Record Store Tales

#1043: Music From the Elder – Winter 1986

An expansion upon #579:  Entering the Asylum

 

RECORD STORE TALES #1043: Music From the Elder – Winter 1986

As much as we teased him, and as much as he may have deserved it, George Balazs was something of the elder statesman of music on our street.  An awkward kid with big glasses, big hair, and knobby knees, George was an outcast from every group.  Yet, George was passionate about music to a degree that pushed the rest of us further in as well.

George fancied himself a bass player, and Gene Simmons was his idol.  He posed like Gene, he sang like Gene, and just really wanted to be Simmons.  He surely gave it a shot, but to most of us, he was a joke.  An awkward, porn-obsessed older kid who dressed in the full metal regalia with studded wristbands and bandannas.  What he did have going for him was a pretty good record collection.

I don’t know where he got the money, working at Long John Silver’s down the street, but George always had a steady stream of new records coming in.  Sam the Record Man, Dr. Disc, or Encore Records was his supplier.  George always had a hustle going on, selling old comic boys or toys.  He always felt like he was making money, even though he was buying the comics at retail price and selling them for half that.  I got my entire GI Joe collection from him that way.  George was acquiring complete collections of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Lee Aaron vinyl.  Kiss was nearly complete:  By the start of 1986 he finally acquired Kiss Killers, and only needed Double Platinum and The Elder.

George always made it well known how good his Kiss collection was.  We all knew what he needed.  He made sure that was publicly known.

Meanwhile, I was in grade eight, a miserable year of fake friends and emboldened bullies.  There was a newer kid in class, named Joe Ciaccia (pronounced “chee-chaw”).  In casual conversation, Joe boasted that he already had a complete Kiss collection.  I suspected he was lying to impress me, but I pressed him on it.  If his was complete, maybe he’d sell his copy of The Elder to George.  I was being selfless here.  Even though I had started getting Kiss albums myself, I was thinking only of George.  I knew George would allow me to record it, once acquired.

I informed George that I knew someone who had The Elder, and George nearly leaped out of his shoes.

“WHO?” he asked.

“Joe Ciccia, this kid at school.  He says he has all the Kiss albums.”

“Bullshit,” said George.  “There hasn’t been a copy of The Elder for sale in this town in two years.”

“Well he says he has it,” I insisted.  I was instructed to broker a trade, and so I did.

On a slushy Sunday afternoon in the dead of winter, I loaded up my Sanyo ghetto blaster with batteries and my Kiss Asylum tape.  With Bob Schipper and George Balazs, we trudged off in the snow, blasting “King of the Mountain”.  I can still remember holding that stereo as steady as I could, while Eric Carr pounded out the drum intro.  Asylum was their newest album, and my copy was only a few months old.

George was adamant that we were going to Joe Ciccia’s place, and not leaving without The Elder.  The address and time were set up.  “I don’t care what he wants for it, I’m not leaving without that record.”  The Elder was all but legendary.  None of us had heard any of the music, except George, who had seen the music video for “A World Without Heroes” once.  He loved the song.  He could not wait to get that record in his hands and on his platter!  No matter the cost.

It wasn’t a long walk, it just took forever with that slush all over the ground.  It was a wet, dark Canadian winter day, and we were on a mission.

Joe lived on Breckenridge Drive, the same street as Brian Vollmer and Ian Johnson.  Joe was about to inherit a certain crown from Ian – the king of lies.

We arrived at Joe’s apartment and buzzed.  No answer.  Buzzed again.  No answer.  It became clear that, as I had suspected.  Joe was all talk and no Elder.  We waited outside in the cold a while, but there was no sign of Joe.  We were at the right place at the expected time, but Joe was hiding.  As expected, George was partly crushed and mostly pissed off.  Joe dodged me at school the next day.  George kept pestering me to arrange a second hookup with Joe, thinking he still had that copy of The Elder that he wanted so badly.  I realized Joe was full of shit and told George my unfortunate opinion.  The record was not there, period.  Joe was telling stories, trying to act cool and impress me at school.  Then he got caught in the lie, not realizing that George was going to go apeshit and do whatever he had to do to get this record, and he hid.  This was after going so far as to arrange a trade and giving me the address.  He really went all the way before his lie could take him no further.

