tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81865402656515860512024-03-13T08:25:04.326-07:00BadCatRecordsBADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.comBlogger157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-51583733352688931382020-11-29T03:27:00.002-08:002020-11-29T03:27:34.060-08:00OH, WOULDN'T IT BE AN EMBARRASEMENT TO LOSE TO THIS GUY?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ymBxbArCwCr6eoVX1EzDl3Srx1uqV5DtJ4i2uhHYNw6sqI1PY9DyLzvjjM1vGrHxKw_Ump8Gs8b2Lx4wHY-QtAU5exo6FMN9zqM3GS68amR6_mT-ao9l1QGASQHbpe_zgqR78q0h9xU/s296/BIDEN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ymBxbArCwCr6eoVX1EzDl3Srx1uqV5DtJ4i2uhHYNw6sqI1PY9DyLzvjjM1vGrHxKw_Ump8Gs8b2Lx4wHY-QtAU5exo6FMN9zqM3GS68amR6_mT-ao9l1QGASQHbpe_zgqR78q0h9xU/s0/BIDEN.jpg" /></a></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Personally I have to smile every time I hear the question - the thought of this gnawing away at Donald Trump's fragile sense of reality is just too funny.</span></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">And yes, ex-POTUS, you are a loser in every sense of the word..</span></h4><p></p>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-59535449397322432502020-11-16T03:14:00.001-08:002020-11-16T03:14:18.995-08:00THREE WORDS EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW<p> <span style="font-family: arial;">I WON THE ELECTION!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Donald J. Trump (11/15/2020)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">NO YOU DIDN'T</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Seriously, what a loser.</span></p>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-34206003736092074112020-10-14T03:49:00.003-07:002020-10-14T03:49:45.173-07:00SHORT AND SWEET - DO YOUR DUTY - VOTE THIS YEARBADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-25083822113396471612020-08-06T10:42:00.001-07:002020-08-06T10:45:22.483-07:00CAN WE SINK ANY LOWER?<h3 style="height: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Just when I thought we had reached the nadir of our national reputation Trump spouts off on the explosion that inflicted major damage on the city of Beirut. Without any insight into the issue (and probably clueless where Lebanon actually is), he makes this statement:</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large;">"I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that it was [an attack]. This was not some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event. This was a – seems to be, according to them, they would know better than I would – but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind, yes."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large;">The Department of Defense quickly denies those statements, leaving if to a former Director of the US Office of Government Ethics to state the obvious (and sad) fact.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large;">"The President of the United States of America is not a reliable source."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large;">Walter Shaub</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large;">August 5, 2020</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large;">I never thought I would see the day where a US President was seen by the majority of the world as a thoughtless, blow-hard, know-nothing clown. We've reached that point and seem to be sinking even further.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-large;">Remember, you get your chance to make a difference in November.</span></div>
BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-13641237375272047472020-06-02T15:59:00.002-07:002020-08-30T06:47:51.061-07:00HEY DONALD - TIME FOR NEW MANAGEMENT<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">I think this speaks for itself. Whoever you vote for this November, just don't vote for the incumbent. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-36030981928581398902020-05-19T16:00:00.010-07:002020-11-15T03:00:40.401-08:00WE HAVE ALL TOGETHER DONE A VERY GOOD JOB<span style="font-size: large;">I am not very political but there are a series of quotes from President Trump that I cannot get out of my head:</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">"<i>I feel about vaccines like I feel about tests. This [coronavirus] is going to go away without a vaccine. Its going to go away and we're hopefully not going to see it again after a period of time.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Donald Trump </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qbtqew-CI8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qbtqew-CI8</a></span></h4>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">"<i>It's a horrible number but if we have between 100,000 and 200,000 (deaths), we all together have done a very good job.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Donald Trump 01 June, 2020</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">US fatalities November 14, 2020 = <span style="color: red;">245,600</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">I work with numbers ever day and have to admit it is hard to avoid looking at this ever growing number as a standalone statistic. The sad fact is it represents so much more than a faceless statistic. At this point it is almost double the number of America's combat deaths during the Vietnam war. It represents more deaths than all 2018 drug overdose related deaths in this country. More than that, each figure represents a parent, a sibling, a spouse, a child, a friend, a co-worker, or perhaps a casual social acquaintance. It was someone in the American social fabric. The sad emphasis is on the word "was". Clearly the President isn't responsible for this dreadful disease, but it is hard to overlook the fact that the vast majority of hese Americans died because of this administration's ignorance, incompetence, denial, selfishness and simple greed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And leading the charge is a President who is too stupid to understand, or perhaps worse, doesn't care. His only goal seems to be getting reelected, whatever the costs. Lead by example? Sure, I'll provide American's with a clear understanding of the issue. I'll pay attention to what the medical community advises. I'll take decisive action that unites us as we fight this common enemy. I'll wear a mask to show what people how to break this disease. I'll provide all of the financial and material support States need. I'll show the victims and those on the front line fighting this war the empathy and appreciation they deserve. Well, maybe I'll do it after I take the day off to go golfing at one of my resorts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">If that second quote represents the President's idea of doing a very good job, it raises the question: What does this man think a poor job would be? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">No matter what you think of the other candidate, you have to ask yourself, can this country afford another four years of complete ineptitude and callous indifference to the very people they swore to protect?</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"><i>"Great reviews on our handling of Covid 19, sometimes referred to as the China Virus. Ventilators, Testing, Medical Suppl;y Distribution, we made a lot Governors look very good - And got no credit for so doing. Most importantly, we helped a lot of great people!"</i></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Donald Trump Twitter post 25 March, 2020</b></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Donald, thank you from <span style="color: red;">245,600</span> grateful COVID-19 fatalities. Where would they be without your capable management of this crises? Hum, maybe alive.</span></div>
