oakland

I got mine yesterday and it's nice. The vinyl is the strangest color I've ever seen. Kind of greenish gold with translucent swirl. I'm not a crazy colored vinyl nut, so I don't really care what color it is. The packaging however is very nice and the album, if you haven't heard it, is awesome. Compared to other old bands that have reformed recently and aren't too impressive (I'm looking at you Damnation), 108 is still brilliant.

Virgil, maybe you should explain how the whole retail / wholsale thing works. 15% is pretty reasonable from that perspective. I think most of the people who don't like that idea are thinking about ebay fees and stuff.

Well, the "Collector of the month" should get one for sure... But seriously, I think what Brent at Magic Bullet did was cool. Print up some hand-screened special covers for these and sell them on a first-come, first-served basis in the store starting at midnight on the day of the release. Hand number them and all that. Or, have another contest and give them away. That first contest was so much fun. Or better yet, do an auction to help pay for something for vinyl collective (bandwidth or whatever).

Dim: where in Delaware do you live?

I don't have too many. The only one I can think of right now is that Doomriders thing Magic Bullet put out a few years back.

because of the way the loft is built, it's impossible to get a good photo of the entire thing. Basically, when you walk in the front door of my house, there is a steel spiral staircase going up to a loft that is about 6 feet deep and 25 feet long. The shelves were specifically made to flow with the curve of the roof, both from front to back and side to side. It's hard to explain, but it basically looks like the kind of elevated library you'd see in a really nice home, only it's in my 1000 sq. ft. cottage. The shelving is made of melamine, but the fronts are all made from quarter-sawn oak. My dad, who made doors and windows, and stuff like that for mansions (even some movie stars), built them at his home in Delaware and then brought them out here. It was a long, laborious process (just getting the cabinets up in the loft was a chore), but I'm super stoked with the result. My dad is awesome. He's also giving me his record collection. You can't beat that.

No dis to Ted as a solo entity, but Chisel was awesome. I have never got the vibe from him that I did from that band.

I'd like to thank God, my agent and of course all the record labels that keep me poor.

What ever happened with this? I'd be into having one.

IF it has a big hole in the middle, it's a 45. Unless it plays at 33. But a 12", at any speed, is a 12" or LP. Not a 45.

Chiefwahoo: Guess what I do for a living? I'm a newspaper editor. Seriously, thanks for the edit. It was late.

It could be from their tour. I was JEW, Mineral, Kerosene 454 and Boys Life I think. I remember Mineral being just as bad live as their record.

Sire is definitely a major. In the '80s they had big-name bands like Ocean Blue, The MIghty Lemondrops, etc...

I just thought of this today: Open Hand's "You and Me." What an awesome album.

I have a Sparkles 7" that was limited to 500 copies and the one I have is numberd "Oakland/500." It's also just a cool record. It has glitter in the vinyl and somehow it doesn't affact the sound.

OK, just so we're all clear, their called records, not vinyl. Here's some examples. Correct: "I collect vinyl. I have about 500 records." Incorrect: "I'm going to the record store today to buy some vinyl." That is about the stupidest sounding thing I've ever heard.

Oh man, I can't even begin to explain what a Sweep show was like. Intense is one word that comes to mind. They wrote some of the most complex music I've ever heard and were super tight. They must have practiced hours every day.

The Channels record may yet happen. Keep your eyes peeled.

1. John Frusciante -- Estrus 7" -- I paid $2 for this. Now it's worth about $250. 2. Jesus Lizard / Nirvana split picture disc -- again, bought for like $5, now going for around $400 3. Dan Higgs -- lathe cut 10" -- these are hand-made, one at a time. 4. Reptile House -- "Listen to the Powersoul" LP -- Dan Higgs' band pre-Lungfish. 5. Boy Sets Fire -- Their first record was a split with Jazz Man's Needle. The cover is printed on the inside part of old Empathy album covers. They just flipped them inside out and screened a new cover. These guys have been my friends forever. I saw their first show and a bunch more along the way, so it has sentimental value. There aren't many of these out there, so I guess it has some monitary value as well. 6. Sassy Magazine compilation 7" -- This was free if you sent in some card from the magazine. It's got some good songs on it and, since it was such a weird release, is worth a ton. 7. Isis -- "In the Absence of Truth" Japanese edition -- This is the rarest and coolest of all versions of this album. 8. Zozobra -- "Harmonic Tremors" -- This was a tour-only thing. I got two of them when they were in Denver. 9. Joan Of Arc -- Busy bus, sunny sun 7" -- Tim Kinsella handmade these picture frames with a record inside. Kind of cool, but hard to store with other, normal-sized records. 10. Thurston Moore -- Psychic Hearts -- I have the original where the fourth side is an etching. It's cool as hell. Then they re-issued it with slightly different art and two extra songs on the fourth side, so I had to get that too of course. d**n this OCD! 11. Sweep the Leg Johnny -- similarities b/w streganonaon the estate 7" -- This is a super rare record. Some members of the band don't even have it. My wife called me one day from a little record store in Fairhope, AL to ask me if I had it. I was like "uh, no. Nobody does." She got it for like $3. These cats were one of the great live bands of all time, too. 12. Tortoise -- I have everything they've ever put out on vinyl and it sounds incredible. 13. Sunny Day Real Estate -- same as above (minus a 7") 14. The Ocean Blue -- S/T -- this is the only record they put out on vinyl and it's a masterpiece. 15. These Arms Are Snakes -- Easter -- Red and blue vinyl -- I couldn't quit listening to this when it came out and I'm sure it will be considered a classic in a few years. This is the advanced calculus portion of math rock. PS -I have a Tool record (I'm not a huge fan) that I just found out is worth like $250. That was a pleasant surprise.

The truth is (this has been studied time and time again), if you blindfold a person and play them the same songs on a CD, a vinyl record and a normal-bias cassette, then ask them which sounds best, they almost always choose the cassette. I know that's shocking, but it makes sense actually. The CD has good highs but almost no lows. The LP has good lows and mids but bad highs. The cassette is just about middle-of-the road on everything, and to most people mediocrity in sound is a good thing. Everything's pretty even and they like the sound of it. Personally, I like the sound of vinyl, but I'm not going to say I can hear enormous differences anymore. CD sound quality has improved a lot in the last 15 years, and DVD audio is really quite good. I also used to buy records because they were half the price of CDs and I refused, knowing what I do about the music industry's price gouging scam in the early 90s and the false advertising for CDs (basically that you should pay more because it sounds so much better -- a bunch of bull), to pay more for less. I continue buying records because they are a better deal all around. While records cost a lot more than they used to, you still get pretty good packaging in most cases, attention to aesthetics and sound quality, and something that will at the very least hold its value. I get a kick out of people selling "collector's " or "limited edition" CDs. Not to mention, come to my house, look at my record collection, then tell me I don't have something a lot cooler than some dude with a ring binder full of CDs he won't like in 6 months.

Thanks.

I believe any record is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it. I have most of those records and I'll sell each of them for $100, plus shipping.

Anyone seen something like this? I have a bunch of 3 and 4 record box sets that just sit bare on my shelves. I'd like to have something on the outside of them.

Here are a couple photos of my record room. It's a custom-built loft me and my dad made to fit in this weird loft space in my living room. It's got a spiral staircase going up, bamboom floors and oak fronts on the cabinets. It's my pride and joy ... and now I think we're going to move. Anyone interested in a record-collector ready home in Louisville, CO, let me know.

Really? I'll sell you my copy for $150 right now.