vinyl roundup: chattanooga, tennessee!

so i made a short trip north to Chattanooga and Nashville a few weeks ago, and FINALLY: merc retro is over, so I feel like I can write about shit again. its about damn time.

i brought some jamz along, since michis car only has cd capability. now personally, my (previous vehicle- i have since purchased a new car with all kinds of new fangled technology) car only has the radio, a tape deck, and luckily, also a cd slot. thank god for the tape deck- i have successfully used my tape deck to transmit all kinds of sounds since before i drove a car with a CD player. when i had nought but a tape deck i just used my tape adapter to hook up my portable CD player. with the wagen i just used the tape adaptor to hook up my ipod, ipad, and even my phone now that the interwebs is available by phone. i also purchased a satellite radio receiver that totally played thru the tape adaptor. i was fully connected up in there, but unfortch the actually driving mechanisms of my poor little old wagon were starting to devolve and really do some far out shit, which I am not going to go into here. im just saying that to say that we had to take michis wagon because it was more reliable despite its stark disadvantage in the tuneage department. so with only cd and radio capabilities in mind i selected a few discs (and burned like two of my playlists to disc) so we would not be stuck listening to country and talk radio once we got too far out.

i brought along these selections:






 Well Hung: a hungarian psych/funk mix rerelease off finders keepers, a fave




difficult to actually find on the innerwebs to share. this was michis "jam"on the journey, and he still has my mf'in cd...

I also felt inspired by hank 3 for the whole nashville journey so i brought along one of his albums, and we played it like twice before michi got crotchety about it.



hank 3 is such a damn cutie, behold:



man so the trip to nashville was actually for a wedding of friends, but you know i gotta werk in some vinyl time. if theres anything i feel like i am a master of, its planning a trip. so for this like two day trip i totally made a fucking pinterest board of where all the record stores are along the way, as well as other points of interest. u gotta maximize your journeys, man.

well my chattanooga pin board was pitiful because i only tagged one place. but it turned out to be a super awesome record store full of great selections and great prices. it was especially weird because it was located in a shopping mall, sort of outside or one the outskirts of Chattanooga. that didnt deter us because we are always down for a scenic drive thru the hood. the place turned out to be awesome- just my kinda spot- a little bit of new stuff, a ton of old stuff, and even some fun merch and gear. they actually had a ton of books and coffee mugs and all kinds of ephemera. turntables and soundsystem components and the like. and the lady running the spot was super friendly and allowed us to play some of the records we wanted to hear.

i really like chattanooga, its just seated in a pretty part of the state and they seem to keep it nice there. thats not to say that it doesnt have a grimy, industrial side, but i like it all. they also have like the fastest, bestest, govt run innerwebs in the universe, and its way progressive for a southern city. we actually went to see jack white perform there a few years ago when he put out blunderbuss, it  was his first tour stop. and he hadn't played out in like ages. we saw him play there and it was pretty kickass, but i digress.

For the Record was the shop we popped in:

view inside (sweeeeet! feelin panicky yet?)

wall of fame

 

picture discs

fancy display

bunch of cool stuff i didnt get, per usual:

michi ended up with probably the best score of this venture: the wattstaxx soundtrack

whenever he has something cool he gets all smug about it and i can hardly stand it, but this really is great. in fact i became completely obsessed with it there for a few good weeks. totally. fucking. obsessed. so wattstaxx was this big ass black music festival in watts california back in the 70s. an award winning documentary was made about it and this is the soundtrack. which is totally killer. and also totally diverse. it is in fact so killer that i had to include four different songs from it, that i love. (you can also stream the entire documentary right on youtubes. peep the hotlink above!)

RANCE ALLEN GROUP



THE BAR-KAYS



ALBERT KING



THE STAPLES SINGERS

so heres what i eneded up with :

i got this used copy of the Graveyard album . we heard graveyard for the first time at the psych fest, although i had read lots of great things and was totally pysched out to hear them .. they really wailed. so i was happy to get this.

next up a cheap lil spooky toof album, to be such a fucking great band from that era, i sure do find their albums everywhere all the time. love them.

so this is probably my most favorite score from that day. im pretty sure its a leftover from their record store day event (not sure actually). but it is a live album from this deep blues festival, and every fucking song on it rules. i picked it up cause it looked cool and it was 20% off ( a new vinyl). then i saw that it featured performances by the buffalo killers and radio moscow and i felt myself getting all hot, like i found some shit i wasnt supposed to have, or like they didnt realize how fucking cool it was and it shouldnt srsly be 20% off. so i got the panic, and it wasnt unwarranted: his album rules. 

omg that alive at deep blues is the shit and a half. its actually impossible to find the versions of these songs off this album online. like i have really tried, and i would just upload it myself to youtube, but im not sure i feel like doing that- i mean who even knows how to do that shit,  right? and what if i get sued? i have no idea. so youll just have to enjoy these versions of the songs, and know that the ones on this album are way better. this album was great because it did come with the mp3 download code, which i think all new vinyl should include. new records are so fucking expensive and even with all my tape adaptor wiazardry i couldnt listen to a record in my car. although they did make those at one point. i have heard from my mom that my dad at one time had one. anyway to mp3 download was way cool because it came with bonus tracks! right awn!!

can you even imagine how much that would suck? skipping for one, then that its like a fucking 45? i guess it was like witchcraft back in the day, but fuck that shit. 

anyway, heres the version of the song that i love on that deep blues fest album, but not that version:

we drove on towards nashville

it was a righteous journey

along the way there were ribs, and sample ribs and a smoke shop with awesome hippy rings.

