three dogs from last saturday's record fair

I got four albums. The first Rotary Connection album, Christie Allen's Detour, Areski et Brigite Fontaine's Je ne connais pas cet homme, and the double retrospective/odds n sods of West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Feeling pretty good about that overall. 

Update: tbh only the second LP of the WCPAEB record really hits me very hard, side 3 is the best and also the 'straightest' - could be the bones of a lost late 60s Beach Boys record (or related). Side 4 is great too except the final track, which sucks, as the young people say, ass. Only a small number of the tracks are really by WCPAEB but the material is, in the main, surprisingly consistent. Lot of fun, a bit of pain. 

The Areski/Fontaine album is a lot of fun. I have to get back to Christie's LP but it is pretty solid I think. 

definitely not in the mood

Laura's book is now officially out, and she sold a bunch of them at a comics fair in South Melbourne today - very impressive. More about this anon. In the meantime I went to (amongst other errands and Perry walks) a record fair being held at Northcote Theatre. 

Firstly, it was basically a secret record fair. I don't know how I found about it (facebook advertising I think) but there was absolutely no signage in the street or even once inside the doors - I just followed the sound of people prognosticating about surface wear and making jokes about Michael Jackson. Once inside, I just didn't feel it, one bit. Everything was highly priced (of course in some instances this is essentially justified - I don't mean in terms of 'collectability' but just in terms of - good records should cost more) aside from the David Dundas album I bought which was a sensible $5 and in the scheme of things not a bad purchase though it is a bit scratchy, but I can't be angry about that. 

I guess ultimately I'm just pissed off that there is a collector world.

You know, about five years ago I sold off a large swathe of my record collection to make money to record a record with my friend Art Rush and to be clear I have precisely no regrets about that. I am so glad I did it, because Art is no longer with us (if you don't know the story, well, it's a long story, but he didn't die) and we captured his real genius right at the appropriate moment. The point is, making art/music is more important - to the degree that it's about a thousand times more important, even if it's bad art which this wasn't - than fucking collecting. I mean it's nice to curate, and it's nice to own books and records and even art and there's no shame in it, but collecting with a view to acquiring something monetarily valuable, should be a crime. Maybe I should simmer down a bit because there's obviously something I'm not remembering about the real world. 

PS I bought: David Dundas Jeans On; Slapp Happy and Henry Cow; ELP; The Ritz A Diamond as Big as the Ritz; a Bikini Kill album as I am reading Kathleen Hanna's book; a Bryan Ferry solo album I can't remember which one and I'm too lazy to get up and check, sorry, but who cares really? and a compilation of Mouse and the Traps.  I really wanted to find some Captain Beefheart albums or Supremes records but yeah nah. 

record fair today II

Well I spent around sixty, which still isn't bad (imagine, if I'd bought the two copies of Spectrum's Milesago I saw I would have spent $210). I've said this before, and I think it's relatively true, I don't buy records for their collectable status. I just buy things I'm interested in and need for research (don't laugh). (Or laugh if you like, and be happy, but it's still true). So I bought: The Moir Sisters Lost - somewhere beyond harmony Jeannie Lewis Tears of Steel and the Clowning Calavera Emerson Lake and Palmer Emerson Lake and Palmer Sweet and Sour OST Dynamic Hepnotics Cool Jaromir Cermak, Karel Saisek, Kamil Bednol Praho, Na Shledanou The Aliens Translator The Radiators Scream of the Real John Paul Young One foot in front Mike McClellan Ask any dancer TRB TRB Two Ray Burton Dreamers and nightflyers Mark Gillespie Sweet Nothing Mike McClellan Until the Song is done Fox Fox Captain Rock Buried Treasure Doctor Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Doctor Buzzard's Original Savannah Band At least half of these cost under $3. Not much else to report. These events seem to be getting worse for rudeness and stupidity, but it's surely just me getting politer and smarter. Two snatches of conversation: 'The new Apple computers have significantly more features than the older models'. and 'I dated Brian Henderson's illegitimate daughter a few times.' Anyway, after the event I felt quite soiled and spent, as one would. Luckily in the car park there was the answer to my troubles.

record fair today

Yes I am going to the record fair at the Ukrainian Hall in Essendon today. I'll let you know how it goes. I expect to spend under $20.