.bush tetras @ johnny brendas

The Simple Pleasure are so fun!

This show was so much fun and The Simple Pleasure has a new fan! They opened for Bush Tetras, hailing from Texas. The lead singer had googly eye stickers on his guitar and the bass player's haircut reminded me of Yolandi Visser from Die Antwoord. Regardless they had songs titled "Milfshake" and lyrics such as "Saturday night is for buttholes!" The cherry on top was their encore. In a Bon Jovi-esque move that robotic straw was attached to the mic for a thrilling rendition of the "Grease" theme. Grease is the word! I felt bad the place wasn't packed as most people came in closer to Bush Tetras set. That didn't discourage The Simple Pleasure as they played like they were playing for hundreds of people. The next band up was "Wild at Heart." One of the guitar players I recognized from a few Philly bands. My friend and I looked at each other as their set was extremely brief (about fifteen minutes long!) Hrm..

Cynthia = badass

Pat Place = beast on guitar

Finally Bush Tetras came out to an elated audience. I LOVED that the bassist of The Simple Pleasure was dancing all night to their songs with her friend in the audience. Soon others joined in their fun as well. Cynthia was so bad-ass. I cannot believe she is 60! She claimed she was having senior moments on stage trying to remember certain lyrics but her stage presence was commanding and many times playful with the audience. The band wrote their set lists on paper plates. To hear "Too Many Creeps" was so amazing! There was an older guy rocking out to it down below. How I wished I stayed on the floor but I knew I would have no energy for Amanda Palmer the following night in Brooklyn. That's why I took to the balcony. The funniest thing Cynthia said was that her songs relevant to the Reagan era are still relevant today. On the way out I purchased the "Too Many Creeps" 7" album along with two pins. So happy to have finally seen them. As much as I wanted to see Sylvan Esso (both nights sold out over the weekend) I'm glad I did this instead. Would've totally missed out on a super fun and energetic night with this group.

.february vinyl haul

A great haul! Stoked for these!

Lately I haven't purchased anything from Vinyl Me Please. All of the bands I've seen in concert I've been picking up their albums. When A comes to visit we usually hit up some of my favorite record stores. This time we had a mission to search for some 7" albums. A has never been to Haddonfield Record Exchange. They usually have a decent array of 7" albums. I scored New Kids on the Block and Debbie Gibson last time. What I found this time was amazing. One of the earliest albums my parents bought me was at age 3: Duran Duran - Wild Boys. For that album to be displayed in the front of the bin was just practically calling out to me. I snatched it up. I also found Madonna - True Blue (the vinyl is actually blue!), Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight (I owned this at age 5), Blondie - The Tide is High, Run DMC - Walk This Way, and the iconic "Two of Hearts" by Stacey Q. At the register they usually have some neat vintage pins. I picked up Thompson Twins, Janis Joplin, Eurythmics, and Duran Duran. $1.50 each.

Our second stop was Innergroove. Last time my major scores were Hole, Nirvana, and Smashing Pumpkins 7" albums. Ironically I found another Blondie 7" "Rapture" which compliments the one I previously bought. Searching through my favorite section of "Just In!" records I snatched B-52's "Cosmic Thing," Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" for $20 (cheapest I've seen was $30), and Prince's "1999" for $10. Yaaasss!!!

My new goal is to buy a cork board from Target and arrange my pins in a better fashion. No joke I have at least 150+ pins at this point. I rotate them all as much as I can.   

.peter murphy

Okay so I know very little about Peter Murphy. I know he was in Bauhaus since my friend taped me "She's in Parties" during my college years. I love the movie Box of Moonlight since Peter Murphy's "Cut You Up" is played during a really great scene. /end knowledge of Peter Murphy. Basically I attended the concert because my friend Nicole has ferocious love for PM and her friend couldn't make it. 

The one thing we were excited about was it being seated. After 6 nights of seeing shows back-to-back, I had a break on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday was this show, therefore I was over-the-moon to sit down. When we went into the room there were no seats. All of a sudden towards the side of the stage a metal barricade was put up but not completely enclosed. There was a small entry way we could squeeze through. The seats were not tagged "VIP" and there was no one guarding the entry. We took it upon ourselves to just sit and it was enjoyable! Neither of us were questioned or kicked out from the area. It was nice to catch Peter Murphy seated and a fantastic side-view from the stage. There were at least 3 times he came over to us (picture below captures this in blue) but we did not get to shake his hand. The best thing about this show (aside from Peter covering Bowie and Iggy) was seeing Nicole actually cry tears! She was completely immersed and in-the-moment. I was really happy for her <3
 
Sadly other people nabbed the set list and poor Nicole was left with the encore portion of the set list. She claimed "This doesn't mean shit to me but whatever! I'll take it!" We also found out from her set list he did not play all of the songs from the encore and did not come out for a third encore. Nicole was like "That fucker! I'm going to talk to him about this." But of course she said it with love. Here's what he played....