who has sample ribs?! like that dude brought us over each a rib, then they had an array of dips to try! Shout out the Michis friend, Jerry, our Viethick representative, who recommended this spot .Jim Olivers Smokehouse in Monteagle, Tn- kinda like a real deal Crackerbarrel, but with a buffet.

that sounds horrific, no thanks.

the smoke shop next door was also so intriguing we had to stop in. Also we were so full and miserable we had to move around before we could just get back in the car. The Amish Hippy had an array of junk, vintage shit, custom hippy ass clothing, and pipes, but nothing we really gave a shit about (except awesome hippy rings, but we left those too)

at last! nashville!

it was like pulling teeth to convince everyone to go down to the honky tonks, so by the time we managed to herd ourselves over there it was full of sloppy drunk party mom hen party types and Michi called it "party hell" and that was an accurate description.

the record store open late.. so my pintrest board for record shops in nashville was better, but still teeny. we hit up this one down by the honky tonks at night which was cool because it was saturday night and stil open, we just cruised thru, because i have not yet entered the phase of my life where i am into country and western music, but that may or may not be bubblin up inside me as I blaze on into the years. it was kinda sad in there because saturday night at those honky tonks is like utter tourist Party Hell. so many assholes. so drunk. im talkin frat brothers, hen parties, white pants all night long. people yelling slurring staggering. it could be accurately described as a hot mess. and heres this lil records shop in the middle of it all: big spacious caverous inside, not a lot of selections, and not hardly any customers, while the outside just raged on. it still looked cool with the neon lights though, and i like to think they do a brisk business during the daytime, when people who are actually interesed in that kind of thing are able to get in there.

honky tonks even later. full of assholes on a weekend tho

next day did some records shoppin before we took off to the wedding out in the countryside. we actually hit up jack whites third man records first , a pilgrimmage of sorts i realized once we got there and the shit was BUMPIN.. i dont know why i didnt think that it would not be a total clusterfuck up in there on a weekend. but it was so damn jammed full of hipsters that it was hardly worth going in. but im glad we did. he has a lot of cool shit in there. its a teeny little space in this warehouse complex kinda spot down in the homeless district. it appeared to be the shop, and a venue, as well as maybe recording spot? really a cool space. the inside of the shop was teeny and he had like a system where you could purchase tokens and play with all this little shit in there, like a record your own song booth, like a photo booth but of music. viewmasters, and all sort so of little fun stuff- candy machines full of merch or whatever. but like i said people were jammed up in there and it was irritating. there was also a small selection of records but honestly i think i have everything i want from third man for the time being because i follow them on  facebook and therefore sort of have an idea of whats coming out. the last time dungen came through (four years ago, ahem) they played nashville the night after they played atlanta, and the venue was Dawg's uncles venue. so we drove up there to see them a second night. johan holmegaard told us they were there to record with jack white, which utterly blew our minds. so when i saw that come out i totally snapped us each up a copy. i noticed that it was on the wall in the record shop in nashville and that pleased me greatly.

here that goes (id love to be able to share the song for the b-side of this- its great- and its FUCKING NOWHERE TO BE FOUND ON THE GODDAMN INNERWEB):

scopin out the door at the vault

the next stop was at this grimeys spot. it seemed like a good spot and it WAS but i still didnt buy anything. lots of kickass re-releases, but i thought many were priced high, but honestly a kickass selection, and shit you really dont find all the time. kinda worth it, but left with nothing.

travel buddy

So thats the end of the vinyl bit of the journey. you can only do so much in a weekend, so my pinterest board will have to wait til my next trip up to Music City!

 
finally: a lovely wedding, of lovely people, in a lovely place!

well i guess that was all of the short weekend trip. but it was fun as all shit, and amazing to see old friends and make new ones, and git dressed up, and see some good southern scenery. always love tennessee!!

Piss On It

Piss on, piss on, piss on it.

Man, I hate it when an elderly relative gets too far gone and you have to put them down.  I guess it happens to all of us sooner or later.  But sadly, I think it's time to put Damon Albarn on the proverbial ice floe and give it a good shove into the sea.

My brother (via SMS):  Have you heard the new Damon Albarn album?
Me:  Yes
My brother:  It made me question my entire adolescence.

Sigh.  Here's a sample.



I loved the fuck out of Blur back in the day.  The WOO-HOO song was just like a gateway drug, frankly.  I bought every album and played them to death.  My brother and I regularly watched the DVD with all their videos.  I used to sing "This is a Low" to my babies during lullaby time.  I first cheated on my ex-husband to "Tender."  Good memories.

I mean SRSLY, remember this?  This was totally the shit!



And there, fronting it all, was Damon Albarn, with all his British-Bad-Boy-Sexy everywhere.

UNGH!  With those blue eyes and dark eyebrows, looking like one of those hot-ass trophy boyfriends who probably cheated on you but you didn't care and you just knew he would eventually settle down when you managed to rope him into fatherhood almost completely against his will.  Damn, baby.

And let's not forget Gorillaz, which was also killah, as they say...



Loved them also.

Then he did this collaboration with Danger Mouse, who I adore, called The Good, the Bad & the Queen.  I bought it.  It was ok.  Which, thinking back, was really a disappointment since I loved both of them.  Then he did another side project with Flea and Tony Allen called Rocket Juice & the Moon which I had never even heard of until I started writing this blog entry.  I guess the writing was on the wall.

And that's when XMU started playing tracks from Everyday Robots.  Jesus Christ what a pile of crap.  I mean, honest to God, the new Morrissey album is better than this.  MORRISSEY, people.  Yeah, I said it.  (Shudder.)

(Thanks to my brother for that hilarious fake Morrissey quote.)

Y'all, I don't know what else to say.  WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, DAMON ALBARN?  DOES ANYONE KNOW?  CAN SOMEONE HELP ME?