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<br />BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-38462476268113845212020-04-06T04:46:00.000-07:002020-04-06T04:47:01.892-07:00BILL WITHERS - REST IN PEACE<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I never met Bill Withers. I never had an opportunity to see Bill Withers in concert (though I have listened to his live album dozens of times). That said, Withers was one of the people whom I deeply admired. Yes, I grew up on his songs and proudly own a large segment of his catalog. The man had an amazing voice; gruff but endearing, and as a composer he had a knack for penning music that was simple, yet mesmerizing and addictive in terms of "ear candy" potential. To this day I only need to hear a couple of bars of "Lovely Day" and the damn song starts running on my internal playback system.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Just as impressive was the man. Growing up poor, he never let the star machinery get to him. Proud of his roots, including his time in the Navy, his first album featured a cover of him standing in front of the L.A. factory he was working at (manufacturing toilets and plumbing materials). He never let it define who he was. Even at the zenith of his commercial success he remained grounded. When the music business tried to bend him to it's expectations, he walked away and never looked back, instead focusing his attention on family and retaining his privacy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I never met Bill Withers, but I can't help but feel collectively we would be a lot better off with more Bill Withers. Rest in Peace (July 1938 - March 2020)</span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-20569112225107368582019-11-02T19:53:00.001-07:002019-11-02T19:53:24.609-07:00THIS YEAR's FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TUNE<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9D8A9KCdEVdTqx_lZi4eNdAwc6ls9MVVW_dGB6byYsi3paueLc0o601nmzeVdKBKJXpePbh2Q4K_podvPM5mkr0V5_grd9vyjsxsGJs3VjCqHrjHkJZXBdCcrDD9_peN8kogYqBtTC8E/s1600/TOMSfakeCHRISTMAS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="198" data-original-width="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9D8A9KCdEVdTqx_lZi4eNdAwc6ls9MVVW_dGB6byYsi3paueLc0o601nmzeVdKBKJXpePbh2Q4K_podvPM5mkr0V5_grd9vyjsxsGJs3VjCqHrjHkJZXBdCcrDD9_peN8kogYqBtTC8E/s1600/TOMSfakeCHRISTMAS.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Toms</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2016's "Fake Christmas" b/w "It's Needless" (Frodis catalog number FRO 001)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Funny what turned out to be one of my favorite holiday tunes came to my attention on the first day of the year. Yeah, it was too late for the 2017 list, but gave me plenty of joy for 2018.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Thomas Moraldo is the brains behind The Toms (check out his discography) and was responsible for the magical </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Fake Christmas". Wrapped in a glistening jangle rock melody with too-die-for harmonies, and some of the funniest and most insightful holiday lyrics you'll ever hear, this one managed to encapsulate the joy and heartache of the modern holiday seasons in under three minutes. Here's a link to a YouTube clip of the song:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFK16jR7dzw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFK16jR7dzw</a></span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-13137692298776804352019-11-02T19:53:00.000-07:002019-11-02T19:53:00.575-07:00I GUESS TIME HAS CAUGHT UP WITH ME<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I live in Northern Virginia and one of the things I like to do is attend the monthly flea market sponsored by the Arlington CIVITAN. The flea market is held the first Saturday of each month (April through November) and usually has a couple of hundred sellers ranging from professionals, to lots of folks simply trying to clean out their homes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The array of stuff for sale is always amazing, though I go for the used records and other oddities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow, this morning I was walking around the flea market and this sign caught my attention. Needless to say, it made me feel pretty old. That was underscored by the conversation I had with the young lady selling the albums - she was pricing the albums I had picked up and wanted to know who Bob Seger was. Her equally young boyfriend new who Seger was ... "some old guy who sounds like Dylan." Yeah, that exchange made me feel young and happening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-89424832090682168702019-02-10T19:04:00.000-08:002019-02-16T19:04:45.700-08:00PSYCH CLASSICS ON A BUDGET<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you're poking around the net, it's hard not to run into some sort of top-10 </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">psych album list</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. Psych seems to have become a "hot" retro sound and there's nothing wrong with all of those lists except for the fact most include incredibly rare and financially unattainable selections. Just saw one that included C.A. Quintet's "A Trip Thru Hell". Yeah, it's a great LP, but </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">recent sales prices topping $1,100,</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">most of us will never see, let alone own, an original copy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyhow, that got me thinking about enjoyable, yet affordable psych albums that have crossed my path. There are plenty of candidates around and here are ten for consideration. I limited myself to '60s and '70s releases and I defined affordable as an album you could find in VG+ conditions for less than $80.00. Remember that my tastes may not be close to what you like. The other characteristic these ten album share is that you can find good condition copies and buying all ten will cost you less than a single C.A. Quintet LP.