Thursday morning my friend Greg and I met up so that we could skate a super-secret spot called the Durham Ditch. Greg has been telling me about this ditch for ages, and it turns out that he’s been trying to find out its exact location for years now and has only just this week been able to secure directions to the spot. Having grown up in the swamps of eastern Virginia where the prospect of a skatable drainage ditch was something my friends and I could only dream of, I was skeptical about whether this spot would be all it was cracked up to be, but when we pulled our car up to it I was downright amazed. This looked like something out of Animal Chin, and given its precarious position nestled next to an adult living community in the far north of Durham, I can see why this spot has remained such a secret. Greg had his camera with him, so enjoy a few of his shots of this little slice of heaven.
This is the view from the top of the ditch. The rocks at the bottom are glued to the ground, I can only assume to dissuade (drunk?) people from an ill-advised hill-bomb to 30mph-wall-ride:
That’s all fine and good, but the great part about this ditch is that some kind souls have installed coping at the top of both sides of the flat part at the top of the hill. So, basically, this is a giant concrete half pipe (though the flat-bottom is so long that you have to work in a push in the middle). Here’s me coming off of a 5-0 grind across the slick-ass coping:
And here’s one of Greg’s vicious frontside smith grinds (sorry I cut off his head!):
Finally, here’s a shot of the other wall. As you can see, this side has one section of metal coping and a (remarkably grind-able) concrete parking block for coping on another section. Slamming your board down on that parking block in a frontside disaster feels really, really good.
I can’t wait to hit this spot again, and I’m sure I will since Greg and I are planning to make this a regular Thursday-morning skate session. Though I think this week we’re going to hit that skatepark in Wake Forest. Perhaps I’ll bring my camera this time.
For winning the “I know more about computers than the fuckwads at CompUSA to whom people give insane amounts of money to do jack shit under the pretence that they actually know something” award. I’m getting the trophy engraved right now and it should be done in time for the black-tie gala in February of 2049.
In case you couldn’t tell by that unfunny joke, the computer prospects are finally looking upward, though not without a whole lot of bullshit. I tell this story at the risk of boring the fuck out of everyone, but I need to purge this demon from my soul so bear with me.
Monday afternoon after 6 days of having my computer in their “Techknowledgeist” facility, CompUSA finally called me back and said that their tests indicated that my computer’s motherboard and CPU were both failing, and since replacing both of these items would exceed the cost of a new computer, they recommended I junk my current PC and buy something new. So, I went to pick up my (presumably) lifeless box from CompUSA and started the process of shopping for a new computer. After looking around for the best deals online I settle on a $350 machine from Circuit City that looks like it will come close to fitting my needs. Tuesday morning I go and buy it.
I get home, power up the computer and everything looks dandy. Since this new computer only had 512MB of RAM and the now (presumably) useless box had a 1GB RAM chip I stick the old chip in the new computer, hit the power button and… yes, folks, THE SAME FUCKING PROBLEM MY OLD COMPUTER HAD. Just to confirm what I suspect is happening, I take the 512 chip from the new computer, stick it in my old motherboard and… well, let’s just say I’m typing this on my old computer 36 hours later and I’ve run into no problems yet.
So, if you’re keeping score at home, CompUSA charged me $100, kept my computer for 6 days, failed to recognize the actual problem with my computer and recommended that I throw away my perfectly good computer and buy a new one (advice which, as we know, a none-too-precocious five-year-old could also provide). Once I realized all this I was completely livid so I called and politely asked compUSA for a refund on their bunk-ass diagnostic service. The punk motherfucker manager on the phone, however, insisted that despite the fact that my old computer has been working properly for a day now with the new RAM chip that there really is a problem with the motherboard and CPU and that they will both probably die at any minute. You’d think that I’d tried to have my computer serviced by the Bush administration.
So, the lesson here is: people who get paid to deal with computer problems know absolutely nothing. Unless you are an idiot who can’t identify simple, obvious problems such as virus/spyware infections, loose cables, etc. you almost certainly know more about your own computer than these wingnuts do and the money you planned on giving them would probably be better spent on a new white leather leotard.
On a completely different note, the question of the day is “where the fuck are the inserts to the Koro 12″?” I thought I was supposed to get them on Monday but that turned out to be 2,000 sleeves for the next two pressings of the Koro 7″. So, right now I have, on my floor and ready to ship, 1,000 jackets and vinyl for the Koro 12″, 2,000 sleeves and inserts for the Koro 7″ and of course all of the Rabies and distro records that are still sitting here. My house is nothing but boxes right now; however, one missing piece from each record is preventing me from selling either of the Koro records. Fuck.
