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8 Track Journal
Thursday, 19 May 2016

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten excited over a good 8 track player but last week it happened at the 14th annual benevolence fund rummage sale (which I’m still not sure where the funds are going but a sale is a sale) when I found this handsome wood grain Sears all in one 8 track, cassette, radio, alarm, and even a jack to put in a phonograph system. I almost think this was a precursor to a smart phone with all its functions and only wish it was endorsed by Ted Williams the way most of the classy Sears products were at the time of its production but alas. Still it reminds me of a portable version of those giant 5 feet long wall units that play records and some have TV sets built in them. The 8 track part didn’t work at first but a few sprays of WD40 later and a push start on the flywheel fixed that, I’ll be tinkering with the back of it with the computer to see if I can bring it into the future with MP3s.

 


Posted by gregg-n at 11:03 AM PDT
Updated: Thursday, 19 May 2016 11:04 AM PDT
Sunday, 10 April 2016

Yard sale season has officially begun and like a spring robin the first 8 track has been sited, it was at one of those fun sales where I was looking through a stack of tracks and asked how much and the guy said five bucks and later added “but you have to take them all”. So now I’m the proud owner of 16 country music tapes that include the CW McCall catalog and more excitingly a cool still incased in fitted styrofoam new in the box Realistic AM FM 8 track stereo player.  It will probably be sold online since last time I had one installed the guy jerry rigged it into the electrical system that played havoc on the fuses.

 

The junkstore is now full marijuana store and other than waiting for the Feds to bust into the house, seizing it, and get me for being the owner of it (my accountant told me this could be a realistic scenario) still I enjoy waking up and being able to live off ebay spoils, even though I’m about 6 months of becoming a hoarder.


Posted by gregg-n at 2:41 PM PDT
Updated: Sunday, 10 April 2016 2:44 PM PDT
Wednesday, 23 December 2015

Columbia House (that company with the 12 Records or 8 Tracks for a penny) is coming back with vinyl to entice millennials http://www.stereogum.com/1850376/columbia-house-to-relaunch-with-vinyl/news/?utm_source=sc-fb&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign

no word on 8 track tapes though but  there's a toe in the door.


Posted by gregg-n at 3:48 PM PST
Updated: Wednesday, 23 December 2015 3:54 PM PST
Tuesday, 15 December 2015

A lot of people associate K-tel  8 track tapes with the mid 70’s music and tacky album covers that have titles like Out Of Sight, Mindbender,or Powerhouse, they have become a staple of 70s kitsch but little has been said about their late 70’s early 80’s music compilations that look like they were aimed at a more mature sensitive audience or maybe  the Jack In The Box Late Night menu crowd.

These albums have urban smooth titles like Circuit Breaker, Night Flight, and Neon Nights, at best and Hallmark cardesque names like Emotions, Expression and Together for a dose of sap.  But make no mistake they are nothing more than the AM hits of day and Funkytown is recycled on the album Dancer. They stopped making 8 tracks around this time so we never got to see if this strategy worked or turned into something else. Either way in this day and age they don’t impress anyone.


Posted by gregg-n at 3:17 PM PST
Monday, 28 September 2015

Where the hell have I been? Once I leased the junkstore for a pot shop it’s like I fell into a coma, sure there have been 8 track tapes out there but I really don’t think anyone wants to hear about the cool Conway Twitty tapes I’ve found at sales or the JC Penny all in one players out there.

I guess the big 8 track news last month is how Capital phased out their “buy 13 CDs for a penny” mail order service. Soon we’ll (and by we’ll I mean me and 3 other people on the planet) won’t have a reference to the obscure 80s carts that are so much fun to find. On the plus side they might go down in value and The Culture Club may join the ranks of bands like Toto for $2.99 plus shipping, it’s like the late 90s all over again.

Last week I found a blank cart 

 with Cat Stevens on it, but what I really like about it is it is a clear tape and you can see it in all if its 3 and 3/4 inches per second goodness. I use to like this fad and yard sales have taught me that this is part of a bigger family, including V8 engines 

Human Anatomy 

 I’ve had several of these  and have gotten unintently high on the airplane glue they use  to use as a kid before it got odorless and less adhesive.

