Rant #4,039: Knock, Knock, Who's There

Here I am.

Butchered, ripped open, sewn shut, one eye works, one eye doesn't ...

But I am still here, still alive, and still around to tantalize you with my thoughts and ideas.

And I am still collecting records like there was no tomorrow.

I do not consider myself a pack rat.

I have always collected things ...

Baseball cards, comics, and records became my true passion during my college years, and I haven't stopped.

We always had music in the home.

My mother was a huge Broadway show person, so she used to buy all the LPs of the latest shows that she and my father saw, everything from "Fiddler On the Roof" to "Hair."

And we always had the radio on to the Top 40 stations of the day, like WMCA and WABC, and all of the others.

My sister and I always had records, bought by my mother, but later, when we were getting into our own stuff and likes and dislikes, we would buy our own records--

Everything from the Monkees to the Cowsills to the Strawberry Alarm Clock.

When my sister married, she basically gave me her record collection, and I went on from there through college and beyond.

Just the other day, I went to my local record store, where it is such a friendly atmosphere, and you can talk to those who own the place and work there about anything and everything under the sun.

It is almost a real-life example of "Floyd's Barber Shop" on the old "Andy Griffith Show," where people used to wander in, not just to get a haircut, but to discuss whatever was going on in Mayberry at that moment.

It is the same atmosphere at this record store.

I have so many records, that I basically have just about everything I want or need, and when I go to the record store, I buy things that are a little left of center, things that catch my fancy that are kind of off the beaten path.

On my latest visit to the store, I bought a couple of things that are kind of out there, if you know what I mean:

"Inner Views," a psychedelic odyssey by the late, very well known anti-drug rocker Sonny Bono. This is a solo album without Cher, it is extremely dated, but since I already had it on CD--it was released several years ago with a lot of bonus material--it was a nice find, and now i can listen to it as it was originally intended.

"You Got What It Takes," one of the final American LPs by the Dave Clark Five. I am a passionate fan of this act--have been since they came on the scene during the "British Invasion--and yes, I already have the album, but in stereo. This is the mono version, not too easy to find, but the DC5 always sounded better in mono, anyway.

I also bought a few singles, by the likes of Every Father's Teenage Son (don't ask, but it is on the fabled Buddah Records label, The Grass Roots (a promo copy of one of their singles), Keith Barbour ("Echo Park," a completely forgotten semi-hit), and Simon Crum (I loved the name of this rockabilly band).

Fun, fun, fun, and I can't wait to listen to this stuff!

It is very relaxing, and when I digitize it, I can listen to all of it in the car.

The past year has been horrible for myself and my family, and listening to records like this puts me in a better frame of mind, and relaxes me.

And God knows I need to relax, because I have learned that there is always something new I have to deal with around every corner.

Listening to this stuff puts me in a way better frame of mind, and it helps me cope with whatever ails me.

I will never stop collecting records--

Not just to have them, but to marvel at how things so simple can make me feel almost brand new.