I found a few 8 tracks from what I think is a very anal retentive person. These tapes were found placed in a cardboard box that itself was a sight to behold with its lavender color and handicrafted perfection. Once I got the tapes home and examined them I saw that they had most of the cellophane on them and one of the sides was split to remove and replace them on the same corner. All of them were wound to the splice and to add to the mystery they all had the original price tags and in the case of 3 the receipts were still on them. They’re sort of unpleasant to play since they conjure up memories of when I was a kid and my mother told me to stay out of the back room since I would mess it up.
 

Here’s something I found fun yesterday, for anyone in high school in the 70s and 80’s it was mandatory to have one of these cheaply made Pee Chee folders with the clip art sports scenes on them. The best thing about them is when you got bored in class and customized the pictures to make them more interesting, my thing was to replace the heads with monkey heads (I was a big Planet of The Apes follower). Anyway while digging threw a box I spied what looks like a Pee Chee cash in put out by the company Pow Chee that are an obvious “boot” of those folders. It made me feel sorry for the poor kid who got teased by classmate because he was too poor for an official Pee Chee portfolio.
 

Talk about an October surprise, last week I got a strange message on the answering machine that told me I had an early invite to and estate sale 2 days before it started. Now I feel that I have arrived and got some kind of back stage pass. Then I discovered it was in a gated community with streets with names like Independence Dr, Patriot Way, and Liberty Ave.  I was hoping for a fun extremist sale featuring things like a lifetime supply of canned peas or a shelter full of guns and infra red scopes but it was mostly Christmas and kitchen items.  But in one of the crates was a large collection of tapes (Every fricken Dean Martin cartridge) and at the bottom was this fun bluish portable player by Roman that splits at the seams for full separation. Most of these kinds of portables sound worse than transistor Am radios but this one has amazing sound for its size and even has a jack for car trips. I’m thinking of taking a page from those car buffs that you meet in parking lots and are so quick to pop the trunk to show off their hi tech CD players or speakers with 40 pound magnets and install this baby in the back.
 

Ah fall, with nothing but golden leaves and memories of yard sales that could have been. It hasn’t rained in 2 months and for the Pacific Northwest that’s like a being able to sunbath in the Arctic Circle. Last week was one of the so called estate sales where everything crappy is on a table in the living room and anything interesting is roped off in a corner with a “not for sale” sign by it taunting you. Since tapes have been as dry as the weather I was happy to find a case full of mostly easy listening music for the Neil Diamond set but in the pile found a Fleetwood Mac cart I didn’t have and a groovy boot of the broken up “simulated” Beatles with a sampling of them on their solo albums. It’s a fun tape because in the real copywriten world this would never get released because all the lawyers would want a piece of the pie. Ringo is a little too well represented in it with a lion share of the cuts and history has not been kind to him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also winter is around the corner and since I’ve always wanted a real fireplace instead of baseboard heating I found this gem that the owner said I could have it for $50 after 2pm I set the alarm and am now the proud owner of this domed hearth in the tiki room. It goes well with Weltron and Aquaton players and a glass of Tang. Now Finally I have a place to chuck those painful to hear easy listening orchestra group’s tapes like Andre Kostelanetz and Percy Faith.

Although not 8 track this is still a fun find from around the same time frame that tips the scales at about 40 pounds, it’s a Teac Esoteric Series AL-700 Elcaset tape Deck.  I understand it was an attempt to combine the high tech sound of a Reel to Reel payer with the convenience of a cassette cartridge. The tapes are about twice the size of normal cassettes and it came with 3 of them that sound like a home version of K-tel tapes from the late 70s with pretty decent sound. This format was introduced by Sony and short lived and ironically Sony went gangbusters with the Walkman a few years later that was the exact opposite concept with everything miniaturized. The guy who sold it to me also gave me another consol for parts with the original box. I hear in 1980 they shipped off the remaining stock to Finland and hope there is an Elcaset cult there carrying on the tradition, if nothing else it’s fun to take a picture of yourself holding one of the giant tapes and tell everyone you’re a dwarf.

Sales are in full swing and when they say No Early Bird I take it as before the sun rises, so 5:30 am is acceptable.  This week my philosophy was destroyed when I went to those usually disappointing “help send my kid to camp” church sales and instead of children’s toys I found a mother lode of fun mid century junk and now am marveling how this house is become increasingly plastic. First semi 8 track related is this still with the box battery charger that features a Panasonic pump player as an example of what to charge.  Those players do burn through a lot of batteries.

Next is something that can be categorized into the mid century or Ikea pile is this groovy orange wine caddy made in Italy by Luigi Coloni and called the Sulo. Why have one bottle of wine when you can lug around 5? Of course I’m a gross American and may have to load it up with Mountain Dew and cans of aerosol cheese.

This week’s find was at one of those compact communities for the 55+ crowd, I’ve always wondered why this practice wasn’t ageism but I’m not complaining since I don’t think I’d ever like to live in one of them the same way I don’t ever think I’d like to go in one of those ball pens they have at Chuckie Cheese. Any way I got there 10 mins after it opened and when you factor in all the early birds that was pretty late with most of the sales picked through. Collecting 8 tracks is great since there is no competition. For the barging basement price of $1.00 I ended up with a GE portable that you can sing along with and a little box of tapes that are more compatible with the Barbra Streisand sect with a dusting of the Rolling Stones and a Bob Marley tape and a sealed cart titled Boogie To The Top by Idris Muhammad I’ll be listening to tonight. I miss the 70’s when muslims could make disco music instead of blowing up buildings I think disco dancing could united the world bring  back world peace.

Someone has the domain http://8tracks.com/ and it's internet radio, not sure what the connection is to 8 tracks but now when I say I listen to 8 tracks I get some cred with the cool kids and vice versa. 

Is there a word for being nostalgic for something you were too young to enjoy when it first happened but had a revival that was fun and then years later once again having fun with the rehash of trend? Sort of post retro, If there is then I’m back with mid 90’s cocktail culture. Back in the day, (1994) I was big on Martin Denny, Les Baxter, Sinatra, Juan Esquivel, most car tapes, and records with titles like “Music to (fill in the blank) with”.  Just as the hippies had music centered around pot, this stuff is best listened to with a whiskey in a low ball glass just after sunset and why not? I never wanted to be one of those middle aged crisis types with convertible Mustangs, blasting Led Zeppelin on a crowed street and a Harley is even more cliché.  Cocktail culture is more fun since it’s not easy so it becomes almost elitist and with groups like MADD demonizing a simple gin rickey the rebellious spirit is just a fresh as a lime garnish on a mini plastic sword.

Look what was part of a free box in front of a yard sale, a literal 8 track tape bonanza. But as the old adage goes never look a gift  tape in the splice most of these carts are the type you lapse into a coma to, like Liberace, Ray Stevens when he’s not being humorous, and Johnny Mathis. The best of the lot was a copy of Dean Martin’s back up the Golddiggers (an while we’re on the subject did the Dingaling Sisters ever put any music out?), and a cool tape titled Merry Christmas Baby  Christmas Originals featuring Charles Brown & Lowell Fulson with a woman smoking a cigarette by a large wrapped gift on the cover. This was a compilation by the R & B soul label King with songs like Boogie Woogie Santa Claus, Christmas Eve Baby, Jingle Bell Hop and other happy ditties. Not as much fun as A John Waters Christmas CD but would be a nice companion, and the way tapes having been drying up in these parts I’d settle for an ELO greatest hits tape.