Even 8 track players 


 I’ve coveted the clear Pump players for years and am pretty sure I won’t find one at a good price but one day hope to unit this tape in one and see the ground split in half leading to an underground 8 lair once the music starts.


Posted by gregg-n at 7:22 AM PDT
Updated: Monday, 28 September 2015 7:25 AM PDT
Friday, 10 July 2015

8 Track sighting- Hawaii 5-0 season 11 episode 12 the old one, not Hawaii 5-0 SUV. Rival discos and organized crime get together, with lots of club music, polyester (even MacGarrett is spotted in a light blue suit) and bad dancing, but what makes it fun is early in the first part they off one of the club owners by rigging a bomb to be detonated when the 8 track goes in the player. It looks like an RCA Victor yellow cart (Did any disco music make it to this cart it seems like this went out by then).
 


Posted by gregg-n at 8:01 PM PDT
Sunday, 14 June 2015

Went to the annual fairgrounds sale this weekend and it surprisingly had several vendor selling 8 track tapes ranging from $5.00 to the bargain basement price of $.50, guess which booth I spend my money at.  When I spread out the tapes on the floor to roll around in them I noticed a few of them had the name Dave Burke written on the back in thick black felt-tip marker. I had a déjà vu moment and realized I have a small Dave Burke tape collection I got over 13 years ago from a antique deal store that was once a Kmart and today has since been retro fitted as a Wal-Mart. It’s humbling to know that will all this so called progress these tapes from the mid 1970’s are still here making the rounds and being enjoyed.

 


Posted by gregg-n at 12:52 PM PDT
Friday, 29 May 2015

 

 The 8 Track Museum in Texas will be closing in July after 5 years, I'm sorry to see it go I hope Big Bucks makes it virutual before it becomes dismantled, also I see he's looking to sell the inventory, anyone for a road trip?

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/deep-ellums-eight-track-museum-to-join-eight-track-tapes-on-the-extinct-pile-in-july.html/


Posted by gregg-n at 4:49 PM PDT
Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Found one of those desperate sales that happen in the middle of the week where everything that doesn’t get sold today gets tossed. After still being sore and bruised after last week’s move I could completely relate I was told by the lady running it the realtor came by in the morning yelling at her for still being here. I still find it hard to turn off my hoarder brain and hope soon to be able to flip the switch, last week I bought the usual amount of yard sale crap and ended up tossing most of it, I don’t think that’s very health, stay tuned.

 

Now for the obligatory 8 track find, one of the boxes had tapes and not just the standard Streisand tapes but a few from the RCA  record club series, when someone says record club it usually conjures up late releases from in demand bands like U-2, Quiet Riot or The Talking Heads, this lot had a few interchangeable Elvis tapes a 2 tape compilation of 60s soft rock titled Sealed With A Kiss, Chicago 17 and The Beach Boys Rarities which is a keeper for the German version of In My Room


Posted by gregg-n at 2:40 PM PDT
Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Last week someone came to the junk store and offered to buy it and I told him to make me an offer I couldn’t refuse and he didn’t and I left it at that, then he was back 2 days later and wanted to rent the place and we got to play the game again. This time his offer was about $500 more than I make on a good month, how could I say no. It’s amazing how much you can improve a place with a cheap paint job.

Now I’m going to have to find another excuse to justify my pack rat lifestyle but welcome the change. What was kind of funny was the last customer was a strange woman who has a tweaker vibe to her and I gave her cheap liquidated merchandise right and after I loaded up her car she said she had to get her wallet in the back seat and drove away in a flash, a nice ending to a career, maybe I made the right choice but right now I feel like the end of a long running sitcom that ends with a closed sign turning off just before the credits roll.

I’m going to miss going to yard sales for a living and not sure if I’m qualified to do anything else so it should be interesting. In a month this place will be recreational marijuana store, so I’m changing from slum lord to drug lord overnight.

The 8 tracks use to be on the left mini shelf in the 3rd photo. 

 

 

 

 

 


Posted by gregg-n at 5:30 PM PDT
Updated: Tuesday, 5 May 2015 5:34 PM PDT

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