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, here's the list, in no particular order:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Colours</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: **** (4 stars)<br />Title: Colours<br />Company: Dot<br />Catalog: DLP-25854<br />Year: 1968</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Country/State: Oklahoma</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasonable price: $40.00<br /><br />Interestingly some reference works I've come across show this outfit as being English (probably due to the fact their name was spelled with the added English 'o'). Don't be fooled since the band's roots can be traced to Oklahoma where drummer Chuck Blackwell and bassist Carl Radle were buddies with a young Leon Russell. Guitarist Rob Edwards had previously been a member of Eddie and the Showmen. <br /><br />Best known for the fact their initially lineup included future Derek & the Dominos/Jimmy Buffett bassist Radle, this five piece survived long enough to release a pair of interesting and highly diverse late-1960s albums. The debut is a little heard psych classic; the follow-up a far more conventional and altogether less impressive work.<br /> <br /> Produced by Danny Moore and Richard Delvy, 1968's "Colours" offered up a nifty set of Beatles-styled pop-rock. Penned by guitarist Jack Dalton and keyboard player Gary Montgomery, material such as "Love Heals", "Helping You Out", "Where Is She" and "I Think of Her (She's On My Mind)" (the latter baring an uncanny resemblance to the forthcoming Badfinger), offered up a wonderful collection of harmony-rich, radio-ready pop. One of the year's most impressive debuts, the set was full of playful psychedelic touches. Highlights included the droning, raga-influenced "Rather Be Me", the sitar-and-bagpipe (don't ask) propelled "Brother Lou's Love Colony" and the ominous leadoff "Bad Day At Black Rock, Baby" (which found the band effortlessly shifting thought at least a half dozen time changes). Unfortunately with public tastes already moving beyond the summer of love, the collection was overlooked by the press and the buying public. (Dock the set half a star for Jon Borgzinner's pompous liner notes ("Colours have the crystalline sharpness of the Beatles before they turned acid.") and for the tacky Nehru jackets the band sported on the front and back covers.) <br /><br />Yeah, you can criticize the album as being imitative (and it was), but it was a fun set from start to finish and you couldn't help but be impressed who good the imitations were. One of my favorites mid-'60s albums and you can still find affordable copies.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Genesis</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre: psych<br />Rating: **** (4 stars)<br />Title: In the Beginning<br />Company: Mercury<br />Catalog: SR 61775<br />Year: 1968<br />Country/State: Los Angeles, California</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasonable price: $60.00<br /><br /> Here's an outfit I'd like to know more about ... To be honest, It took me years to find anything more than biographical tidbits on the group. I knew guitarist Jac Ttanna had been a member of the L.A.-based Fender IV and The Sons of Adam (he played under his given name Joe Kooken) and that was about it. Luckily I found Ttanna's website where he talked a bit about the band. Hopefully he'll be okay with me borrowing those reflections:<br /><br />The Sons of Adam broke up for good in June of 1967. I spent most of that summer writing songs and looking for kindred spirits. I met Sue Richmond around the middle of July. She was beautiful and really talented. We worked up a few songs, and when we played them for Mike Port, he saw that we were on to something and joined immediately. <br /> <br /> About a month later I found Kent Henry and Bob Metke around the same time in different bars playing in different bands. Kent was playing guitar with Eddie James and the Pacific Ocean. Eddie was a great showman, but the band was going nowhere. Eddie eventually turned to acting and became very successful as Edward James Olmos. Bob was the drummer in a band called Rain...also a pretty good band, but it was obvious that Kent and Bob were both way better than their bands, and both were ready to move on. Both these guys blew me away. Kent was knowledgeable in almost every form of music, and a technical monster. Bob was the funkiest drummer I'd ever seen, and also a great singer. I knew we were going to be very good. Mike Port, for some reason, didn't see it that way,<br /> and left. Kent's best friend, Fred Rivera, was the bass player in the Pacific Ocean. He was eager to keep playing with Kent, and, with the addition of "Foxey" Freddy, Genesis was born. The premise of the group was to incorporate great songs and great harmonies with a really creative power trio. It worked!<br /> <br /> The band only lasted a couple of years, pulled apart by numerous internal struggles, but, during that time, we played some very strong shows, and made some great music. I've included a link to his website below.<br /><br />As for my impressions of their sole album; well 1968's "In the Beginning" is nothing less than great. Yeah, it was a bit too diverse for the band's own good, including stabs at folk rock, sensitive singer/songwriter tunes, as well as pop, and hard rock, but at it's best ('Angeline'), the album bore a nice comparison to the Jefferson Airplane, though without the Airplane's penchant for needless hippy excesses. Musically the set offered up a mixture of hard rock (the opener 'Angelina'), folk-rock ('Gloomy Sunday') and California-styled mid-1960s' psych (the fuzz guitar drenched 'What's It All About'). As exemplified by a nice cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne', Richman and Ttanna had great voices that blended well and were effortlessly capable of handling the album's different genres. Personal favorite - Henry's meltdown performance on the extended closer 'World without You'. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Elsewhere Mercury tapped the album for a pair of instantly obscure singles: <br />- 1968's 'Angelina' b/w 'Suzanne' (Mercury catalog number 72806) <br />- 1968's 'Gloomy Sunday' b/w 'What's It All About' (Mercury catalog number 72869) <br /><br />Following the album's release, Rivera was drafted. He was quickly replaced by Jimmy Chappell. Unfortunately the album did little commercially and within a couple of months the band had called it quits. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />In the wake of the band's breakup Henry played with The Blues Image, Charity, and was a member of a late-inning Steppenwolf lineup. Suffering from Alzheimer's later in life, his health deteriorated and in 2009 he died from bowel problems. There's a nice, if heartbreaking remembrance of Kent at: <a href="http://www.imorial.com/kenthenry/">http://www.imorial.com/kenthenry/</a> <br /><br /> Following his military service Rivera hooked up with Delaney Bramblett, while Richman briefly sang with The Thieves. <br /><br />For his part Ttanna remained active in music through the '70s, among other jobs, serving as a road manager for Canned Heat and working as a sessions player for producer Richard Perry. He's also recorded some solo material and fronts The Jac Ttanna Band. He has a small website at: <a href="http://jacttanna.com/index.html">http://jacttanna.com/index.html</a> <br /><br />Anyhow, the Genesis album is increasingly difficult to find and starting to attract attention among collectors, so grab a copy if the chance arises.