CASCADE
THE SECRET
INDIGO EYES
SISTER MIDNIGHT
ALL NIGHT LONG
MARLENE DIETRICH'S FAVOURITE POEM
LUST FOR LIFE
A STRANGE KIND OF LOVE
THE ROSE
KING VOLCANO
KINGDOM'S COMING
SILENT HEDGES
NEVER FALL OUT
GASLIT

ENCORE:
THE BEWLAY BROTHERS
ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS EVERYTHING
THE THREE SHADOWS PT 1
HOLLOW HILLS

.new order

I can't even fathom that here it is, almost 30 years later I would FINALLY see this band live. Bernard Sumner was fantastic and the animated graphics were just unreal. 

We arrived at the show almost half an hour late which was my fault (I thought there were 2 opening bands and really there was only 1). So, we missed the first five songs, one of them Ceremony and the other Crystal. The Tower Theater is weird because it looks like you have assigned seating on your ticket and really it's just general admission. Since the bottom of the venue was all filled in with seating, we sat up top. It was hard finding two seats next to each other but we managed. Here is the set list....

SINGULARITY
CEREMONY
ACADEMIC
CRYSTAL
RESTLESS
LONESOME TONIGHT
YOUR SILENT FACE
TUTTI FRUTTI
PEOPLE ON THE HIGH LINE
BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE
WAITING FOR THE SIRENS' CALL
PLASTIC
THE PERFECT KISS
TRUE FAITH
TEMPTATION

ENCORE:
ATMOSPHERE
LOVE WILL TEAR US APART
BLUE MONDAY 

It was more emotional for my friend because she is a huge Joy Division fan. When they kicked in with the Ian Curtis tribute she just lost it. Towards the end when they played "Blue Monday" I had tears. I used to break dance *badly* to that song at a very young age. So worth it and an experience I'll never forget.

.vinyl haul

I figured I'd just make one big post from previous vinyl purchases. Lately I've been in "soundtrack" searching mode, so I picked up some of these at Urban Outfitters and Innergroove. The Once Bitten soundtrack was a very rare find. That was pretty exciting...

Finishing out my St. Lucia collection, I found "When the Night" at Urban Outfitters after purchasing "Matter" at Tunes two weeks ago.

These were just fun finds, reasonably priced....

And I scored some more Bowie, two being re-mastered versions.

.weekend haul

I swear this is my last haul until next month. Friday I got out of work early so venturing over to Bordentown in 20 degree weather seemed like the right thing to do? Two record stores are within a few blocks from one another. The first one I hit up was The Record Collector. The building itself looks something out of the 1950s with this do-wop vibe. Prices however run pretty high. All of my purchases to the left were from The Record Collector. He had a lot of Bowie but I'm not insanely collecting every piece he's put out. I opted for Station to Station and Tonight which has the song "Blue Jean" on it. Public Image Ltd's First Edition keeps taunting me as I finally picked it up to pretty much complete my PiL collection. Patti Smith's Wave was cheaper here compared to other stores I've seen copies in. Dork fan-girl moment but when Carrie Brownstein did her Portlandia tour with Fred, her and Annie played along to The Stranglers "Hanging Around." I picked it up since the song was on this album. Plus I heard they're good. The Record Collector also has live bands play which is pretty cool. My total was around $80 for all of these so not too shabby, PiL being the most expensive thing I picked up.

The second store I hit up was The Man Cave. They sell albums, cds, and all kinds of other things like memorabilia, books, soda, food, etc. I looked through and really didn't find anything I needed. I did not understand why two copies of Bowie's Blackstar were priced at $100. He had so many copies of Earthling I could've just bought it from there instead of turning to ebay (my next post). Walking out empty handed I wasn't that disappointed.

Scored: Patti Smith Group - Wave, Public Image Ltd - First Edition, David Bowie - Station to Station, David Bowie - Tonight, The Stranglers - IV

On Second Thought: (albums I put back) Shamir. I just couldn't kick the $23. I had the Talking Heads and Mission to Burma albums in my hands but could not decide. Another time.

Customers: There was an older couple and a younger couple in both stores. It was so cold out barely anyone was buying records. Bordentown apparently has a "chocolate walk" on the main drag but who knows if there was a big turn out. It was so cold!

