July 3, 2000

Last Sunday I found an Electrophonic 8 track tape/recorder unit I bargained the guy who just move here from Spokane down to $1.00 I mention this because every time I inquired about the history of the machine he introduced each answer with a "Well I just move here from Spokane…"reference.

Anyway, I was walking on air and was skipping all the way home. But then I tried to use it. I threw in Cher’s Take Me Home (the one with the Bob Makee cover), and heard nothing and when I pulled it out I noticed it was covered with black 8 track funk (Damn Leer carts!). Then I disemboweled it and cleaned it then put in a new belt and viola –analog sound, success!

Next was the recording test. I tossed in a TDK blank an put Heino’s Greatest Hits Vol. 5 (You haven't lived until you've heard his take on La Mer) on the turntable and after the first cut I wandered in to the next room and 5 min later I heard the smoke alarm and ran back to see and smell this gray electrical smoke billowing out of this fricken machine.

Geez, imagine this entry if that player torched this house and what if I died by the 8 track. The funny/stupid thing was later I tried it again with a few modifications and it works fine. Maybe I’ll put it on Ebay.


                   No Reserve

July 9, 2000

National holidays make for less yard sales (7/4) although, I can’t figure out why? What could be more American than a garage sale. I some times wonder the origin of these things. Like did some cave man put up a war club in front of his dwelling and a Neanderthal offered a few bones for it? And do they have garage sales in Japan or is space so scarce garages don’t exist?

I may have committed 8 track sacrilege today. In a freebie box I saw the most beat up, thrashed player that I’m sure most non-tracker people think of when someone says they have a machine in their basement. This wood grain player was missing the door, a few dials and had wires sticking out of the back. As I was pondering it the guy told me it worked fine (I had a flashback to last weeks experience) and since it didn’t say "Wollensak" or "Pioneer" on it I walked away.

Did I do the right thing? This machine worked, I could have used the best or maybe a few knobs from it. Will it end up in a landfill?

Two monks were walking down the road and a woman asked one of them to carry here across the lake so she wouldn’t get wet. One of them complied. Afterward, the second monk said "We’re chaste, how could you even consider carrying her?". And the first monk said "I just took her across the lake, you are still carrying her.".

8 track collecting cuts in so many directions. Next week, thrifting in Seattle- Epicenter of thrift stores or just an Ebay feeding frenzy?

July 12, 2000

The drought is over! For a while I was considering persuading a few of the Makah tribesmen to stop hunting gray whales for a while and do an 8 track rain dance to improve things.

Today at the 4 for a $1.00 tape bin I scored Supertramp, 2 k-tels (one I didn’t have), Van Morrison, Steppenwolf and a quad copy of James Taylor’s Gorilla.

What’s the spell that James Taylor has over middle aged women? I remember he was in concert in Hawaii about a year ago and all the females at work wouldn't shut up on how passionate and beautiful he was, just like smitten school girls. When I think of James Taylor the song that comes to mind is that duet song "Mockingbird" which was covered brilliantly by Jim Carey and Jeff Danniels in Dumb and Dumber.

Only problem with these tapes are they’re covered with a very fine dust that get all over everything. So tonight I’ll put them on my mattress, grab some paper towels, pull up the covers over my head and play pup tent.

Renaissance wedding this weekend, and Seattle thrifting I’ll take pictures.

A Meager score, but a score never the less

July 17, 2000           

Seattle is an overcrowded loud, vulgar place (I almost got into a fight with a panhandler) I can hardly wait to move there next year.

Goodwill’s flagship store was an unusual surprise, my itinerary was to hit this place when it opened on Sunday and with a telephone call I found out it opened at 11:00am. When I got there at 10:50 I was shocked to see at least 50 people waiting outside for the door to open. I don’t think Walmart on X-mas eve gets this kind of treatment.

When the door swung open 2 guys got bottlenecked and the clerk had to intervene to free them from the doorjamb to the sound of nervous laughter. When I got in I was pleased that this place was a fricken airplane hanger filled with crap. I’ve since learned how to spot Ebyers like that and noticed they were going through the LPs and in 3 min had a stack of at least 30 (Four people were doing this).

            Goodwill, all is calm

But what really got me salivating here was the idea that this place is located in the seedier section of town (Read a bum stretched out on every intersection) and this yuppie Goodwill had an expresso bar in the front, a cafeteria and a thrifted museum in the back. I’ve been a vegetarian for 13 years but I’m still dying to know what a Goodwill burger tastes like, I’ll have to bring a guinea pig there next time. The museum was really pop cultury and had an impressive audio video section (1950’s round TVs and even an Elvis 8 track cart). Comforting to know that all the "artifacts" were from donations.

It lost points in my book for the lack of 8 track supplies. I asked 2 obvious immigrant workers and neither of them had a clue what I was talking about. Still after hitting the over priced, upscale, sterile Chicken Soup thrift chain it was refreshing to see a loft filled with excess and garbage. So if you’re like me and see thrifting as a cultural aesthetic experience you’d do well to check this place out. I can’t wait to tell the clerks at my local Goodwill.

The only 8 track tape I found anywhere was Thin Lizzy’s Bad Reputation at a used music store in the College district right next to a cafe with bad poetry readings.

July 21, 2000

Some times when I update this page I feel like I’m part of the whole trendy "MTV Real World, Reality TV" fad that is so prevalent today.

Today’s annual Elks garage sale was a disappointment. You figure a club who’s demographic is 65+ year old retirees would be overflowing with stuff from the 50’s that they never got around to throwing out. But, all they had were ugly furniture, thrashed stereo equipment and not a single 8 track. Kind of gives old people a bad name.

I had a garage sale a year ago and one of the comments that I hold dear is a woman told me that I’m not that old but most of my stuff is from the 60’s and 70’s that she hadn’t seen in years. What can I say, I’m not a man of this era, hell I’m not a man of any era.

Next stop was what the classified section called an "estate sale". This estate turned out to be one of those trailer homes that I love so much. That was funny. I found a few useful 8 tracks- Donna Summer Live and More, a Billie Holiday boot and a Radio Shack K-Telish compilation. The owner reminded me of a southern Wilfred Brimley and was selling the hovel for a low $9,000. I considered buying it for about 5 seconds (When I first moved here an old man was driving behind me and fell asleep at the wheel, thus plowing into my car destroying it and leaving the C7 and L5 sections of my poor spine in an unnatural position. I didn’t win the lottery with the settlement but now becoming trailer trash is an option.).

I think I’d go nuts living like Pink Flamingos after a month anyway.

July 24, 2000

Two 8 track tapes today, 3 Dog Night’s Hard Labor and Rod Stewart’s Smiler- The latter came out about the time Rod was morphing from a 60’s hard rocker to the sensitive bird nest hair do ladies man. Thus alienating ½ his audience. I remember in high school there was a rumor that he was once on tour with the Village People and had to be rushed to a hospital to have a pint of semen pumped from his stomach. Gossip like that would have never happened to a loyal rocker like say Mick Jagger (On second thought it probably would happen to Mick, least back then, but you get the idea.). Now in the 21st century I think Mr. Steward it ready for a new fan base, maybe now he should join those singing monks that were so popular in the early 90’s. He couldn’t do much worse.

Later, I went for a long procrastinated oil change and when I went to retrieve the car a little early I found the mechanics blasting the car 8 track in the car playing the BeeGee’s Greatest Hits that I keep in the tape box. They were a little embarrassed and apologetic but how could I be upset? 8 Tracks and the BeeGee’s are the ultimate comfort food.

July 26, 2000

I just took a stroll through my peers on the 8-Track WebRing and came to the conclusion that the reason that I’m not getting mega hits on this site (Where’s my Webby Award?) is I’ve never had an "8-Tracks for Sale or Trade" list. My apologies to everyone for this oversight, what could I have been thinking? So, in an attempt to make this a real 8 track web page here it is.

The B52’s-Wild Planet
The Clash-Sandinista
The Specials
A Flock Of Seagulls
U2-Rattle and Hum
K-Tels-Dynamite
The Rock Revival-Feeling Groovy

More of The Monkees
Madonna-True Blue
Squeeze- Argybargy
The Human League- Dare
John Travolta-Travolta Fever

The British Crown Jewels

The Sound of Music-Soundtrack
America-History
Ford Motor Co. Presents Quad Sound For today (Yes QUAD!)

Bargain Bin, $50.00 a Tape Plus Shipping and Handling

The Best of The Moms & Dads
Any Gibb-Shadow Dancing
Kenny Rogers-Greatest Hits
Herb Alpert-Whipped Cream and Other Delights

First come first severed

My email is fujibird@prodigy.net

July 29, 2000

Where are all the 8 tracks in this town? Someone must have them all. For a reason that can only be blamed on the angry gods every yard sale today started at 8:00am and since I was up late with a fifth of Jack Daniel’s celebrating an unexpected Ebay sale of Antique Road Show proportions ($200.00 on a $.50 garage sale album, the horror.) I wasn’t exactly in the mood to thumb through someone’s garbage. But I did it and am glad for it.

Also I figured out a way to unload those useless 8 track tapes. I put out lots of 20 for auction and list a few Led Zep and Aerosmith tapes then toss in crap like Dolly Parton and Helen Ready for flavor. You’ve been warned. On a creepy related note, about 15 years ago I was heavily into The Manson Family and if any book or magazine had mention of it I’d add it to my archive. Today when I sell them the winners are almost exclusively women. What’s going on here? When I was a big Mansonphile the only like-minded people I’d met were either Satanists or misfits. Does todays modern women want some charismatic cult leader to sweep them off their feet? Could this be the new face of manhood? I just may put My Manson LPs on 8 track tomorrow.

"Oh garbage dump
My garbage dump
Why are you called
A garbage dump"

Cool stuff I got today-

Leonard Nimoy presents Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space. It cost a whole quarter.

Yma Sumac’s Mambo, the woman I bought it from liked her as much as I do and we exchanged Amy Camus trivia and she started doing Yma impersonations, it was fun.

Then I found a McCoy cookie jar, which I resold to the guy who works at the Nina’s Thrift Shop/Porno Store who collects them. He pulled out a roll of bills and paid me while moans from a video called "I Dream of Weenie" was playing. I’ll have to tell you the story of that place one-day.

May or Continue?

HOME