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Hamilton Streetcar</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre: pop-psych<br />Rating: **** (4 stars)<br />Title: Hamilton Streetcar<br />Company: Dot<br />Catalog: DLP-25939<br />Year: 1968<br />Country/State: Los Angeles, California</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasonable Price: $40.00<br /><br />First off let me apologize for my role in spreading incorrect and incomplete data on the internet. I had this band's history fouled up for the longest time and I probably still don't have all the details straight. That said, it's much closer to reality now. As for the earlier mistakes and oversights - they weren't done on purpose, rather I simply had no idea about the group's pre-LP existence. Hopefully I've come closer to their true story with this update. <br /><br />As for their sole LP, I've listened to it at least twenty times and can't decide whether it's a great slice of late-1960s psych, or an over-hyped piece of MOR sludge ... I lean to the former. Sound like a strange contradiction? It is and you'll have to judge for yourself.<br /> <br /> So first for the biographical information. Bassist Bart Conway and guitarist Tom Fannon had been members of a high school surf band The Regents. By 1965 they'd expanded their repertoire to more conventional rock, added keyboardist John Burge (aka Ian Hamilton), drummer Barry McGuire (quickly replaced by Danny Fantz, who was then replaced by Greg Hart), and singer Ralph Plummer to the lineup. They also picked up a new name - The Chosen Few. Within a short period they'd mutated into Rollin' Machine (the name supposedly inspired by their drummer's recreational habits), replaced Conway with Jay Alan and started to attract attention on the local club scene and by serving as opening for various national touring acts. Their big break came as a result of playing a UCLA frat party. The performance attracted the attention of Forrest Hamilton (son of jazz drummer Chico Hamilton), who signed on as group manager. Hamilton's initial efforts to attract the attention of major labels went nowhere. That changed when he somehow caught the attention of the ever eccentric Lee Hazlewood who promptly signed the band to his newly established LHI label. Debuting with the 1968 Plummer-penned single 'Invisible People' b/w 'Flash' (LHI catalog number 17016), the group managed one follow-up single ('Confusion' b/w 'Your Own Comedown' (LHI catalog number 45-1206), before switching to Dot Records. <br /><br />Former Challengers drummer Richard Delvy signed the band to Dot. Unfortunately Delvy apparently had little interest in the group's original sound, rather was interested in using them as a backing group for material written by John Boylan. Perhaps not a major surprise, but dreaded creative differences quickly arose within the band and within a matter of months the band had basically fallen apart leaving Plummer and keyboardist Hamilton to carry on as the sole survivors. Boylan, Plummer and Hamilton quickly recruited singer/guitarist Buzz Clifford (who'd enjoyed an early 1960s hit with 'Baby Sittin' Boogie') and finished the album with backing from sessions players. <br /><br />In the wake of the personnel turmoil, 1969's "<b><u>Hamilton Streetcar</u></b>" found the survivors working with producer Richard Delvy. The impact on creativity was obvious. Whereas Plummer had previously written all of the band's material (he'd reportedly written some 50 tracks for their catalog), on the album his contributions were limited handling lead vocals and penning the pop-flavored 'Silver Wings'. That left the newly recruited Clifford to pick up the creative slack (rounded out by numerous cover tunes). Structurally the set was certainly odd, largely forsaking conventional three minute song structures in favor of a pair of side long, multi-part suites that frequently interweaved main themes with shorter refrains (examples included Clifford's 'Welcome into Your World' and a cover of Tim Buckley's 'Pleasant Street'). Heavily orchestrated tracks like their cover of Lee Michael's 'Streetcar', Boylan's 'Brother Speed' (which the original band line up actually included in their live repertoire) and 'I See I Am' featured an engaging mixture of lounge act, MOR pop, with occasional psych moves. The song quality bounced all over the place (Plummer himself has slammed the LP - see below), but several of the tracks were simply great - 'Wouldn't It Be Nice (To Have Wings and Fly)' and Plummer's 'Silver Wings' were personal favorites. Not a perfect comparison, but songs like 'Now I Taste the Tears' and the instrumental 'Entre Acte' sounded a bit like Curt Boetcher and Gary Usher's work with Sagittarius. It certainly wouldn't appeal to everyone, but folks into sunshine pop, or Boylan's work with Appletree Theatre would probably find a great deal to like. Definitely different, the set has grown on me each time around ... I've got a personal use CDR loaded in my CD jukebox. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Glitterhouse</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: **** (4 stars)<br />Title: Color Blind<br />Company: DynoVoice<br />Catalog: DY 31905<br />Year: 1968<br />Country/State: <br />Reasonable price: $50.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Here's another one I have to admit not knowing much about ...<br />
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Managed by Marty Erlichman, The Glitterhouse featured the talents of Hank
Aberle, singer Michael Gayle, Al Lax, keyboard player Moogy Klingman and drummer Joel "Bishop" O'Brien. Signed to a performing and recording contract by Bob Crewe (of Four Seasons fame), their sole LP was produced by Crewe for his DynoVoice label. With Gayle penning all nine tracks, 1968's
"<b><u>Color Blind</u></b>" was musically diverse - occasionally even bordering on the schizophrenic. Exemplified by material such as
"Tinkerbell's Mind", "Princess of the Gingerland" and "Child of Darkness (Journey of a Child Traveler)" the "A" side was full of trippy lyrics surrounded by shimmering melodies and tight group harmonies
("Sassafrass and Cinnamon"). In contrast, most of the flip side found the band taking an enjoyable stab at top-40 blue-eyed soul ("I Lost Me a Friend" and "Hey Woman"). At least a couple of reference works have drawn comparisons with Procol