George did get a copy of The Elder a  short time later, and he still taped me a copy.  It was a strange album to me, with a lot of music that didn’t sound like rock, but I liked it because it was Kiss.  Songs like “The Oath”, “I” and “Odyssey” were immediately appealing.

What happened to Joe?  He was one of the first kids to have a girlfriend at school.  I seem to remember it being quite scandalous for our little Catholic school.  He was making out with Sharon Burns, a girl we’d known since Kindergarten.  Then we graduated and I never saw him again.

When I think of Joe I’ll always remember him for two things:  the colossal Kiss lie, and making out with Sharon on a religious retreat at Mount Mary.  Things you just never forget.

#1042: Gaby Baby

RECORD STORE TALES #1042: Gaby Baby

Sunday, February 5th, I received a “friend request” on Facebook.  I always check the people out before I say “yes”, and this guy had four mutual friends with me, all music people.  While that’s not a guarantee the person is not a flake, it is usually a good minimum standard.  I accepted his request and went out to coffee with our friends Scott and Ellen.

Shortly after, while drinking my large regular Tim’s, I got this request via instant messenger:

He requested the mp3 files for the self-titled 1992 Deadline EP.  In return he offered to send me mp3 files from a different band with the same name from Europe.

I thought about it a moment, but I really hate it when strangers just request music files.  I have a disclaimer on my “About” page here:  I do not “share” (IE: give away what does not belong to me) music files.  Check Discogs for other copies.  Long time readers know that in the past I shared one Iron Maiden file and then was bombarded with requests, to the point that I had to delete the Iron Maiden review that it was related to, and re-post it.  That’s what happens when word gets out that you have something and will share it.

I sent him the following message.  Short, but cordial enough.

His reponse to me was anything but cordial.

“Friend”.  And one of the best music collectors in the world!  Who collects…files.  Files.

On Monday my Youtube channel was bombarded by downvotes and comments by a channel called “the best of Hard & Heavy”.  Same guy.  You could tell by the Deadline content uploaded the previous day.

I sent him the following message and was promptly blocked.

“You are not good to live”.  He was reported on both Facebook and YouTube for harassment.

People, don’t be a Gaby Baby.  Just don’t.  This is no way to make friends, or find music.  I will continue my policy of not sharing music files.  Because hey…it’s somebody else’s music, not mine.

 

 

#1041: The Badge

Not everyone watches Grab A Stack of Rock with Mike and the Mad Metal Man (though you certainly should!) and some of the tales told deserve a re-telling.

In 1991-1992, I got seriously into Star Trek: The Next Generation.  There were a lot of reasons.  I was now in university, and there as always a stereotype that university intellectual types all watched Star Trek.  I liked that and went for it.  Gene Roddenberry’s passing certain revived my interest, as did the final Star Trek film with the original cast, The Undiscovered Country.  With the original having taken their final bow, it was a pleasant surprised to see Leonard Nimoy return as Spock on the two-part TNG episode “Unification 1 & II”.  Like anything else I find myself suddenly interested in, I bought all the manuals, model kits, and collectables I could get my hands on.  I shaved my sideburns with the Starfleet delta shape, per regulations.  I was always a fan, but now I was a Trekkie.  Not Trekker.  I find that word cumbersome.  Trekkie.

Walter Koenig (Chekov) did a few appearances on the Canadian Home Shopping Network selling overpriced Trek goodies.  We were glued to the screen the whole night.  Koenig was always one of the most fan-friendly of the original cast and you couldn’t help but like him.  The network were hawking stuffed Tribbles, phasers, communicator badges, and all sorts of Trek goodies.