.new places, new records

This weekend I hit up two record stores I've never been to. Here were the results....

Record store #1 isn't necessarily a record store, it's more of a collection of sorts. Located in the upstairs of a flooring department store it was a tad overwhelming. All you see is this...

Against the walls were some newer releases but super expensive. Siamese Dream for $44?! Looking through the boxes everything was very organized, alphabetized, categorized. That wasn't an issue. The main issue I had was almost all of these albums looked like they came from dirty basements and were in poor condition. The prices asked were extremely unfair considering the condition of the albums. The large majority of the collections were 60s, 70s, and very little 80s. They also had cds but I no longer collect those.

Scored!: Nothing!

On second thought: (albums I put back) Amy Winehouse's "Back in Black" because I could really find that anywhere and probably for a better price. There was a Live at Carnegie Hall Nina Simone album but priced at $20 when it had tons of scratches wasn't worth it.

Customers: I was the only one! The guy asked me three times if I was looking for something in particular and I said I was browsing. I later inquired if he had any Bowie but he rechecked the same places I already looked in. I returned to my car defeated.

Record store #2 I will give the name of because it was a great experience. It's called the Haddonfield Record Exchange. I always pass it on my way to Collingswood and decided to finally check it out. The inside is a bit trippy with the orange and psychadelic posters but it's very well organized and those albums are taken care of. They mostly sell classic rock and have a modest selection of 7" singles. I'm a pretty fast flipper so it didn't take me too long to peruse the entire store.

Scored!: Bowie, Queen, Yaz, Eurhythmics, Gloria Estefan (you KNOW you blared that when you were 9), Elvis Costello and The Cure 7" singles. 

On second thought: (albums I put back) some of the Bowie albums only because I could afford the one.

Customers: At first I was the only one in the store then a few others came in as I was leaving. I loved that Stevie Nicks was blaring and the woman working was kind enough to hold my records at the counter when I shopped. She was super friendly too and complimented all of my picks. We had a great conversation. She asked when I started collecting albums, how I knew of the bands I picked out, etc. She also complimented my David Bowie album and told me I picked out a good one with some great songs. Then she let me help myself to the candy bowl at the register before I left. :) Definitely returning there next month. They've been open for 6 months now. I wish them the best of luck.

Here's my Saturday haul...

      

.hey there hi there

Thanks to Amy and Laura for inspiration, I give you, "Girl + Records." This is basically a side-blog attributed to my love of record shopping and finds. While talking in line before going into a Sleater-Kinney concert, we said we want to bring attention to the awesome females who do collect albums and squash the rumors it's simply a guy thing. I have been collecting records on and off but it's become more of a permanent thing in my 20s.

At the young age of 3 I had one of the infamous Fisher Price record players (see above). Some of my record collection contained the likes of Disney, Sesame Street, and The Chipmunks (The Chipmunks Sing the Blues was my favorite album. Find that for me and you will win my heart forever!) Aside from those I remember owning these three in particular....

Duran Duran's "Wild Boys." I was completely into this band. I remember watching the music video for this song and Rio. Plus they aren't so bad to look at. Today I am still a fan and ironically seeing them this summer in concert.

Madonna's "Lucky Star." On the other side was "Like a Virgin." I had to be five years old but something in me sensed this song was kind of inappropriate and I usually flipped over to "Lucky Star." For some weird reason I would always equate this song with Rainbow Brite.

The one album I remember clearly owning and loving was Cyndi Lauper's "She's So Unusual." I liked it so much because it was different from anything else I've listened to. Her voice at times was like a cartoon character but then her pitch would just increase and she'd nail those notes. 

Around the age of 9 or 10 my parents sold my albums and cassette tapes became a thing. I had this horrid white Sony boombox that would completely annihilate my cassettes leaving me in tears or cursing as I spun the wheels using a pencil to push everything back inside. However, in my 20s I saw a thing of beauty....

I'm not kidding I saved up a month's worth of paychecks at Old Navy to purchase this $249 system of double tape decks, 3 CD changer, and a turntable on the top. Since albums were not in major comeback mode, my collection was limited to yard sales and flea markets. However, as time went by I ditched this monstrosity and went for something smaller. Now everywhere I look little independent record stores are turning up in many places. Barnes and Noble even sells albums. It's great. In my mid-30s I own almost 200 albums. A lot of them were purchased in 2015 which will be my next post. So cheers to all of you who collect albums! Feel free to share your stories below in the comments.