Harum. While organs are prominent with both groups, to our ears it's a poor comparison; Glitterhouse's sound far lighter and more commercial. In case you were wondering, the LP vanished without a trace. (The set was originally released with a cool foil cover.)</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Chrysalis</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: 4 stars **** </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Title: Definition <br />Company: MGM <br />Catalog: SE 4547<br /> Year: 1968 <br />Country/State: I</span><span style="font-family: "arial";">thaca,
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasonable price: $40.00</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />This is the first album I ever bought at a yard sale. I remember picking it up and hesitating whether to pick it or a Thin Lizzy LP for the $1.00 asking price. I ended up with both for $1.50 ... guess I'm showing my age here. Anyhow, warning that my background with this album may have colored my opinions a little bit.<br /><br />Fronted by singer/guitarist James Spider Barbour, Chrysalis came together when the members were attending Cornell University. Supporting Barbour were bassist Paul Album, keyboardist Ralph Kotkov, singer Nancy Nairn, guitarist Jon Sabin, and drummer Dahaud Shaar. The six members quickly gave up their college careers, moving to New York City where they found a fan in the form of Frank Zappa. By a quirk of fate the band's rehearsal space was across the street from the Garrick Theatre where Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were playing. Zappa's interest in the group saw Barbour record with Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. He appeared on Zappa's1967 solo debut "Lumpy Gravy" and The Mothers of Invention's "We're Only In It for the Money". That connection may have helped the band score a contract MGM Records (which happened to be Zappa's label). Signed by MGM, the band was originally interested in having Zappa produce their debut. In the midst of a struggle to escape his own contract with MGM, Zappa politely declined, leaving former Au Au Go-Gos producers Jim Friedman and talent manager Charlie Joffe to handle sessions for 1968's "<b><u>Definition</u></b>". <br /><br />With Barbour responsible for all of the material, the album's always struck me as epitomizing the true mid-'60s hippie vibe - something that sounded like it had the Summer of Love dripping all over it (though recorded a year later). Barbour's musical influences were heady and diversified, including a wide array of musical genres ranging from Dixieland jazz ('30 Poplar'); lysergic-tinged ballads ('Summer in Your Savage Eyes'), and even Zappa inspired quirkiness ('Dr. Root's Garden'). Coupled with Barbour's raspy voice, it wasn't the year's most conventional, or catchy album. But like trying to master any skill, perseverance pays off. Underneath the band quirkiness and seeming lack of focus lay some real talent. It's an album where there was only one bad song - the lame ballad 'Lake Hop'. Yeah, about half of the album was so-so, but the other half was full of first rate performances like the English Toytown inspired 'Father's Getting Old', 'Piece of the Sun', and the catchy as all 'Baby Let Me Show You Where I Live'. Sounds like kind of a cop out, but it's really one of those albums that gets better the more often you listen to it. Barbour and company were the real thing - true members of that '60s generation, following their muse, rather than selling out to a record company.<br /><br />Chrysalis were scheduled to tour in support of the album, but their manager reportedly absconded with the touring budget, blowing it on a trip to Vegas. The band soldiered on through 1970, even recording some demo material for a projected second album. Several of those tracks 'The Dues Are Hard', 'Gimme Your Love', 'Sink In Deeper', 'Window Shopping', 'Wheel I Can Ride' and 'Cold and Windy City' appeared on a 2005 reissue of the album (Revola catalog number CR RV 104). The songs are actually quite good ('Gimme Your Love), if considerably more mainstream than anything on the debut. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDv-2PPYo_4kBVXdMrDH7J6Uhyn5gNW8olFjW0tkO-4ThgcE31aXcVuRpf482RndDK3rHf3_gDBxnQuatIqEv2M75SB9j2nahY9LXxO58fa4bdWf_uDygSxbKqGzbrs_IkthYK4GrGF6E/s1600/BADCAT.4929.large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="141" data-original-width="143" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDv-2PPYo_4kBVXdMrDH7J6Uhyn5gNW8olFjW0tkO-4ThgcE31aXcVuRpf482RndDK3rHf3_gDBxnQuatIqEv2M75SB9j2nahY9LXxO58fa4bdWf_uDygSxbKqGzbrs_IkthYK4GrGF6E/s200/BADCAT.4929.large.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Bit 'a Sweet</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre: pop-psych</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: *** (3 stars)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Title: Hypnotic 1<br />Company: ABC<br />Catalog: ABC-640<br />Year: 1968<br />Country/State: Long Island, New York</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasonable price: $80.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every now and then I stumble across an album that doesn't quite knock my socks off, but keeps finding its way back to my turntable. Surprisingly they tend to be albums that others haven't gushed over. Long Island's Bit'a Sweet is a perfect example in that most reviews are lukewarm, or outright hostile, but at least to my ears this set kicks the crap out of many higher priced collectibles. This is also another one of those ABC releases that seems to have all but vanished the minute it was released. <br /><br />While Bit'a Sweet was apparently a full fledged band consisting of keyboardist Dennis DeRespino, drummer Russell Leslie, bassist Mitch London and guitarist Jack Mieczkowski, the late Steve Duboff seems to have been the mastermind and driving force behind the group.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Originally signed to MGM, the band debuted with a rare 1967 single. If you can find a copy of the 45, be prepared to pay more for it than for their ABC LP. <br /><br />- 1967's 'Out of Sight Out of Mind' b/w 'Is It On - Is It Off?' (MGM catalog number K-13695). <br /><br /> I'm not sure if the single led to their appearance in Raf Mauro's exploitation film Blonde On a Bum Trip, or vice versa,. Regardless, the band had a cameo in the flick playing 'Out of Sight Out of Mind' in a club scene. The video and sound quality aren't very good (not that the original black and white film was any great shakes in the production quality arena), but someone was kind enough to stick a clip of their performance on YouTube: <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3phaa_bit-a-sweet-out-of-sight-out-of-min_music">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVlXkq06mx8</a> <br /><br />Signed by ABC, the liner notes to 1968's "<b><u>Hypnotic 1</u></b>" credit Duboff with producing, directing, arranging, writing the majority of the material, as well as providing keyboards and percussion. Long-time partner Artie Kornfeld was listed as co-writer on a pair of songs. Musically most of the nine tracks