The badges were the TNG style, and you could get them in two ways:  with a soundcard that made the familiar trilling sound when you tapped the badge, or a cheaper version without.  Our parents relented and bought my sister and I each a communicator.  We didn’t even want the soundcard.  We just wanted the pin.

Four to six weeks later, the overpriced pins arrived and we were thrilled with them.  They held secure to your shirt or jacket, and looked legit.

Dr. Kathryn struggled with math at school, and needed a boost of confidence for her exam.  We both wore our badges to school that day.  I told her, “Pretend you can talk to me any time you need math help.”  A small thing but helped her combat the nerves.

Star Trek, always a source of positivity in this world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1040: The Tag Jar

RECORD STORE TALES #1040: The Tag Jar

As your typical mall music store in the 1990s, we had the usual magnetic tag security system.  The idea was fairly simple.  At the store entrance there was a magnetic detector that you had to pass through.  Our merchandise was tagged with these little magnetic strips, about an inch long.  If you passed one of these strips through the detector by the door, a loud siren would be triggered.  It was one of several loss prevention methods we used.

There were two ways to utilise the security tags.  One was to double up with a re-usable security case.  These cases locked the CD into a longer “long box” length package.  This package was tagged on the inside with the magnetic security system.  At the front counter, a special key would unlock the security case.  You’d then put another CD in there and re-use it.  The other method involved tagging the CD or tape itself, in an inconspicuous place on the spine of the cellophane.  In this case, a special magnetic device behind the counter would “de-tag” the disc.  It was not totally reliable so you wanted to use the device three or four times, running it over the tag.  You wanted to make sure you properly de-tagged the item before the customer left the store.

Since no customer liked setting off the security alarm, it was heavily emphasized:  make sure you de-tag!  And we had a jar where you had to pay a dollar if you were caught checking out a customer without de-tagging.  The boss warned us:  everybody screws this up, it’s just a matter of time until you do.  I was like, nahhh man, not me.  I was hired in July and my first dollar went into the tag jar before Christmas.

The money in the tag jar went towards paying for our annual Christmas dinner.  The boss invited one of his personal friends to join us, which in hindsight seems weird.  It was a nice dinner though, and we worked hard earning it.  My first Christmas there was a busy one and we were both buying and selling discs the whole time, all at one little tiny counter.

The security alarms were loud.  You could hear them down the hallway of the mall, all the way down to the Zellers store.  That’s how I got caught one time.  I was hoping the boss didn’t hear me while he was out doing his bank run, but he did, and I had to pony up my dollar.  I couldn’t remember if I de-tagged the guy or not, which meant I probably didn’t.  But sometimes I swear it was just that the device wasn’t de-tagging properly.  Some box sets also had two or three tags on the shrinkwrap.  There were multiple ways to screw it up.

Thieves always find ways around your best security measures, and ultimately the tags were not worth the cost and were phased out in future stores, in a new and innovative way:  ditching new product almost altogether in favour of a 90% used strategy.  But that’s a whole other story.

#1039: Catalogue

RECORD STORE TALES #1039: Catalogue

There was one chain back in the Record Store days that was considered our chief rival.  They weren’t really; they were actually much bigger than us, but the Boss Man really had his radar locked on that one specific rival.  The other guy made an offer to buy us out, but there wasn’t much he could do if we were not for sale.  It was a cold war rather than a hot war from my perspective.  I did have to eject the rival from my store once.  We had standing orders (and a picture of the guy behind the counter, a Mutt Lange lookalike) to eject if he was seen in store.  That wasn’t fun.  He was with someone else, a buddy or a business associate and I had to kick him out!

I cannot be certain, but I think one of the main reasons the Boss Man didn’t want his rival in our store was one particular secret.

It is true that we had a general policy of “loose lips sink ships” – meaning “don’t say shit”!  You can imagine how much the Boss loves my website, which is why I don’t name any of the guilty parties, but these stories are from another millennium.  None of it actually matters anymore.  One thing he didn’t want known is just what we were using as our pricing guide when buying and stocking used CDs from the public.

