Oh, The Places I’ll Go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Sunday morning. Get a coffee, put up your feet, and follow my travels!

Yesterday I had the day to myself. And what did I do? Hahaha silly you if you said anything other than “go record shopping.”

I’d thought about going to Toronto, but I’d be on my own and that’s no fun. Mike was just there recently himself, and my Dad wasn’t available. Plus, it’s a lot of driving from my door to downtown, and traffic on a Saturday can suck, so… no. Maybe next time!

Instead, I did a tour of local spots recommended by the illustrious and industrious Boppin. Go read his blog. I’ll wait!

There follows a wee description of my travels yesterday, and the treasures I discovered along the way:

Walkerton – Scotty’s

I was back to Scotty’s, my second trip. You’ll recall my first visit. The man always has so much music I want to get, and I must be very selective. It’s always fun talking to the man himself, too. Today, I think I did very, very well:

LP

Various – Castle Donnington Monsters Of Rock
Aretha Franklin – 30 Greatest Hits (2LP)~
Max Webster – Universal Juveniles^
Kim Mitchell – Shaking Like A Human Being ^
U2 – Rattle And Hum (2LP)^
U2 – War^
Roxy Music – Avalon^

~ a gift for my Mom. She doesn’t read this blog, but don’t tell her!
^ These were $2 each, but Scotty included them gratis because I was buying other things. What a guy!

CD

Black Mountain – Black Mountain
Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go
Corb Lund Band – Five Dollar Bill
Townes Van Zandt – Live At The Old Quarter (2CD)
Diana Krall – From This Moment On

Report: The Monsters Of Rock LP looks unplayed. Score! The U2 were a nice find, Mike loved that I found Max and Kim, and I think it was 1537 who recommended Roxy Music…. Black Mountain was recommended by Bop, the Manics recommended by 1537 and J., and the Diana Krall completes (I think) my collection of her stuff except her very newest one. Corb Lund and Townes Van Zandt always rule. Woot!

***

Hanover – Flea Market

Bop then recommended the flea market in Hanover, though Scotty didn’t think I should go. I backtracked and grabbed lunch (hello again, amazing meat lover’s panzerotti!), and hit up the market anyway. Who knows, right?

LP

Nothing.

CD

Nothing.

Report: I spent an hour and a half going through all of his stuff, CDs and LPs. It was dark in there, and dirty. All his stuff is alphabetized by first letter of artist’s first name, so Frank Zappa is under ‘F’, etc. It took a long time to dig through. Gahhhh…

A huge percentage of it was nothing I’d want. He had a bunch of Dillinger Escape Plan CDs I needed, but they were all nicked or scratched. I did find three other CDs I’d like, and held onto them a long while. I went through his rock music vinyl room, and found a few I considered getting, though most were priced too high. He wanted $190 for a Beatles LP called Beatles Story. I think I got that one for free…

Most were in sleeves and priced, which is fine, at least you know quickly where you stand. When he told me that unsleeved unpriced LPs were $10 each because he has high rent to pay, I picked up a basic copy of Duran Duran’s Rio LP at random and said “You mean to tell me you’d charge me $10 for this?” Yup. Haha you silly man. I put back everything I had been considering, including the CDs. I just left. Wasted an hour and a half of my day. Scotty was right.

Will skip in future.

***

Harriston – Raven’s Nest

Bop had also recommended a shop in Harriston, so it was down the highway through my old stomping grounds to check out the Raven’s Nest. CDs were all $3 each (nice!), and several boxes of LPs to dig through, sorted helpfully into genre (mostly).

LP

The intended recipient will find out soon enough!

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – Drum Suite
Queensryche – Rage For Order (a Grail List item for Brother Craig!)
*undisclosed* – a gift for someone I’m not saying who, nope, no way

CD

Duff McKagan – Believe In Me
KISS – Alive! (2CD)
Dragonforce – Inhuman Rampage
Barstool Prophets – Last Of The Big Game Hunters

Report: Art Blakey on LP for cheap? Hells yes. And a couple of LPs for other folks. Cool! I’d wanted that Duff since Mike mentioned it, KISS Alive! is one I’ve meant to get for years because Mike keeps telling me how awesome it is. Dragonforce was an impulse grab but I’ll give it a go, and Barstool Prophets was one I still needed to get.

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Williamsford – Williamsford Mill

Rolling back north towards home, I noticed our other car in the parking lot of the Williamsford Mill. I found my lovely wife, our beautiful and rambunctious kids, and my Dad inside the shoppe. They’d stopped to check out the books! Before that, they’d spent their day together in Holstein at the maple syrup festival, and it had been a great time.

There are a few LPs here occasionally, but it’s not steady stock and usually there are none. You might get one milk crate of LPs to dig in if you’re lucky. But today I scored big:

LP

 

 

 

 

 

Deep Purple – Made In Japan (2LP)

Report: Hells yes. The records are in mint shape too, though the glue has come loose from the sleeve. I can fix that!

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In Sum:

And that was my day. It maybe doesn’t seem like much, but I think I got a ton of great tunes, and all for under $80. And I spent my day doing some of what I love doing: driving through beautiful countryside on a gorgeous sunny day, eating awesome meat-stuffed folded pizza and, most importantly, digging through records looking for treasure. 

My thanks to everyone for their recommendations, especially Boppin. The man certainly knows where to find records. 

Give ‘er!  \m/  \m/