mixed lite-psych with a distinctive top-40 edge and small dollops of experimentation (notably quite a bit of electric sitar, occasional oscillators, phasing, various studio effects and early synthesizer gurgles and gasps). There's nothing particularly original to be found on the collection though it's fun to play spot the influence - some Association-styled harmonies here ('2086'), Felix Cavalerie and the Rascals blue-eyed soul there ('How Can I Make You See), bit of Beatles inspired mysticism (the 'Blue Jay Way'-styled 'Travel'), etc. ... While that may not sound real promising, those comments are actually meant as a positive endorsement. The album is nothing but fun and the band turn in a great cover of George Harrison's 'If I Needed Someone' (which is erroneously credited as a Lennon and McCartney composition) !!! To be honest the only real disappointments are associated with the band's efforts to get cute - '2086' suffered from some irritating synthesizer noise and a cloying pseudo-music hall sound, while the heavily phased 'Monday - Tuesday' sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks trying to cover some obscure 1920s-era song after spending the afternoon huffing helium. All told though, a pleasant and still affordable major label surprise. Shame they never got a chance to record anything else. <br /><br /> <br />********************************************************************************************************</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCYAshHaVYZo_7rBGg5cVirIzfS8XCNsZV41dsNBADRDKUTLXFebEoQYyTNaGpfRhyx_PolKPr2JXLylXsAoXyjD-tmD2N6mjGYJbaloXH3KVimmPO5cRehTgDQ5_kSr-_Dkb15g_X3I/s1600/ARSnova.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLCYAshHaVYZo_7rBGg5cVirIzfS8XCNsZV41dsNBADRDKUTLXFebEoQYyTNaGpfRhyx_PolKPr2JXLylXsAoXyjD-tmD2N6mjGYJbaloXH3KVimmPO5cRehTgDQ5_kSr-_Dkb15g_X3I/s200/ARSnova.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>ARS Nova</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre: psych</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: **** (4 stars)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Title: ARS Nova<br />Company: Elektra<br />Catalog: EKS-5002<br />Year: 1967<br />Country/State: New York City, New York<br />Comments: unipack sleeve</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasoble price: $25.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">1966 found
classical musicians Wyatt Day (flamenco guitar) and John Pierson (bass
trombone) having dropped out of Manhattan's Mannes College of Music.
With the pair sharing a taste for rock and roll, they were increasingly
frustrated with their inability to pursue their own musical interests, let
alone make a decent living in music. Paying their bills teaching music
and through other menial jobs, the pair occasionally got together with
friends for a series of jam sessions in a Bronx church. Those sessions
included drummer
Maury Baker, trumpet player Bill Folwell, lead guitarist Giovanni
Papalia, and bass </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">player John Raskin. One of those sessions caught the attention of Doors producer Paul Rothchild. <br /><br />Signed by Rothchild to Elektra Record, the group put in several months of intense rehearsals, including a single September, 1967 concert in Philadelphia, before going into the studios to record an album under Rothchild's guidance. Released under the name ARS Nova (a Latin term for Renaissance music),1968's "<b><u>ARS Nova</u></b>" found the band equally at home with classical
inspired ballads (the Baroque-influenced single 'Pavan for My Love'), precursor Blood, Sweat and Tears horn arrangements
('General Clover Ends a War') and prototype heavy rock ('And
How Am I To Know'). Day provided the majority of material (much
of it co-written with either Pierson), but since the group didn't have
enough material stockpiled for a full album, non-member Gregory Copeland was
brought in to co-write several tunes. The group's efforts to blend classical and rock elements was interesting, if
occasionally a tad pretentious. Imagine a less bubble gummy version of The
Left Banke and you'll get a feel for the set. Personal favorites, the sweet
ballad 'And How Ma I To Know' and the popish
single 'Fields of People'. In spite of decent reviews, including
an extensive write-up in the June 1968 edition of Life, the set failed to
sell. (The album was originally released with a unipack sleeve. The
back cover photo showing band member life masks was a bit creepy) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Short of ground breaking, and an album that takes some time and effort to get into, but it's a collection that I've come to enjoy and appreciate more and more over the years. <br /><br />Elektra's marketing machine certainly didn't do the band any favors and after an ill-advised and horrible performance opening for The Doors at New York's Fillmore East, the band fragmented with original members Baker, Folwell, Owens, and Papalia quitting. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">H.P. Lovecraft</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre: psych</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: **** (4 stars)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Title: H.P. Lovecraft</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Company: Phillips</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Catalog: PHS 600 252</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Country/State: Chicago, Illinois</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Year: 1967</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasonable price: $60.00</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">An exceptionally talented band, it's hard to
understand how Chicago's H.P. Lovecraft (the name came from their manager's
dog who was in turn named after the famed 1920s' horror/fantasy writer
Howard Phillips Lovecraft), didn't become a major mid-1960s' act. These guys had it all, except for luck.<br />
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Having tried his hand as a New York-based folk singer, touring and recording
an album as a member of The Village Singers, and supporting the folk duo Len
and Judy, by 1965 singer/guitarist George Edwards was back in his native
Chicago. He started playing on the city's club circuit, finding
a mentor in the former of manager George Badonsky who brought the singer to
the attention of his partner Bill Traut and helped him record a couple of sides for their Chicago-based Dunwich
label (itself named after an H.P. Lovecraft story). Pulled from those
sessions, in 1966 Dunwich released an Edwards solo 45:</span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">- 1966's
'Norwegian Wood' b/w 'Never Mind, I'm Freezing (Dunwich catalog number
45-117)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Paying his bills
working for Dunwich as a sessions vocalist, Edwards somehow managed to convince
company executives to let him form a band and take
another stab at recording material.