The rival’s store had an annual catalogue.  It was about the size of a telephone book.  From the very start, we used that catalogue as a guide.  We knew their lowest retail price for everything they sold, which was virtually everything currently in print on a major label.  Every year, the store managers were sent out to buy the latest issue.  One at a time, so as to not raise flags.  Every year, we had to make white book covers to disguise the true origin of the catalogues that we could be seen flipping through.  When things got computerized, we scanned, line by line, every single CD in that catalogue to begin our own pricing guide.

It grew from there by many times over, as we added discs from other labels, out of print CDs, and everything else we ran across in our travels.  Within a short period of time, our pricing guide was many times the size of their original catalogue.  Obviously, having a custom made pricing guide on the computer was superior and a mere glimpse at the future.  Still, I kinda miss wrapping those big ole catalogues in paper and decorating the new covers.  The new kids will never know.

 

#1038: Cool

RECORD STORE TALES #1038:  Cool

Recently I’ve been thinking about what it means to be “cool”.  I certainly do not feel “cool”.  I have certainly pretended to be cool.  I had many phases of attempts at being cool.  They were mostly spectacular failures with a few notable successes.  Yet only rarely and sporadically did I ever actually feel “cool”.

As a young misfit kid with only a few close friends, I was a loner at school.  I was more interested in reading books while listening to John Williams soundtracks than hockey.  There’s a line in a Tragically Hip song called “Fireworks” that sort of outlines what it was like to have no interest in hockey.  “You said you didn’t give a fuck about hockey, and I never saw someone say that before.”  The kids at school teased me because I didn’t know who any of the Maple Leafs were and I certainly had no interest in skating.  It was just something I had to do.  My mother made me take hockey lessons and I hated the way those skates made my feet ache.  I just couldn’t wait to get off the ice where my dad would buy me a Mountain Dew.  I could barely skate and still can’t.  My mom told me that “every good Canadian should know how to skate.”  I just wanted to go home and play with my beloved Star Wars guys.  My Luke, Han, Darth, and Stormtrooper figures were always a comfort at home.  I was not cool.

Along came music and I was still not cool.  The other kids had Duran Duran and Mr. Mister while I discovered the back catalogue of a dinosaur rock band called Kiss.  I made a pathetic attempt at growing my hair.  To the other kids at school, I was the nerd who wore the Han Solo shirt a couple years ago, and was now decked out in a Judas Priest shirt that said “Rock Hard Ride Free”.  I was not cool.

I sat in my basement with my VCR, and I watched and rewatched Kiss Animalize Live Uncensored and studied Paul Stanley.  He obviously had no problem being cool.  All he had to do was tell a story about his Love Gun and he had women throwing their underwear at him.  He looked so cool when he danced on stage.  He had these tassels on his pants that twirled when he did these spinning kick moves.  I would get a tennis racket and try doing the same moves in the street in front of my house.  I felt cool.  I imagined the music behind me.  I imagined it was a real guitar in my arms, and tassels on my pants.  I felt cool…but I was not cool.

Highschool came and went, and I had a pretty low profile.  Girls didn’t know my name and I didn’t raise my hand in class.  I wanted to be cool but anonymity was OK too.  I didn’t have the baggage of my nerdy Star Wars past so I established myself as a rocker from day one.  That didn’t really make me cool; the majority of kids were short-hairs who liked music I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.  I got by, but I was not cool.

University came and went with the same anonymity, but the very foundations on which I had built my persona were crumbling.  In 1991 Kurt Cobain made greasy hair and ratty sweaters the new cool, and I was left behind in the dust.  It took two years, but in 1993 I finally cut my hair.  I went with a short hair and bearded look.  I didn’t even feel cool anymore.  I was not cool.