In case anyone is wondering about the status of my computer situation, after bugging the shit out of compUSA for the past few days I’ve found out that the computer was indeed having an overheating issue. They’re currently trying to isolate the source of the overheating so that they can fix it. I really hope this is done soon because not having a desktop computer is pissing me off, especially since my laptop seems to be back to having issues as well.
I got word that the inserts for the Koro 12″ will arrive on Monday, but unless the computer is fixed I probably won’t put them up in the webstore right away. I rely on my computer to keep track of all of my accounting and print shipping labels, so until compUSA gets all of their shit in order those of you who have been waiting on the Koro 12″ will have to wait a little bit longer.
I’m on a really big high right now. The show last night went great; we got really good sound and I felt like we played near our full potential. Playing in front of people in any capacity is great and the first two shows were a blast, but actually feeling like you played well in front of people is the kind of feeling that seems like it could be addictive. It was a great show despite a bunch of equipment problems; for some reason my guitar strap decided to come off five separate times over the course of our set and Matt dropped at least that many sticks, but I think we ripped it regardless. Damn, that’s a good feeling.
Greg from the Chest Pains also gave me a copy of the new Razorcake, which has an interview with Direct Control. There’s a whole section in there about me and Brandon hypes up all of my releases, which was awesome of him. Thanks guys!
The computer is still on the fritz. If I got home today and got a call from compUSA saying that my PC is fixed it’ll officially make today and awesome day. However, I’m not counting on that.
That’s all for now. When I get my desktop back I have a few ideas for writing about records, so be on the lookout for that.
There’s a sweet show tomorrow night at the Reservoir in Carrboro. It’s Chest Pains, Street Sharks and Cross Laws. Come out and support the first all-local bill in recent memory! Show Chapel Hill that punk rock is still alive!
Here’s the sweet flyer:
Also, I can’t imagine too many people will be interested in this, but someone filmed the Cross Laws set from the other night at King’s and put most of it online on youtube. I’ve compiled all of the clips onto a playlist here, but I’ll warn you that the audio and video are both poor quality. I saw the cameras going for most of the other bands as well, so hopefully this guy will put more clips online soon. And if he does they’re guaranteed to be of better bands than Cross Laws.
I’ve been in an utterly horrible mood for the past day or so. All in all my life is pretty swell at the moment, but unfortunately I’m in the midst of a dual computer meldtown. Last Wednesday I turned on my laptop to find that the whole thing had been completely infested with spyware; this drove me crazy since all I do on my laptop is check email and write up lesson plans while I’m in the office; I don’t download weird programs or surf bad sites or anything. I’m not sure if someone hacked into my computer or what, but safe to say that once I got it back up and (reasonably) free from spyware I installed zonealarm, Norton anti-virus and Ad-Aware. It seems to be working okay, but every few hours Norton will pop up with a message saying that the virus is trying to re-establish itself.
My desktop, however, is an entirely different story. Last week I got a new 20-inch flat screen monitor that was making my PC feel like a Cadillac. Well, I powered it off for the weekend and when I got back I turned it on and after barely five minutes the power shut off out of nowhere and the computer rebooted. This time it got to the Windows logon screen and crapped out. The problem continued and while I managed to get back into Windows a few times I haven’t been able to use it for more than five minutes or so. This problem makes me completely livid, partly because I was really enjoying my new monitor and partly because I didn’t do anything to the fucking computer; I just left it alone for two days and then it decides, all of a sudden, that it’s broken. Usually I can suss out problems like this pretty quickly, but this one is stumping me as it seems to be something hardware-related, which is not my area of expertise. I guess tomorrow I’ll probably be bringing it into comp USA for repairs, which I’m sure isn’t going to be cheap. Fuck, and I had my eye on one of those new ipods too…
So, if you happen to see me walking around Chapel Hill today you’d be well advised to turn the other way. This is one of those days when I pray someone doesn’t say the wrong thing to me because I could easily see myself blowing up. If I can make it until 3:30 when I go to yoga I think I’ll be okay, but in the meantime I’m just going to sit in my office and fume.
