50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:
Collections! Stories! Maiden on Vinyl, Bottlecaps & More!
With special guest Aaron “Mr. Books” KMA and Jex Russell
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode
Originally run: June 16 2023. Now edited with new content.
This special bonus episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden may be an old show from 2023, but most Maiden viewers never saw it, so I re-edited it and we’re running it again! This episode was a special fun one that we did with Aaron “Mr. Books” KMA, showing off parts of our Maiden collections.
Aaron, being Mr. Books, had one of Bruce Dickinson’s novels on hand. He also had a near-mint collection of Trooper beer bottle caps, and a rare Iron Maiden menu from Toronto. Harrison tended to focus on CDs. He had some rare bootlegs, including a DVD. For myself, I was eager to show off my Maiden vinyl collection at the time, including coloured vinyl, picture discs, some sealed records, and much more. Early on, Jex Russell showed up just to crash the party!
Speaking of books, we also took a look (for the very first time) at a Maiden book that features Mike himself. Chances are, you’ve never seen this book before. You definitely have never seen it on 50 Years of Iron Maiden before.
This was the infamous night that Jen had a seizure, fell, and almost broke her jaw. I’ve edited most of that stuff out but some remnants remain.
Friday June 27 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. Enjoy onYouTube.
Jen and I were B-Side Ourselves to find that James Kalyn had sent me some surprise vinyl when I was feeling down and low. It so happened James was available on Friday night for an unboxing. So that’s what we did! What did he send? Here are some clues:
Here is the full photo gallery of every picture I took, hunting for records in Toronto. For all our scores, you will have to watch the video at bottom. Here are the still shots. Enjoy!
(There’s one awesome photo of Aaron as the 9th Bosstone that he will not let me post!)
Aaron and his dad picked me up in Kitchener around 10:00 AM. Of course, I made them pose for a drone photo before we left! BMV in Toronto opened at noon, so we had plenty of time, and conversation was good. The weather was cool, breezy and sunny. It was the perfect day. In fact it may have been the most perfect weather we ever had for a Toronto excursion.
I gifted Aaron a copy of Tim Durling’s Y&T book, Down For the Count, and Aaron gifted me two T-shirts, two CDs, and one Hot Wheels. You will see these in the video that I spent the day filming.
“I’ve never seen somebody so excited for video editing!” remarked Aaron. Of course! When you had a day like we had, you can’t help but be eager to show it to the world! I spent 2.5 editing it on Monday night. The video tells the whole story. We strolled the streets of Kensington Market, and we sifted through the aisles and aisles of CDs. We only planned on hitting two stores: our regulars, BMV and Sonic Boom. We had a bonus stop at Paradisc Bound (first visit since 2012). We scored at every single store!
“We’re going to do best at BMV,” predicted Aaron, who was correct, but we didn’t do poorly anywhere. BMV won for prices and used CD selection. Sonic Boom, unfortunately, has started pricing certain discs according to Discogs highs. An old copy of Iron Maiden’s No Prayer for the Dying was jacked up because the cover art changed on the remastered editions. An out of print Helix Get Up! EP was going for a ridiculous $40 on CD, even though all the songs are duplicated on the Power of Rock and Rollalbum. Used cassettes, the kind that people used to dump in Thunder Bay landfills, were sometimes $10 each — same as they sold for when they were brand new. A Razor album was $200 on used CD. These are things they never jacked up back in 2018 when I was last there. Something has changed, and it wasn’t cool. Ultimately I did pay a lot of money for two used CDs at Sonic Boom. Ultimately I decided I wanted them, even though I was paying way too much.
BMV was just awesome. I scored eleven CDs and four records there, for a total of $107. Some were things I was trying for the first time, others were albums I needed to help complete some collections of certain bands. (One record was a gift that shall not be appearing here, for obvious reasons.) We lost track of time easily. I have no idea how long we were in BMV, but long enough to find what we wanted and then some. Of note: Their old 3-for$10 bin has changed. It is now simple $2.99 each. Perfect!
