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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
The day before my entire world changed forever was December 25, 1984. The day before I discovered Iron Maiden for the first time. December 26 1984 would alter the trajectory of my life forever, but just as memorable was the day before. The infamous Christmas Day when I received the GI Joe Killer W.H.A.L.E. hovercraft from my parents.
My parents kept up the “Santa” charade for a few years longer because my sister was still young. Our Christmas tradition was that after we went to bed, mom and dad would get our “fun” gifts (the toys and games) out of the attic and leave them around the tree from “Santa”. They were unwrapped and ready for us when we woke up in the mornings. Truly, the happiest mornings of my life were waking up (always early) and turning on the lights to see what treasures awaited us. Atari games, GI Joes, Transformers, and more. Christmas of ’84 was the year I knew I was getting the GI Joe hovercraft from “Santa”.
I could not sleep, a problem I still suffer from today. On that Christmas Eve, I decided it wasn’t worth trying to fall asleep. So I laid there in bed, waiting for the parents to go to sleep and turn off the lights. Eventually they did. I’m not sure how long I waited after that. Ten minutes? Fifteen? An hour? At some point in the wee hours of the morning I got out of bed, went downstairs, and turned on the lights.
There it was – the Killer W.H.A.L.E., the big item up for sale that year and the star of two issues of the Marvel comic. It came with a pilot figure named Cutter, an essential member of the Joe nautical forces. I ripped open the box and began assembling. What a beast of a vehicle it was! It had two elevating side cannons, two missile boxes with four missiles in each, two manned machine gun turrets, a rack of depth charges, an escape motorcycle, and a launchable water sled for covert operations. On the pilot’s upper deck there was room for two Joes including Cutter. Below the opening top hatch was room for several more passengers. Fully loaded with the two gunners, you could carry 10-12 Joes into battle. At the back, triggered by a hidden button, you could spin the massive fans. In the front, a ramp opened up so your Joes could take the beach and save the day. It was a complex build with lots of parts and stickers and windows.
There arose such a clatter that my dad came downstairs to see what the hell was up. He was shocked to see me there with my hovercraft at about 1:00 in the morning.
“Santa came,” I said stupidly with no better excuse.
He left me to assemble my new hovercraft and I tried to keep it as quiet as possible.
What a Christmas. Could that have been peak Christmas for me? The next year I got a dual tape deck, but I didn’t wake up at 1 AM to open it. Considering the extreme early morning, the epic gift, and the transformative Boxing Day, that could indeed have been peak Christmas. Music would slowly begin to dominate, changing things forever, but leaving memories just as sweet.
I was notorious. Every few months, I would say that some girl who walked into the store was my “dream girl”.
When I was first hired, I was breaking up with a girl. My new boss was good consolation. He had loved, lost and loved again. Loved some more and seemed none the worse for wear. When I walked into the store one day saying I’d just been dumped, he had a great response.
“You’re going to meet a lot of girls here,” he reassured me. It was like a promise; like a perk of the job.
I don’t know what his secret was. Never once did I meet a girl through the Record Store.
The first customer that I declared my “dream girl” showed up in early ’96 at the brand new store that I was managing. She was looking for the new Jewel (Pieces of You), and unlike a lot of other customers that came in looking for music, she actually bought it. She was blonde and I remember I liked her shoes. They were just regular white sneakers but she looked good in them. I never found out her name. I lost interest when she came in with some dude. She did shop with us loyally for a couple years though. Through the whole time, I never managed to say anything beyond the following:
Can I help you find anything today?
That’ll come to $–.–, would you like a bag for that?
And $–.– is your change, have a great day.
Absolutely pathetic but I never claimed to being good at talking to girls.
There were several that I proclaimed as my new “dream girl” until I knew it was stupid to make such proclamations. Sometimes it was based on taste, other times the attraction was purely physical. There was a Star Trek geek girl, but I never managed to figure out what to say. I was never interested in the ones shopping exclusively in the rap/dance section. I knew that was a non-starter. There was this one who I liked that had two nose rings. I thought, hey, that’s unique. Two nose rings. She was quiet, never wanted any help finding anything, and always bought something. I don’t think I ever caught her name either.
I wonder if I was creepy. I was certainly awkward, and that can be misinterpreted quite easily.
No, I never met a girl through the Record Store as the boss had promised me. I did meet friends though, such as Aaron from the KMA, who strolled through my doors around the same time as the Jewel girl. No to romance, but yes to a heck of a long-lasting bromance. That’s a lot more valuable, both as a human being and a collector. We’ve enjoyed each other’s company and sent dozens of CDs back and forth over the decades.
So, to the “dream girls”, I’m sorry it didn’t work out. It simply was not meant to be.
I was re-watching Mike and Bob’s Cross Kitchener Adventure the other day. This old film that we made in highschool chronicled an afternoon of touring Kitchener in Bob’s car. (Haven’t seen it? Check it out.) One thing that came up, repeatedly, was the fact that I didn’t have a driver’s license. I was 18 years old with no license. Bob teased me pretty hard about that.
I had no incentive to learn to drive. Much like today, I didn’t really go anywhere! Everything I wanted (except Sam the Record Man) was with walking distance. (And I walked downtown to Sam’s once!) School was a 10-15 minute walk. The mall was 10 minutes. The only incentive I really had was for Bob to stop teasing!