Tuesday was my birthday and it was awesome. Starting on Monday night and extending well into Tuesday morning Cross Laws played a show with Street Sharks, Double Negative, Strung Up and Direct Control (seriously, what a lineup!??!?! My mind still boggles…) and it was probably one of the best shows that I’ve ever seen in my life. We got to spend a lot of time hanging out with the Strung Up and DC guys and their sets were both completely incredible, even though Strung Up’s bass player quit the day before and Eric learned an entire set worth of songs in the two hours before the show.
It turns out that Kenny from Government Warning and I share the same birthday so we decided to celebrate by playing a straight edge song while we were both hammered. Ordinarily I would try my best to avoid hyping my own band on my site, but this is the only video I took at the show due to battery issues. So, here’s Cross Laws with Kenny GW doing “Lost in Space:”
The poor sound on the video clip will give you some idea of what it’s like to play at King’s… you can’t hear anything through the stage monitors, but CL made it through our set anyway. Oh, and by the way, we’re also looking for a permanent singer, so if you’re interested and you can find your way to practice in Raleigh once per week get in touch through myspace or my email on this site.
As if the show and getting to see all of my punk rock buddies wasn’t enough, on Tuesday night my friends Risa and Matt threw me a party as well. It was a lot of fun (as hanging out with them always is), but I didn’t expect the coup de grace: they wrapped all of my presents in JELLO!!!! They were inspired by that episode of the office where Tim puts Dwight’s stapler in a jello mold, so they bought me a bunch of small gifts and encased them all in big chunks of jello. It was awesome getting to dig through the jello and of course it quickly disintegrated into flinging jello all over the place and eating it with our hands until we got sick.
Tonight I finally finished the insert for the Koro 12″, which should be out in about 2 weeks. The thing is a fucking monster; I conducted an interview with Carl Snow and when I transcribed it all it was 14 single-spaced pages in Microsoft Word. I managed to edit that down to about 12, but there was no way that was going to fit onto a 1-sided insert, so the packaging is going to include a nice LP-sized mini-booklet as an insert. While I think the front cover could be better I’m super stoked on the back cover, insert and labels and I really can’t wait for this record to come out.
The reason I’m writing this post, though, is because when I started working on the insert last night I discovered that my image editing program of choice, Photoshop, wasn’t going to work for manipulating as much text as I was going to be placing on this insert. After doing a little research I found that Adobe Indesign is the standard industry program for doing page layouts like this, so my first thought was to hit the torrent sites and find an illegal copy. However, today while I was at work I decided to see if there were any open source options available and it turns out there are. After a little searching I ran across Scribus, which (from what I can tell) does most of what Adobe InDesign does, but does it for free. Admittedly, the program was a little clunky and crashed a few times when I was attempting to use a certain (minor) feature, but after just an hour or so of learning the program I had a sick-looking layout right in front of me and ready to print from a high-resolution PDF. Further, I have none of the guilt of pirated software and all of the pride that comes with knowing that I supported the open-source community. So, if you ever have the need to do some kind of paper layout I definitely encourage you to check out Scribus.
Also, while I was looking for Scriberus I ran across another good open source program called Inkscape. This one is a vector-drawing program and a replacement for Adobe Illustrator, and while I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve always wanted to learn more about vector graphics but the $500 price tag for Adobe Illustrator doesn’t really encourage the dilettante.
First of all I want to preface this by saying this post isn’t about bragging (well, at least the primary motivation isn’t to brag). Part of the fun of record collecting is the adventures that you have when you’re tracking down vinyl, and I often like to document and remember where I got my records. I have a feeling that years from now when I’ve long since decided that listening to original pressings of Death Side LPs is not a valuable way to spend my time I’ll still fondly remember the stories about tracking these records down. So, if you can’t handle reading a story about some sweet-ass vinyl scores or if you are utterly disgusted by people who drop large amounts of cash on stupid punk records then I encourage you to stop reading right now.
It’s always been one of my dreams to go to Japan, but being an avid lover of Japanese hardcore I always told my wife, Kelly, that were we to actually make it to Japan I would need at least one full day and somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000 for record shopping in Tokyo. I’ve heard lots of stories about record shopping there, and if we were going to drop a few grand on a vacation to the Far East then there was no way I was going to leave that island without checking a few Japanese gems off of my want list. Fortunately I have a wife whose patience and understanding are unparalleled, so these preconditions were agreed upon and the trip was booked.
Being something of a veteran of record shopping while on vacation, I knew that efficiency was going to be the key if I was to maximize my time and money. Earlier this summer I sold a big stack of records and t-shirts on ebay and reached my goal of $1000 for vinyl spending money. The next step was finding out where the shops were, and after chatting with a handful of people who have made the rounds in Tokyo, my friend Jesse was generous enough to photocopy maps to all of the best stores, each of which he diligently reviewed so that I could prioritize. Without these maps I can’t imagine I would have found any good vinyl at all; anyone who has been shopping in a large city like New York or London knows that word of mouth is essential for finding the best shops, but with their unconventional (for westerners, at least) methods of assigning addresses and the sheer volume of shops in the city hitting paydirt in Tokyo without this essential help would have been impossible. Further, most punk record shops are on the 2nd, 3rd and higher floors of buildings, making them difficult to spot from street-level if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. So thanks again, Jesse!
When the day that would be devoted to record shopping arrived, Kelly and I woke up and took the Subway out to Shibuya, one of the busiest and most famous shopping areas in the city. When we exited the train station we found ourselves in the famous intersection that is featured prominently in Lost in Translation, and even at 10 in the morning there was much preening going on courtesy of the local hipsters. Thanks to Jesse’s amazing maps we actually walked straight to the Disk Union Punk Market, but unfortunately it wouldn’t open up for another hour. So, while we waited we ate some breakfast and walked over to Tokyu Hands, a store that came highly recommended both by Jesse and by our guide book. Tokyu Hands was sort of like Target, but (obviously) everything was Japanese and awesome. The Japanese seem to put a lot of thought and effort into the design of even the most inconsequential items, making this store a virtual feast for the Japan-ophile. We spent at least an hour in the office and art supplies section alone, fiddling with sculpted rubber erasers and folders with some of the wackiest Engrish phrasing I came across in Japan. This place turned out to be a great place to buy gifts for people, including a few for ourselves.
Once 11:30 rolled around we started making our way back to the record stores, and since Reco Fan was on the way we decided to hit that up before Disk Union. When I walked in the store I was astounded to see the amount of vinyl in the place. It looked like a slightly over-stocked Tower Records, but about half of their stock was used vinyl and it was spread evenly throughout the store rather than concentrated in one vinyl section. There was no straight “punk” section, but I found a few promising-looking titles HC titles in the section labeled something like “80s New Wave.” In retrospect the 45 minutes or so I spent at this store was probably a total waste since the 2 or 3 records I bought aren’t even worth mentioning, but it was a good warm-up for what was to come and Kelly did manage to find some cool Japanese pressings of Beatles records.
Somewhat disappointed, I walked one block back up to Disk Union, which was finally open. Jesse’s review of this store was rather lukewarm, calling it a store with fair prices and a decent selection, so when the elevator opened up I wasn’t prepared for what I encountered. After a little bit of milling around I found the punk section and immediately noticed the LPs that were on the wall: the My Meat’s Your Poison comp, the Hardcore Unlawful Assembly comp and the 4th Gauze LP. While I wouldn’t end up buying any of these (the comps were both about $90 and I already had the Gauze LP), the sight of them was enough nearly to send me into a panic attack. I immediately told Kelly that she had to find an ATM and withdraw as much money as the machine would give her (though thankfully the store ended up taking credit cards, which is a rare for all but the biggest stores in Japan). While she was gone I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest… as I flipped through the LPs it was just one classic after another! Seriously, there was an entire section devoted to the Stalin!
Since Jesse’s review of this shop was rather lukewarm compared to some of the others, I decided to be conservative and only buy what I knew I couldn’t live without. After flipping through both the 12″s and 7″s several times, I ended up with G-Zet’s self-titled 12″ on ADK Records, DSB’s Wings Continue to Strive with Unchanged Mind LP (I foolishly bought this on CD rather than LP when it came out and regretted it ever since), Gastunk’s Deadsong LP on Dogma Records, Mess’s Brain Itches 8″ (for 3 bucks!) and Gastunk’s To Fans 7″, which I actually mistakenly thought was Gudon’s To Fans EP. Also, there was a small rack of used t-shirts in the corner of the store, something I wish more American record shops would have. When I flipped through these I found an awesome Burning Spirits shirt that I couldn’t pass up for the bargain-basement price of $10. I think that the cashiers at the store were impressed with my purchases, since they filled my bag with free flyers and zines and even gave me a free Disk Union t-shirt. Gift-giving is very important to Japanese culture and I was surprised to find that nearly every record shop I visited gave me some kind of gift or another.
Here’s a picture of me on the verge of freaking out at Disk Union:
With the record-shopping leg of the trip in full swing I was excited to get to the next store, so we took the subway out to Shinjuku, perhaps the biggest and most famous shopping area in Tokyo. Jesse’s maps warned us that Shinjuku could be difficult to get around, and the place was indeed daunting. Even getting out of the train station could be difficult, since it’s big enough that it contains an entire underground mall!
Shinjuku is divided in half by the train tracks that pass through its center and I started on the west side. Once again Jesse’s maps served me well and I found Allman with no trouble at all. Allman is the store run by the same guy who does the HG Fact record label. While I find HG Fact’s releases hit-and-miss it was definitely a good shop. However, after coming off of the high that was Disk Union I was honestly a little disappointed in what they had to offer. There were a few good LPs there that seemed overpriced relative to Disk Union and the 7″s were picked over as well. There was a small sale box at the front counter and while that had some good deals, when all was said and done all I bought was Forward’s What Are You Gonna Get? EP and the Deathreat / D.S.B. split 7″. However, the guy working at the shop was one of the nicest people I met in Japan; we talked for quite a while about Japanese and American hardcore, and before I left he gave me a sweet gift: an original promo poster for Forward’s While You Alive EP, my favorite record by that band.
After Allman I walked one block up to Nat Records, a store that I was expecting a great deal from based on Jesse’s review. I’d also sold a few Koro records directly to Nat so I said hello to them and looked around their store. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed by their selection of used vinyl. There was nothing of interest in the LPs, and I thought I was only walking out of the store with a used CD copy of Bastard’s No Hope in Here until I came across the Japanese punk 7″ section. There were a few records on the wall that I would have loved to have owned, but at $75 each I bit my lip and passed on Lip Cream’s Night Rider More than Fight EP and the Half Years 7″. However, when I flipped through the stacks I found what might be the score of the trip: a copy of Ghoul’s Oi Oi Oi flexi for about $3! I also snagged a copy of the Detroit EP for a couple of bucks (which I bought just because it looked cool, though I’ve since learned it’s quite the collector’s item), Gastunk’s Mr. Gazime EP, Mess’s 7″ flexi and a decent 7″ by a band called Griffin that I bought because of it’s cool Misfits-esque artwork. Also of note was Nat’s selection of American and European thrash metal; there were copies of nearly every 80s classic from Kreator, Nuclear Assault, Exodus, etc. for less than $10 a piece and every sleeve was in such perfect condition that I first thought they were reissues. However, I promised myself I would only buy Japanese records while I was in Japan so I passed up on all of these.
After meeting back up with Kelly, who had been checking out some local parks and temples, we headed over to the east side of Shinjuku, which was decidedly more intense than West Shinjuku. While Jesse pointed out a few good record stores and venues (including Antiknock, perhaps the most famous “live house” for Japanese hardcore) it was getting near closing time so I only visted the Disk Union Shinjuku Punk Market. I had high hopes for this store since I scored so much at the Shibuya store, but when I got off the elevator and saw the store was so crowded that you could hardly move inside I was sure the stacks would be picked over. After flipping through the Japanese punk LPs and 7″s I looked in the used CDs and found a copy of the recently-released Googol Plex discography and I thought that’s all I would leave the store with. However, on a second sweep of the shop I found a box marked “sale” and in it I found a copy of Death Side’s All Is Here Now EP for about $15, Nightmare’s Be Put to Urge EP for $10 and Warhead’s The Lost Self and Beating Heart EP. I also broke my Japanese-only rule when I found copies of the Stitches’ Two New Cuts and Talk Sick EPs for $2 each. Finally, when I was standing at the checkout counter I saw one of the clerks pricing a stack of LPs, and when I looked at what she had I grabbed a copy of Tetsu-Arrey’s II LP for just a couple of bucks as well. While it was nothing compared to the Shibuya store, in retrospect I got a few good scores from the Shinjuku Disk Union.