Aaron’s dad was exploring Toronto on his own, but was waiting for us when we met up for lunch at Pauper’s Pub. There are so many great places to eat in our little area of Toronto, but we hit the Pauper’s Pub every single year. That’s an endorsement. Service was great and so was the food. I had some blackened salmon, and unlike many places, it wasn’t dry and tasteless. It was tender and loaded with flavourful roasted veggies.
We made our way through the sights and smells of Kensington on our way to Sonic Boom. There, a giant Arkells display took up the front window. The band played there two weeks prior, selling copies of their new 7″ single “Big Feelings”, which was sold out in one day and not in stock. In fact they only had one Arkells left in stock, period.
We did well enough at Sonic Boom, though the store is becoming more…corporate? “Like a bigger Sunrise Records,” said Aaron. Lots of Reaction figures, Funko Pops, socks, and other assorted accessories. We were not there for those things. Reaction figures are $30 a pop now and prohibitively expensive, even though they had Phil Lynott, Cliff Burton, Lemmy, the Beastie Boys and more. When we come to Toronto, we focus on the real deal: the music. I bought two “holy grail” items albeit overpriced, that I was hoping to find in Toronto but didn’t expect to.
I grabbed a Mango Pepsi to wet the whistle as we walked back to the car, meeting up with Aaron’s dad along the way. He was a little bit behind so we had to kill 15 minutes. Paradisc Bound was right there, and they had a record that I had been wanting since I first started in music retail back in 1994. It was right there in front of me. It was meant to be! For $15, I added one final score to my tally. The funny thing was, I had just been talking about this record with Jex Russell last week…and there it was. Elvis truly is everywhere. (That’s a clue, though you will see the record in the video.)
The drive home was a little stoppy-starty, as Toronto traffic is. It took us one hour to get back up to Highway 401, and another hour back to Kitchener. Aaron and his dad drove two more hours back to Owen Sound…and they wouldn’t let me pay for lunch! Nice guys, those two. Aaron had to work Monday morning, too!
If you want to see every single thing we scored, check out the video. Can’t wait to return!
RECORD STORE TALES #1133: Mike and Aaron Return to Toronto – Today!
It has been a long, strange last few years, hasn’t it?
Aaron and I went record hunting in Toronto almost annually, for years, ever since 2012. The goal was to buy music. Lots, and lots of music. Records, CDs, whatever. We always did very well, and I began documenting everything for YouTube. The video series has proven to be very popular. But Aaron and I haven’t been to Toronto since 2018. Why?
2018 was our annus horibilis. Jen was sick. Cancer. She survived. Her mother did not. The only reason I went to Toronto with Aaron that summer was because “Mum” insisted. “Go with your friend,” she told me. Within six months of Jen beating cancer, we lost “Mum”. I loved her mom. I don’t say that lightly. We were very close. Because Jen is the kind of person who can sleep in until noon given the chance, her mom and I would patiently sit together, drinking coffee and watching old movies. Our favourite topic to discuss was, of course, Jen! Jen didn’t like this too much. She hated when we talked about her! God, I miss her mom.
2019 was the summer we spoiled ourselves, and I elected not to go to Toronto that year. Jen and I celebrated our 11th anniversary, since we missed our 10th in a hospital waiting room. In 2019 I got fat, grew my hair long, and spent as much time at the cottage as I could. Since 2018 was the year without a summer, I vowed to take advantage of every minute from that moment on.
We all know was happened in 2020, which dragged on into 2021…
I became something of a hermit during this time. Most of my friends would tell you they don’t see me often. The one I’ve seen the most is Rob Daniels. (Watch this space for a video!) I haven’t seen Meat in over two years…Scott Peddle I saw last year…same with Max the Axe. What friends have I seen? Not many. I’m an introvert by nature, and if the pandemic did any damage to me, it was to give me an excuse to burrow into my little hole and not come out. And so I haven’t gone to Toronto with Aaron since then. I did have lunch with him in Port Elgin last summer, but our record shopping excursions remained on hold.