I can remember when I turned 16, my mom paid for driving lessons through the highschool. I never went. Why?
The truth is, I was scared of driving.
I remember having a dream one night that I owned K.I.T.T., Knight Rider’s car, a high-tech modified Trans-Am. But in my dream I didn’t know how to drive either, so the car went into reverse out the driveway and hit somebody. It was a really realistic dream. I had another dream where I literally killed someone!
When driving classes started at school, I skipped (or “bagged” as the slang of the day went). I had a lot of anxiety about it. I had no idea what classroom it was in, so it was pretty easy to avoid. My mom was pretty unhappy with me when she found out. Which was long after the fact.
Getting in shit and getting teased didn’t change anything, but in the fall of 1991, I had to make a choice. I had just started university up in Waterloo. My choices were these: 1) Learn to drive, get a license, and drive yourself to school in dad’s old car. 2) Take the bus.
I chose 1). Busses were a far worse option! So I sucked it up and got lessons, and learned to drive. And like anything else at that age, I became a know it all!
I barely passed my driver’s test. The tester thought I was too hesitant at the lights. I was really good at parallel parking though!
What I learned first and foremost however, was how awesome it was to have 100% say in the music selection!
I wish I could tell you for certain what album I played on my first solo drive. I do know that I got my license in November of ’91 and focused on new releases during my first year as a driver. The new Tesla, Europe, Poison (double live), Queensryche (single live), and Guns N’ Roses tapes were often in the deck. I put them on my dashboard like a “now playing” sign to show off how cool I was.
I had night classes twice a week. Sociology on Mondays from 7:00 – 10:00 pm, and Anthropology the same time on Thursdays. I loved Anthro; didn’t care much for Soc. The best thing about Sociology was meeting my pal Rob Vuckovich for the first time. We talked about music a lot and became friends. He told me of his incredible record collection that he refused to part with. He would tape a track or two for me, but would not sell a single record. Later on, when he decided to sell, he would only do so if I bought the entire collection. Which I could not. But he was a good guy. He didn’t live far from me, so I drove him home after school.
I thought I would impress him by playing my newest acquisition from Columbia House: Purple’s Perfect Strangers, featuring non-LP bonus track “Not Responsible”. He was only mildly impressed. He said something about how it was better than Bon Jovi or Poison. Driving Rob home was something I looked forward to and I always chose the Monday night music specifically for him — to get some kind of reaction, positive or negative.
It’s funny how much I avoided driving until I absolutely had no choice. My parents complained that I always left the stereo on reaaaaaally loud, but that’s just how I made the drive worthwhile!
When I was a kid I used to rock myself to sleep with music. I missed doing that in my adulthood. I don’t find headphones or earbuds comfortable to sleep in, and I’ve never found a really good device like that to fall asleep in. I have a pair of “sleep headphones” which are basically little speakers inside a headband. But I basically have to tie something tight around my head to get the little speakers close enough to my ears to be effective, and then the whole thing becomes too uncomfortable.
I remember my mom had this “pillow speaker”. You could plug it into your Walkman, and it would convert the stereo signal down to mono, and you’d put this little speaker in your pillowcase. But that wasn’t really a good solution either.
The best way to fall asleep then was with a tape or CD in the deck, and let your speakers rock you off to la-la-land. Having a spouse might put a cramp in that tradition, as it has mine. But nowadays, with Jen’s different health issues, we are on vastly different sleep schedules. I’m usually in bed by nine and up by six. She might be in bed by 2:00 AM, after all the late night hosts have signed off. I might try returning to the “rock myself to sleep” method as an experiment.
I took a Saturday afternoon nap, but I was just too wired to get a good solid sleep. I brought the laptop into the bedroom, put on “Lick It Up”, and tried to get some shuteye. Unlike my youthful days, I didn’t fall asleep during the album, though I did doze off shortly after.
Sure enough though, memories of childhood came rushing back. I think got Lick It Up for Christmas of ’85, the same year I was given my dual-deck Sanyo with detachable speakers. I remember the Sanyo came with a sample cassette. It had “Spanish Flea” on one side, and the other was blank for recording. I think I tried to put “And On the 8th Day” on the second side, and I think it just fit.
Back in those days, I didn’t know most of the words to the songs, so I just kind of made up my own. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know the words. In fact, only on the recently released Creatures of the Night box set can I clearly hear all the words to “Not For the Innocent”. Otherwise, it was cool to hear Lick It Up, in bed like when I was a kid, but with perfectly clear sound, no tape hiss, no side change, and at perfect speed with no drag. If only my 13 year-old self could have imagined that. The sound quality, with my little laptop speakers, wasn’t great so I ordered another pair of small externals from Amazon. That’s the next step of the test.
Lick It Up has been a favourite for a long time. Back when I only owned one or two cases full of cassettes, it received frequent spins. I remember accidentally dropping it into a bucket of wallpaper water. My dad thankfully bought me a brand new copy. I’d buy it again if Kiss offer another deluxe box set as they have recently.
We’ll see how my sleep experiment goes, but I definitely picked the right album for the first try.
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