Teaming up with singer/keyboardist Dave Michaels, the duo
"borrowed" bassist Frank Bartoli, guitarist Kal David and drummer
Fred Pappalardo (all members of The Rovin Kind), to record their debut
single 'Anyway That You Want Me' b/w 'It's All Over For
You' (Philips catalog number 40464). While the single failed to chart it generated considerable
media interest allowing Edwards and Michaels to recruit a full time band, consisting
of guitarist Tony Cavallari, bassist Tom Skidmore (quickly replaced by
former Shadows of the Knight alumnus Jerry McGeorge) and drummer Michael
Tegza. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">While their debut single failed to chart it attracted enough attention for Philips
to finance an LP. The band's self-titled 1967 debut showcased an
impressive mixture of originals and well chosen cover tunes. Crediting their
inspiration to novelist H.P. Lovecraft's "macabre tales and poems of
Earth populated by another race" "<b><u>H.P.
Lovecraft</u></b>" found the band taking folk-rock structures
and adding a series of psychedelic
touches (stabbing organs, woodwinds, feedback guitar) to a set full of great
vocals, strong melodies and killer harmonies. The results were nothing short of inspired. Gifted
vocalists on their own,
Edwards and Michaels also had the ability to knit their voices together,
turning in some of the era's tightest
harmonies. On tracks such as 'That's the Bag I'm
In' and 'White Ship' (the later inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft novella) the results made for a dynamite presentation.
Epitomized by dark swirling
arrangements, material such as their cover of 'Let's Get Together'
(recorded a full year before The Youngblood's version), 'The Drifter'
and 'Wayfaring Stranger' managed to be dark and depressing but still retain
a highly commercial edge. Elsewhere, their Jefferson Airplane-styled cover of
'I've
Been Wrong Before' made them one of the first band's to cover Randy
Newman's eclectic catalog. Philips tapped the album for a pair of singles:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- 1967's 'Wayfaring Stranger' b/w 'Time Machine' (Philips catalog number 40491) <br />- 1967's 'White Ship Part 1' b/w 'White Ship Part 2' (Philips catalog number 40506)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There second LP is almost as good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The Human Beinz</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre: pop-psych</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: *** (3 stars) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Genre: psych <br />Title: Nobody But Me <br />Company: Capital </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Catalog: ST 2906 <br />Year: 1968 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reasonable price: $25.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Produced by Lex de Azevedo
(who was also credited with contributed four songs to the collection),1968's "<b><u>Nobody But Me</u></b>"
found The Human Beinz finally making it to the big time via a contract with
Capital. Musically the set offered up a standard mix of popular covers
with the band allowed to record a couple of originals. Admittedly it
was inconsistent, but given their youth and inexperience, I've always found
this set to be charming. On YouTube, rhythm guitarist Markulin
described the band as "<i>We were four self
taught musicians that really didn't have much studio experience before
Capitol signed us. We just listened to the way the Beatles recorded
and realized most of the fullness of their sound came from the piano and
acoustic guitar.</i>" I'd argue that was somewhat of
an understatement since the overall sound was quite diverse and technically
impressive. While their cover of
Hendrix's "Foxey Lady" wasn't anything special, elsewhere 'The Shaman',
'' and 'Turn On Your Love Light' were all strong garage rockers. Blessed with a suitably
taunt and raw voice, Belley proved well suited for the material, while the
rest of the band displayed more competence than expected from your average
bar band. Elsewhere 'Flower Grave', a cover of the traditional ballad
'</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair'</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">
and the bizarro Beach Boys-collide-with-The-Beatles 'It's Fun
To Be Clean' were interesting in that they found the band taking tentative
steps towards a more psychedelic-oriented sound. At least to my
ears the album's most atypical performance was also the standout - 'Dance
On Through'. With a distinctive pop edge, the combination of </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">strumming guitars and tinkling organ made the song irresistible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>ROBERT SAVAGE</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rating: **** (4 stars)<br />Title: The Adventures of Robert Savage, Volume 1<br />Company: Paramount<br />Catalog: PAS-6016<br />Year: 1971<br />Country/State: California, USA<br />Reasonable price: $25.00</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Anyone got a clue on this short-lived early 1970s trio? The fact that their sole album was recorded in California with Keith Olsen engineering leads me to believe they were American, but who knows. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Released by Paramount Records, 1971's "<b><u>The Adventures of Robert Savage, Volume 1</u></b>" is one of those albums that initially doesn't seem to have a great deal going for it. Based on the sci-fi cover I bought it expecting something vaguely progressive. Not even close. LOL. The first time I spun it the Hendrix-styled rockers quickly faded into background noise. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, rather just wasn't very imaginative. Luckily I dumped it into an 'also ran' pile that I came back to a couple of months later. Mind you, this set won't change your life in any way, but namesake guitarist Savage (aka Bobby Arlin or The Hook and The Leaves fame), singer/ bassist Don Parish and drummer Tommy Richards turned in what is a pretty impressive set of Hendrix-inspired hard rock and white boy blues. With Savage/Arlin and Parish responsible for most of the nine compositions, tracks like 'Amy (The Insane)' and the instrumental 'Road Apples' demonstrated that Savage was a more than competent guitarist. That said, the band's secret weapon was singer/bassist Parish. Parish had a killer growl of a voice that bore a mild resemblance to a more versatile Tony Joe White, or perhaps James Dewar (of Robin Trower fame). Virtually everything he sang was worth hearing. On the other hand lyrically tracks such as 'Beaver Baby', ' A Hard One' and 'Seven Days Drunk' weren't exactly Pulitzer Prize noteworthy, though they were goofy enough to be worth hearing. Be sure to check out 'Amy (The Insane)'). It all came together in the form of the bizarre 'Save Us from the Cyclops'. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Definitely derivative, but it's one of those albums that I find gets better every time I spin it.</span></div>
