Andrew Earles

Ok, Beth and I left Memphis on July 3rd for the ultimate destination of Conneaut Lake, PA to visit her grandmother + other immediate members of family. It was so hot that the truck’s AC, which usually works ok, was getting its ass kicked, therefore our respective brains and body functions were also receiving an ass-whomping via the heat. We took our sweet time, staying in a Tennessee dot-on-the-map (Days Inn) and a particular motel that is a little closer to our hearts…the Knight’s Inn in Lebanon, OH. We hit two separate Half-Priced Books in to-remain-unnamed locations (1). Despite a record-snatch of cheap-and-solid titles that reached a very responsible total, I did some furious coveting at one of the locations. Not only did this (new to us) HPB store have a “new arrivals” bin in the record section, it also featured a “collectable” or “rare” selection that wasn’t in a bin at all.

Lacking the foresight to take a picture of this thing, I’ll have to do my best at describing it…with what I do best. Though Beth said that she’d come across one of these “rare vinyl” contraptions before (at a HPB), this thing was new to me. It was a homemade box with a plexiglass top, into which a thin slot had been cut. The slot created a perfect restriction with its size, only allowing one or two fingers to enter the box at a maximum depth of about 4″ – 5″. Inside the box, approx 20 LP’s were filed upright. Get where I’m going with this? One can only flip through the records on hand with a finger or two, and the kicker is yet to come…PATRONS ARE ONLY ALLOWED ONE PASS THROUGH THE SELECTION! That’s right, the little stack just falls over flat after one perusal…WAY OUT OF A FINGER’S REACH!!

Anyway, this ridiculous device did provide enough look-see for one particular LP to stick in my head for the last several days…with the asking price’s absurd gouge clearly in my head the whole time!

See, I’d like to own a copy of Pig Destroyer’s “Phantom Limb” LP. I’m pretty sure it is the only P.D. release that I personally enjoy enough to consider a keeper, even as its OOP status raises the value month after month, year after year. Still, $40 for a non-clear vinyl color….not to mention an open copy….is a silent slap in the face. Average-to-highest going price, in the online auction/set-sale community, at the moment is $25 – $35 for a NMINT open copy in any color but clear. That means that the brick-and-mortar price should fall around $20….MAYBE $25….for an open copy in any color but….you get my zipper drift.

Sometimes these stores, be it HPB or your fave independent record-merchant, need to be served, my dear readers.

On to a totally different set of topics by way of some photos…

Until the other day, I had never seen a real, live woodchuck, which, it should be noted, is my favorite animal of all time. We’re talking childhood to adulthood, people. Blame Bloom County’s underdog perfection of the Portnoy character. This HUGE specimen wobbled right up to the flower garden underneath the primary kitchen window. Where? The home of Beth’s grandmother (Conneaut Lake, PA). We don’t have Woodchucks in or around Memphis due to the heat.

Rose that bloomed right before we departed on 7/3/12

The world’s greatest Knight’s Inn…for several important reasons….

Adventure Time’s Jake and the Murphy’s Tori…the only two dogs I like….