Here’s a photo Kelly took from just outside this store. If you look closely you can see me paying for my records at the back:
By now it was nearly 8PM and I was worried that I wouldn’t get a chance to visit two of the stores I most wanted to see, Record Shop Base and Flower Records, both of which Jesse highly recommended. Fortunately the workers at Disk Union were very nice and spoke good English. They told me that Base and Flower should be open until 9PM, which was just enough time to make it out to both. Since these two stores were out in the suburbs Kelly and I made plans to meet back at the hotel in order to save on subway fare and I set out to the western edge of the city. While I couldn’t have asked for anything better from Jesse’s maps, the subway and train systems were still a mystery to me. I boarded the first train that stopped at the Shinjuku station, but unfortunately that was an express train that went right past the stop at which I wanted to get off for Flower Records. By this time it was nearing 9PM and since Jesse said Flower was the best place to score ultra-rare records and I wasn’t exactly sure which station to get off of for Base, I decided I would just go to Flower. However, when I got the local train back toward the city the second or third stop was Koenji Station. Since I had previously been unable to locate this station on my subway map I decided that fate was telling me I needed to get off here and go to Base.
I found the shop with no trouble (again, thanks to Jesse’s maps) but unfortunately the used stock here was disappointing. I’ve mailordered new records from Base several times but their used stock was thin. I passed on a pristine-looking copy of The Punx compilation tape with the full oversized packaging and the only vinyl I found of note was a copy of the Get Back the Discharged Arrow compilation for about 40 bucks. Actually, I had seen that comp at every single store I had been to that day, and while I really wanted that record I kept remembering the copy I saw at Disk Union for $25 so I couldn’t bring myself to buy it anywhere else. I actually ended up not buying anything at all from Base, but since I had sold them some Koro records I said a quick hello to Takahiro and jumped on a train to Nakano station.
I walked out of the subway at about 5 minutes until 9, and wouldn’t you know it, this was the one shop that I had any trouble finding. I walked up and down the street outside the train station for about ten minutes until I realized I needed to enter the covered shopping arcade nearby. Once I was in there it was past 9 and I was resigned to the fact that Flower would be closed, but I decided to find the store anyway. I needed to ask directions from someone on the street but eventually I found the building, walked up the stairs and FUCK! Door closed!
I turned the handle on the off chance that there was someone inside and the door opened. What I saw inside was insane: records, books, t-shirts and other paraphernalia stacked all the way to the ceiling, much of it literally falling off the shelves and a six-inch-wide path of clear floor space that was the only way to navigate the room. There were a few people browsing the books and bs-ing with the guy behind the counter, so I walked in and started looking around. There was a section of LPs labeled “90s Japanese Hardcore” that was full mostly of out-of-print Disclose LPs, but since I sold most of my Disclose vinyl at a hefty profit to fund this shopping trip I decided I wasn’t going to buy any of that. Next I started looking around at the items that were thumbtacked to the ceiling(!?!?!??!). There was a large collection of t-shirts just by my head and as I flipped through them several of them fell down, though the cashier wasn’t too bothered. My eye immediately went to the 1997 Burning Spirits tour shirt. I think most Burning Spirits shirts are a little ugly (anyone who has seen Tragedy live can attest to this since Todd is almost always wearing one), but this one was fucking awesome: black (though faded to a light grey) with “Burning Spirits 1997 Japan Tour” in stencil letters across the front. The tour dates are on the back with the three bands who played: Forward, Nightmare and Judgment. Can you imagine that tour? Fuck! They also had another cool 99 Burning Spirits tour shirt that I bought and a few other cool ones, including a Rocky and the Sweden shirt that I passed on because it had a giant pot leaf on it and it was pretty badly stained.
I continued looking at the records that were lining the wall where I saw a copy of Warhead’s Cry of Truth EP, and when the cashier told me it was $15 I snatched it down and added it to my pile. Since spoken communication had now been initiated, I asked him if that was the extent of his rare Japanese hardcore and he kind of laughed and said “no.” I asked him to show me the good stuff and he proceeded to pull out 6 or 7 LP-sized pieces of cardboard, to which he had taped small 2″x2″ color photocopies of just about every rare Japanese hardcore record that you could imagine. My eye immediately went to the Bastard LP (the one thing I really, really wanted to find while I was in Japan), but unfortunately it was out of stock! Fuck! Next I asked about the Nightmare LP and he said $90. I heard this place was going to be expensive, but that seemed a little high to me… negotiating prices doesn’t really fly in Japan, though, so I moved on. After asking him the prices of about 30 records I’d noticed a pattern: the Burning Spirits-type stuff he had for sale was priced kind of high, but the lesser-known records were a steal. Still, even at about $70 a pop I knew I would be kicking myself forever if I didn’t buy both Death Side LPs. So, when I left Flower Records about half an hour later I was around $250 poorer, but I had the following items in my bag:
Death Side: Wasted Dream LP
Death Side: Bet on the Possibility LP
Warhead: Cry of Truth EP
Blaze: But Nothing Ever Change 7″
Dead Person: Self-titled flexi
Judgement: A Haunt in the Dark EP
Judgmeent: No Reason Why EP
1997 Burning Spirits Tour Shirt
2 1999 Burning Spirits Tour Shirts (one for me and one to give as a gift)
A bootleg cassette of a live Gauze show from 1982 (this was a gift from the cashier, who was very nice and patient with me)
Things I passed on: Googol Plex 7″, original Lip Cream Kill the IBM cassette, Brain Death 7″, every single Death Side EP, 1st 2 GISM 12″s, Nightmare 12″ and all 7″s and so many more that I can’t even remember… this guy literally had everything (except the fucking Bastard LP!)!!!