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-78806297266567626922018-04-08T09:43:00.002-07:002020-05-19T21:16:37.464-07:00TED NUGENT SALE <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I don't identify with any particular
political party, rather vote on the issues as I see them. That means I
tend to be pretty conservative with respect to fiscal issues and a little more
liberal with respect to other issues impacting day-to-day lifestyle choices. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">So what's that
got to do with my interests in music? Well,
I saw this little blurb in the news. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">"<i>Don’t ask
why. Just know that evil, dishonesty, and scam artists have always been around
and that right now they’re liberal, they’re Democrat, they’re RINOs, they’re
Hollywood, they’re fake news, they’re media, they’re academia, and they’re half
of our government, at least. So come to that realization. There are
rabid coyotes running around. You don’t wait till you see one to go get your
gun. Keep your gun handy, and every time you see one, you shoot one</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Ted Nugent in an
interview with Media Matters</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">I've actually
been a longtime fan of Nugent the musician. I have a bunch of his albums
going all the way back to his Amboy Dukes days. As a teenager I found his brand
of independence kind of entertaining and will admit I spent way too much time
listening to the live LP, but when anyone suggests killing a fellow American;
particularly because you don't happen to agree with their political outlook
... Yeah, that's a real problem. Hopefully Nugent was just trying
to be humorous, but that statement isn't funny. It's about as funny as
pointing out Nugent has taken pride in telling the media he was a draft dodger
during the Vietnam war. I won't even bother going into the story of how a
then 30 year old Nugent reportedly adopted a 17 year old girl so he could live
with her (no, the relationship was not your typical father-daughter set-up, not
did the relationship last). And this man is a representative of the
National Rifle Association? Seriously, the NRA wants someone like
the Nugent representing them? Out of the 300+ million Americans, he's their
choice? They seriously condone a message like this? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, what about
free speech ... You can't yell "fire" in a movie theater.
You can't piss on your neighbor's door. So why should he be allowed to
condemn roughly half of all Americans? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">So I was going
to sell my Nugent rec</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">ord collection at a bargain price and then donate the few
dollars I received to some local Mothers Against Violence coalition.
Instead I decided to simply pitch the albums in the trash (see below) and I'll
make the donation out of my own pocket.</span></span></div>
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-9766389112665217292018-01-20T04:25:00.001-08:002018-04-09T03:34:29.083-07:00GOOD JOB MR. PRESIDENT<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN COMES ON TRUMP 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">"<span style="font-family: , sans-serif;">I’m a very good mediator and a very good arbitrator. I have done plenty of it from both sides."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">DONALD TRUMP</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Seriously ? You just shut down the government Mr. President. Your negotiating skills are about as good as the rest of your skills set .. Not much to be proud of in that package. I think my 14 year old could have done a better job handling this situation. </span></span></span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-12543525679562206462017-11-11T18:07:00.000-08:002019-11-02T19:53:47.140-07:00AMAZON MAY BE MORE MESSED UP THAN THE GOVERNMENT<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After four years selling used records on Amazon and earning a 4.9 out of 5.0 star rating, I just closed my account. In all honesty, my account was actually suspended for falling below Amazon's on-time delivery metric. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I wanted to keep the account open since Amazon was an expensive platform to sell on, but provided a steady stream of sales to US customer. Unfortunately my efforts to submit a remediation plan went nowhere and after two weeks of continual frustration, I just reached the point where it was not worth my time or effort to pursue it any longer, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With that background I thought I'd highlight just how screwed up Amazon's seller support process is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Submitting a remediation plan seemed like a pretty easy task. Within an hour of getting my notice of suspension I'd forwarded a list of actions to get my account back up to par.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*******************************************************************************</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f4f4f4; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1.). