained from even opening the large Army duffel bag containing cassette tapes (again: kids ask your grandpaboy what that means).

LONG LIVE VINYL RECORDS!

Missive from the basement. I cannot wait to get these home and on the turntables!

Cheers, Brian