I don’t think I really felt a smidgen cool until I started working at the record store in 1994.  Then I had something I could boast about.  It was a cool job.  I felt a bit like an imposter, that I was not cool enough for that job, but I sure made people know I worked in a record store.  Grunge was popular, nu-metal was on its way, and I was still stuck in the 70s and 80s.  I really struggled with a persona during the record store years.  I had a variety of hair styles and colours.  I bought a pair of Doc Marten boots.  I got a whole bunch of piercings.  At this point, I started to become a little bit more successful in my dating life.  The ladies seemed to like the spiky blonde hair and the piercings.  I may have looked cool, but in hindsight it was just another attempt at being cool.  I was not cool.

I quit the record store, and I got married.  For the first time in my life, I started to feel a little cool.  I had a good job, the most amazing wife, and I had a killer wedding.  Awesome music.  We were told by mulitple guests from all age groups that it was the best, most fun wedding, they’d ever been to.  I felt awesome.  After marriage, Jen and I threw a number of killer house parties.  I did multiple studio appearances on radio.  I felt cool and I think for a little while, for a change, I was cool.

Age started creeping up on me and the years started taking their toll.  I began to take more value in how comfortable things were, rather than how cool they looked.  I had new priorities in life, like maintaining a house and taking care of a sick wife.  The things that used to matter more were trivial now.  I had to appear somewhat professional at work and be prepared to put on steel toe boots and a helmet.  Carefully crafted hair and flashy shoes had no place anymore.  I was not cool.

Yet the definitions of cool have once again changed.  Have they moved in a direction more to my favour this time?  I don’t know, but suddenly Star Wars is popular again and old rock bands pull in crowds of all ages when they embark on the second-last ever farewell tours.  Older guys with grey hair seem to be popular — looking at you Anson Mount (and Tim Durling).  Is it possible…that the time has come that I’m cool again?

I wear Crocs.  In fact now I wear Crocs with freakin’ headlights on them.  People know this.  They are aware of it.  Yet some of the coolest people in the world that I know…tell me I’m cool?

You can imagine why I’m skeptical.

I don’t think I’ll ever really feel cool.  Do you?  Have you felt cool in your life?  What did it feel like, and what did it do for your life?  I think when I feel cool, I feel more confident.  Confidence is important in moderation.  It won’t be long before I used to be with “it”, but then they changed what”it” was.  Then what I’m with isn’t “it” anymore and what’s “it” seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!

#1037: Grab A Stack of Recap! (And Things to Come)

I’m so glad that Meat suggested this as a format many months ago, and that Harrison agreed to go live without much warning!

October 28 2022.  As I was leaving for work that morning, I suddenly just thought to myself, “You know, I wonder if Harrison or anybody would feel like going live tonight.  Just shoot the shit for an hour.  It might be a fun way to be social on a Friday night and it only has to be an hour.”

He did and the rest is history now.  Meat came on and we talked the new Dio movie Dreamers Never Die, showed off Lego, music, and had a lively and fun discussion.  The shape of things to come!  We didn’t even have a name for the new show yet so I ran the LeBrain Train theme song instead.  In my mind anyway, this was not the Train.  It was something fresh and unstructured and new.

At least it felt that way to me and that’s what I needed to make this fun again.  And it was fun again.

No name?  No problem.  The following morning I wrote the “Grab A Stack of Rock” theme song with Jen and sent it to Tee Bone to fully realize.  By the next show, we had an intro video!  It took under a week, though it was still undergoing revisions.

Show #2, Nov 4 2022, was a cottage show!  Tim Durling and Aaron KMA joined the Mad Metal Man and myself to show off books, rare 8 tracks tapes, box sets and model kits. Tim has since become an integral part of the show’s rotating panel. As for Aaron, he’ll make it when he’s able!

Show #3, Nov 11 2022, featured John T. Snow and a whole boatload of Japanese imports!  Shockingly, John had some Jeff Scott Soto to show off!  Most importantly, this week was the debut of favourite feature, “Ask Harrison”!  We had two enquiries, one from Jeff Taylor and one from Tee Bone Erickson himself.  The feature was a success and continued weekly from there.

