The Weekend, Late Sunday Edition
Well, here I am pulling up in the late train in The Weekend again. It's a habit. I keep saying I'll be better, post sooner, post better, more witty, awe-inspiring content that will make people laugh and cry with witty repertoire and insight.
I won't. We all know it.
The end of last week sucked. My van (it used to be a mini-van to haul people around in; it has now become mostly a cargo van to haul My Shit around in) suffered a failure and needs the assistance of a mechanic. Thankfully the onboard diagnostics noticed this before it happened; the transmission is suffering a fault where it may, at any point in time, act in one of these inappropriate ways:
- It may not shift out of first gear.
- It may not shift into park, or register being in park.
- It may randomly shift into neutral.
Any of these items would really suck. So, in the driveway it sits until I can get it into the garage.
Turning attention, now, to the second car, my Mitsubishi Outlander Sport (which I have named Sassenach - an HBI unit to anyone who figures out that connection), which was hit by a moving van. It looks mostly superficial, and is still drivable, but is damaged, and I want it fixed. Insurance companies are currently doing their thing.
I was concerned at first that the axle may have been damaged, but then discovered that on the way home ran over a nail and got a flat. Ugh. After changing the flat tire I assured myself that the axle is, in fact, fine, it is only my luck that sucked ass.
And then the weekend brought with it rain. Normally I would be put out at weekend rain, but this weekend it was welcomed; I would not need to water the garden, and the decisions I had to make on weekend plans were made for me. Inside I would stay organising the house.
In particular, it was time to organise my records.
I have a collection of 78 rpm records. A large, and growing, collection, which was rather scattered in multiple locations with little rhyme nor reason to how they were stored. Being that I really do enjoy listening to these, I felt it was time to correct this.
So I made some room in the basement, found Stargate SG1 for background noise, and began sorting records.
And more records.
And more records.
Yes, the cat's helped, the way only they can.
I am not exaggerating to say that this took the entire weekend. I am also not exaggerating to say that pre-vinyl shellac-based records are really fucking heavy. One milk crate full of these shellac 78's is enough to break a foot if dropped. Thankfully no crates were dropped in transport, saving both feet and cats who like to lie at feet.
The end result, however, is pretty snazzy. All my records are now sorted by pre-1927 and post-1927. 1927 was the year in which electric recording became possible, and records from each era need to be played on a player from each era for best results, and to keep from damaging records and equipment.
Further, each section of records (pre and post 1927) is also sorted by record label (i.e., Columbia, Decca, Victor, RCA-Victor, Cairophone (I kid you not) and dozens of others), and then by year. It was a slow, painstaking process, but I'm super happy with the result and, when I receive a new batch of records, they will be easy to sort and put into their respective places.
Please forgive this last picture. The Old English is sitting on a recently received Pathe phonograph which needs some cleanup (and a new reproducer) which I haven't moved into my work room yet (lazy).
Yes, I do play these records. I haven't listened to all of them - yet - and I do have favourites.
I play three of them live every Tuesday! Come listen in at 12:00pm (noon) EDT at https://blindskeleton.one/radio. I'm not sure what I'm going to play this week, but it will be something!
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Amateur photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
Blind Skeleton
Online Radio: https://blindskeleton.one/radio/
Friday Night Concert: 6:00pm EST
They literally have attempted my murder and are trying to kill me with V2K and RNM. Five years this has been happening to me, it started here, around people that are still here. Homeland security has done nothing at all, they are not here to protect us. Dont we pay them to stop shit like this? The NSA, CIA, FBI, Police and our Government has done nothing. Just like they did with the Havana Syndrome, nothing. Patriot Act my ass. The American government is completely incompetent. The NSA should be taken over by the military and contained Immediately for investigation. I bet we can get to the sources of V2K and RNM then. https://ecency.com/fyrstikken/@fairandbalanced/i-am-the-only-motherfucker-on-the-internet-pointing-to-a-direct-source-for-voice-to-skull-electronic-terrorism ..... https://ecency.com/gangstalking/@acousticpulses/electronic-terrorism-and-gaslighting--if-you-downvote-this-post-you-are-part-of-the-problem if you run into one of them you may want to immediately shoot them in the face. 187, annihilate, asphyxiate, assassinate, behead, bleed, bludgeon, boil, bomb, bone, burn, bury, butcher, cap, casket, choke, chop, club, crucify, crush, curb, decapitate, decimate, deflesh, demolish, destroy, devein, disembowel, dismember, drown, electrocute, eliminate, end, euthanize, eviscerate, execute, explode, exterminate, extinguish, finish, fry, grind, guillotine, gut, hack, hang, hit, ice, implode, incinerate, kill, liquidate, lynch, massacre, maul, microwave, mutilate, neutralize, obliterate, off, pop, poison, punnish, quarter, ruin, shank, shock, shoot, shred, skin, slay, slaughter, smoke, smother, snipe, snuff, squish, stab, strangle, stone, suffocate, suicide, SWAT, swing, terminate, torture, terrorize, whack, waste, wreck. You better fucking kill me.
That is quite a collection, and one of the things I always wished to collect, but never lived in one place long enough. Do you have any albums that you acquired for cheap and that turned out to be worth a chunk of change?
They're a lot of fun, at least for me. I've got a number of phonographs for them, too. Probably too many.
For the most part I haven't found an album to retire on, but I did come across this one a few weeks ago, in a thrift store in an "album" that was stuffed with random records. It was $3.99 for the entire album and the ~20 records or so, with this one in the middle:
On eBay it sells for anywhere between $75-$200. It was a neat find.
I might cardiac arrest, however, if I were to ever find a Beatles 78 record squirreled away somewhere. They're worth thousands.
I think you will be one of those lucky lads that finds a yard sale record from Granny's house that the Grandkids couldn't be bothered to haul down to the Salvation Army.
You read about those lucky people, if only it would happen to me! It has happened numerous times and I have to wonder, do these people look for it, or is it just happenstance?
You did an impressive job, especially for what you paid the help. I would have a sit-in (or sit-on) too. :) It looks especially in order now! You used your weekend well, unlike some people. eyeroll
Who do you have the most of? Which label and which artist?
I do keep an eye out on yard sales and such. Occasionally I'll go look in person and find something fun. Usually not. But sometimes.
Pre 1940 I have mostly Victor and RCA-Victor records; post 1940 I definitely have more Columbia. I think the correct industry term for the sheer volume of records I have accumulated from one label is "ass tonne."
The key years, though, are 1923 (all records prior to 1923 are now in the public domain), 1925, when electric amplification for recording was designed, and 1929, when RCA bought Victor. In that era I have mostly Victor, then Columbia, then Everything Else.
I'm playing three of the Everything Else for my Three Tune Tuesday internet radio show tomorrow, too! You should tune in. 😃
Being Scottish I know what a sassenach is;) The Outlander I am sure is a film/tv series set in Scotland, perhaps ~ perhaps not and I did see Old English in your last picture.
Ooooh! One HBI coming your way, and another for insight!
Yes, Outlander is a tv series - based on a book - set in Scotland. The protagonist is an English lady who does not, of course, get along well with the others. Hence her nickname. 😃