It takes a lot of mental energy for me to force myself out the door and to be social, but Aaron really makes this easy. He does all the driving. He’s pleasant company. So is his dad, Wayne, who also comes with us to Toronto.
So, today, Aaron and I return to Toronto with Wayne. We’ll be hitting up BMV first in the morning. Then Pauper’s Pub in the afternoon, followed by the finale at Sonic Boom. I am not bringing a list. I’m winging it. I am waiting to be surprised and ready to be spontaneous.
Wish us luck. Mike and Aaron are returning to Toronto!
If you weren’t following back from 2012 to 2019, you may have missed all the Mike and Aaron Go to Toronto excursions!
From 2012 to 2015, Aaron and I went to “Taranna” every year to go hunting for CDs, records, books and more. We always made our regular stops: Sonic Boom, BMV and Pauper’s Pub. Some years, we hit up shops like Kops Records, Paradisc Bound, and Moonbean for coffee. I missed 2016 and 2017 to go to TF Con in Toronto instead. There are only so many dollars! Aaron and I returned in 2018, at the behest of my late mother-in-law, who was dying of cancer. “Go with your friend,” she insisted.
After her passing, Jen and I decided to spend the summer of 2019 at the cottage. We were not able to go at all in 2018. We made up for lost time, but in 2020 the pandemic hit! Aaron and I were not able to return to Toronto together since.
I always documented and edited these trips into videos. I recently compiled all these videos (and some bonus stuff) into two live streams that you are able to watch below! Both streams have bonus footage! The first has a musical unboxing from Aaron. The second stream has a brand new chat with Aaron that you have never seen before!
Aaron and I will be returning to “Taranna” in 2024. Watch this space…
The secret is out! This show was a month in planning. We have been wanting to do a tribute to AARON from the KMA for some time now, due to his passion for Community. And tonight we finally did it, surprising him with a blindside like no other!
For the last month, Tee Bone has been secretly toiling away on his new magnum opus, like a Mr. Holland gone mad, with late nights and early mornings.
Now we can reveal the truth: the Community that Aaron nurtured has repaid him in song. The new track “Community” features our contributions and our tributes to the man. The very first duet with Tee Bone and Meat together, and the first vocal contributions from LeBrain and Geoff Stephen in a Tee Bone song! And we got to spring the surprise on him live! His reactions are on video for you to see yourself.
We had a full house tonight with Harrison, Kevin, Sarah, Geoff, Meat, John Snow and Tee Bone all in the house with James and Aaron! A first!
Key points:
Interview with Aaron and James begins at 15:30.
The surprise is sprung at 46:30, followed by the debut of the “Community” music video.
If you were able to watch live, thank you for helping making Aaron’s party something truly special!
You will be able to buy “Community” on Bandcamp next week. Wahoo!!
If you are reading this, then you are a part of the community! The Keeps Me Alive guys were here first, rocking us since 2006 with their passion for music. James is the “concerts guy” where reviews are concerned, and this is his very first time going live with us. Harrison will be grilling James on just why he wanted me to eat a worm and a stick for $7. Meanwhile, I’ll be asking about beginnings. Why did these two guys decide to start writing about music anyway? And what’s the secret to their longevity?
This show has been a long time coming! I have wanted to spotlight the KMA for a year and a half now. Tonight will be a good time, I promise you.
The list format returns! It’s another “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten”, and this time it’s a doozy. How do you narrow down the top albums from an entire country, and arrange them on a list? I dunno, but there are some of us that are going to try. Wish us luck.
How you get in on the mayhem? It’s easy. Just go to Facebook: MikeLeBrain on Friday August 14 at 7:00 pm E.S.T. There you can participate in the fun with your commentary, as we count down…
THE TOP 11 CANADIAN ALBUMS OF ALL TIME
No greatest hits; all genres permitted. A monster of a task indeed. Four lists have been submitted. Co–hosts have been booked. If all goes according to plan (which it should due to an hour-long test stream last week) we will have two of the most knowledgeable Canadian music fans on board for what promises to be an epic discussion.
mikeladano.com 