Show #4, Nov 18 2022, was the debut of Robert Daniels on this new format, which he mistook for Grab a Rack of Socks! Just kidding.  Rob came in with (of course), soundtracks and stories.  Meanwhile I focused on Star Wars rarities, while Harrison had some nifty triple disc sets to show.  “Ask Harrison” returned with Tee Bone Erickson, but it wouldn’t be long before other viewers wanted in on the action.

Show #5, Nov 25 2022, is where things got serious with this new format.  We decided to hone in on the new Kiss Creatures of the Night box set with Tim Durling and Marco D’Auria of the Contrarians.  We gave the set and its surrounding history a good solid look.  Marco brought the bootlegs and Tim had vinyl, cassettes and a related 8 track tape.  Uncle Meat appeared via video, with his memories of seeing Kiss on the Creatures tour.

Meanwhile on “Ask Harrison”, it was time for viewers to get their questions answered.  Lana Teramae got her question in via Tee Bone, and new arrival MarriedInHeels inquired about Harrison’s haircare secrets — a question he dodged.

After Show #5, I took a week off to appear with Grant Arthur on Grant’s Rock Warehouse, to do a discussion on The Darkness and their discography.  Tim Durling jumped in for that one too, and it was a lively show for all involved.  And it led to later things!  (And I will be back with Grant in February to talk about Stone Gods and Hot Leg.)

With our Creatures show done and dusted, we had to keep going big.  And so we did.  We got the Snowman back and dug deep once again.

Show #6, December 9 2022, was overlong but for good reason.  We took deep dives into two Judas Priest box sets:  50 Heavy Metal Years of Music, and Complete Albums Collection.  Every disc, every album, every bonus item, we dug deep.  Those autographs are authentic, by the way, as we showed.

Unfortunately however, this was our first show since the passing of Christine McVie.  On “Ash Harrison” that week, MarriedAndHeels asked him about Christine, for which he had an excellent answer.  Meanwhile Tee Bone had something he’s always been meaning to ask Harrison about Australia!

Show #7, December 16 2022, allowed me to continue diving into box sets.  The Queen Miracle box turned out to be a favourite.  On this night we were joined by Aaron KMA once more, who had a lot of books!  Mr. Books had books?  Imagine that.  Harrison followed the books with more books, CDs, and a lightsaber.  (Can’t wait for summer when Harrison and I can have duelling lightsabers!)

On “Ask Harrison” this week, Lana returned via Tee Bone, and MarriedAndHeels threw us a curveball by asking Harrison and Mike a question each!  And it would not be the last time she’d pull a trick like that!

Show #8, December 23 2022, was the final show before Christmas and so we invited Tim Durling and Marco D’Auria back on to go out in style.  Marco had some cool Elvis and Mystique items to show, including the new DVD of the film Standing on the Firing Line.  As for me, I continued into the box sets with Rush and Marillion and unboxed a new Savatage vinyl reissue.  For “Ask Harrison”, Jeff Taylor and MarriedAndHeels returned, as did “Ask Mike”! The ever-evasive Harrison remains excellent at dodging questions!

Show #9, December 30 2022, and final show of the year as a drop in special!  With an eye to showing off all our cool Christmas gifts, Harrison and I brought the Lego, the box sets, and more.  I went on a good Guns N’ Roses rant.  Grant Arthur made his show debut with some neat Kim Mitchell stuff.  Brian Richards, who had already done the LeBrain Train previously, returned and showed off some cool vinyl among many other collectible goodies including a signed Bruce Kulick bobblehead.  And good pal Robert Daniels was on board with…shoes?  Perhaps the shape of things to come.

Finally the planets aligned, and I got MarriedAndHeels on to do a whole show.  I’d been wanting to do this since the start.  I knew she’d be great.  I was right.  Happy New Year indeed!

Show #10, January 6 2023, was pre-taped due to scheduling issues, and even so Harrison could not make it this time.  But he was with us in spirit, and even asked his own questions of us – one “Ask Mike” and one “Ask MarriedandHeels”.  Together we showed off Lego, including some brand new sets released just that week!  Of course she had to show off her heels, and we even got a show exclusive:  unboxing her new orange summer heels that I am sure her fans will love to see.

After she shared the show to her social media, it got views that surpassed every rock star interview I ever did.  For that I am very grateful and all I can say is, I hope her fans liked the show as much as I did!

I can tell you this much.

Show #11, Jan 13 2023, will see Rob Daniels, Tim Durling, and Kevin “Buried On Mars” Simister join Harrison and I to talk Star Trek.  What cool things will these guys have to show off?  It’ll also be nice to have Kevin back for the first time on this new format.

Lists will be coming back at some point.  It has been made clear to me that people miss the lists.  So, sure.  Once in a while we can do lists.  Meat will be back for that.

Join us this Friday for another Grab A Stack of Rock With the Mad Metal Man.  It’ll be out of this world!

#1035: New Year, New Tale

RECORD STORE TALES #1035: New Year, New Tale

I’ve never been one for New Year’s celebrations.  I was usually asleep.  Only once can I remember going to a house party, a Record Store party, which was New Year’s 1999-2000.  It was actually at the Bully’s house.  She begged me to go out with them after to the bar.  Phil’s I think.  I was designated driver to get them to the bar.  She was drunk. A lot of issues there.  She went back to hating me again in the new year — harder than ever in fact.  I dropped them off and then went over to visit with my parents and the Szabo family, who had returned from seeing Jann Arden in concert.  We counted down to midnight, I went home to check that the computer was still working.  It was, and so I went to bed feeling pretty much the same in the year 2000 as I did in 1999.  Y2k ended up being nothing, except a footnote and the inspiration for a really bad Queensryche album title.

Really weird, that memory of her begging me to come out with them.  Me explaining I was going over to Szabo’s house to meet up with my family.  Then bullying me harder than ever in 2000.  I don’t think the events were connected but it was just weird how mercurial she was, and not in a good way.

Some of the more memorable New Years I had were spent at the movies.  New Year’s Day ’98 I went to go see Tarantino’s Jackie Brown with a friend.  I remember she went because her boyfriend was a huge Tarantino fan, and wanted to see it with her.  But he fucked up in some way, stayed out too late on New Year’s Eve without her perhaps, and did not attend the film with us.  I think this was a jealousy play.  She went with me, and I didn’t feel bad about it in any way.

New Year’s Eve 2000-2001, the family went out and  watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas for lack of options.  It was a Ron Howard film and therefore not terrible.  We remarked that movies made for a wonderful New Year’s Eve and more people should do it.  In 2015, I saw The Force Awakens with old friend Scotty.  That was a special moment.  Two childhood friends watching a movie they had been waiting for since 1983.  32 years.  That’s a long wait for the Force to Awaken.  Good thing we saw a matinee so we could nap before the midnight countdown.

Most of the time, I just can’t stay up late.  I did for the last couple New Year’s Eve LeBrain Train episodes, but that’s not necessary anymore.  Now people are spending their New Year’s Eves doing what they want, and that’s perfect.  Me, I spent mine napping!

#1034: December 27

RECORD STORE TALES #1034: December 27

In the Christmases of youth when families were bigger and healthier, it was close to a week-long celebration.  December 27 was a day we looked forward to annually.

Before I started working at the Record Store, we would depart for Stratford Ontario mid-day on the 27th for an early birthday celebration.  My sister’s birthday is the 28th, and she would have a second party that day too!  Stratford has a lot of really cool stores, especially if you’re looking for comics, books and board games like I was.  There was a small record store as well, and my sister and I would hit up these stores while my mother and aunt shopped for clothes and knick-knacks for what felt like hours upon hours.  One thing I know for sure:  we were the ones waiting for them, and not vice-versa!

I acquired many treasures in Stratford in those days.  After shopping, we would head to my aunt and uncle’s place for warming up.  My sister would receive her gifts, and we would eat treats while waiting for the main course to arrive:  garlic spaghetti, agio e olio, my absolute favourite.  Then we would settle in for a movie (always a comedy).  It was always a special day even though it wasn’t my birthday.

Even when we were young, I remember we were allowed to play some of our new tapes on my uncle’s big stereo during dinner.  I can recall listening to Kiss.  Smashes, Thrashes & Hits?  Dynasty?  I can’t remember – could have been either, or both, but I know we listened to Kiss during dinner (or dessert).  My uncle made us listen to someone named Juice Newton.

In the Record Store days, I would only be able to make it for dinner and not the fun shopping part.  Stratford is a little colder and snowier, and I recall having to step over massive snowbanks to get to parked cars.  The cool shops made it worth it.  I came home with Stratford with Transformers comics, Star Trek comics, loads of science fiction books, and rare board games.  There was also a Scottish-themed shop where I bought Billy Connolly CDs and DVDs, Jaffa cakes, and other treats.

“Peak Stratford” would have been Dec 27 1990:  the year I found Kiss On Fire at the book store.  All those bootlegs!  I sat and read during dinner amazed at all the records I now knew I had to collect!  What a score for a kid.

#1033: Boxing Daze

RECORD STORE TALES #1033: Boxing Daze

Boxing Day (December 26) is for relaxing.  After all this activity, we need a break.  That’s my opinion.  For others, including my wife, it’s for shopping for crazy bargains.  In her defence, she doesn’t do that anymore, but I used to question her sanity.  After all, I remember working Boxing Day…many Boxing Days…and it was definitely one of the worst days of the year to have to work at the Record Store.

Christmas Eve wasn’t so bad.  There was usually lots of cheer in the air.  Many customers were pre-spending Christmas money on themselves.  By the end of the day though, the shelves were so damn bare.  I’d look at them and wonder just what the hell we would have left for sale when we had our big “Buy Three Get One Free” sale on the 26th.  Yet people still found things to buy.

After working straight the month of December with only a couple days off, having one day’s break on Christmas Day wasn’t enough.  The 25th was always busy.  Multiple visits with family, lots going on, lots to do, and no time to actually rest.  Then I had to go to bed on time to be up for the Boxing Day sale.  That’s exactly how I spent my last Christmas at the Record Store.  I even gave up one of the days off in December to a co-worker who wanted to go see a concert.  Why?  Because I was a nice manager.  A good manager.  The kind of manager you wanted to have.  Yet that guy stabbed me in the back years later when he took issue with my side of the story in Record Store Tales.  I should have taken the day off and made him work!  Ah well.  Didn’t Green Day say that nice guys finish last?

Working on Boxing Day always felt depressing.  You didn’t want to be behind the counter working 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  I would be powered by caffeine and saddened that the cheer in the air that was so obvious a few days earlier was all gone.  Now it was replaced by bargain hunting.  Deals.  Surly door-crashers and people unhappy with the gifts they did receive.  It was a different kind of day compared to Christmas Eve, and it was long.  And worst of all, there was nothing to look forward to after the 26th.  Just going back to work on the 27th for what was essentially a normal back-to-the-grind day, except with loads of returns.  After the high of Christmas, the comedown of Boxing Day was just brutal.

I’ll never miss it, and I’ll never shop on Boxing Day.  I will not contribute to that culture.  I remember when stores had to be closed on the 26th.  In fact the first Boxing Days at the Record Store, we were closed.  The second one, we opened illegally, and working was on a voluntary basis.  It was voluntary for the first few years.  Then it became near impossible to get it off, though I did get it off for most years that I was manager.  The rule of thumb was you could have Christmas Eve or Boxing Day off, but not both.  Yet that last year I worked both.  Because I was a sucker I guess.  Merry Christmas motherfucker.