A funny note about those Judgement 7″s: I’d been looking for Judgement stuff all over since they’re one of my favorite Japanese bands and I owned literally nothing by them (only mp3s), but to no avail. I even asked about Judgement records and CDs at Allman since HG Fact released some of their stuff and the cashier all but laughed in my face and just said “very, very rare.” Just as I was about to pay for everything else I remembered to ask this guy if he had any Judgement stuff and he proceeded to walk across the store, move about 10 boxes out of the way, open up the bottom box on this gigantic pile and flip immediately to the 7″ that was right in the middle. Then he walked to the other side of the store, opened up the storage locker underneath the LP display bin and did basically the same thing. If the records at this store actually had price tags on them I would love to just spend an entire day there flipping through and finding the bargains that are no doubt scattered through his thousands upon thousands of discs.
This should have brought to an end the record shopping segment of our vacation, but after the scores that I passed up at the Shibuya Disk Union (the first actual punk store I went to) haunted me for the next two nights, Kelly let me return there and clean them out on the eve of our departure. I had time to plan everything I wanted to get, so I decided I was going to buy every single record on Selfish or ADK records since the prices at this store were so much cheaper than anywhere else. However, when I made it back to the store, three records that I specifically planned to get were gone: Lip Cream’s Close to the Edge and Self-titled LPs ($25 each) and Nightmare’s 1st EP ($20). I was really bummed that I couldn’t get those records, but here’s what I scored… the total was just under $400 American:
7″s
SOB: Leave Me Alone
Gastunk: Mr. Gazime EP (2nd copy… anyone wanna trade?)
Warhead: The Lost Self and Beating Heart EP (2nd copy… wanna trade again?)
Crime Fighter: Rude Beat EP
Masturbation: Flexi
Phaidia: Flexi
Gudon: For Fans EP
Aggressive Dogs: Dizzy Life flexi
Resurrection: Flexi (2 copies, one for me and one for my ADK Records-obsessed friend)
S.V.S.: Hell Near 7″
So What: Murder 7″
Kyoto City Hardcore comp 7″
Guillotine Terror: No God EP (I took a chance on this one based on the artwork and it kinda sucks, but oh well. Any big Extreme Noise Terror fans want to trade me something for this?)
12″:
Lip Cream: Kill Ugly Pop LP
Outo: Discography LP
Gastunk: Under the Sun LP
Phaidia: In the Dark LP
Hang the Sucker Vol. 2 comp
I Will Take No Orders from Anyone!! comp
Who’s Chained Up to the Dogs of Outrage comp
and finally… Get Back the Discharged Arrow comp
I also picked up a sweet Total Fury shirt from their “Spring Thrash” tour, and unlike most of the other shirts I bought in Japan I won’t have to lose 10 pounds before I can wear that one. I still passed up on the two $90 comps from the first time, but I do feel the slightest pangs of regret when I think of myself walking out that door and leaving GISM’s Military Affairs Neurotic LP and 5 copies of Gauze’s Equalizing Distort LP for about 20 bucks each. However, while it would be nice to have those records those aren’t the kinds of passes that keep you up at night.
So, thus endeth the Great Tokyo Record-buying adventure. If you read all the way to the end of this I congratulate you on your lengthy attention span. Thanks again to Jesse for the maps and to Kelly for being so patient with me. Now all I want to know is when do I get to go back?
PS: I still need the Bastard LP and the Chicken Bowels 7″! Trade them to me!
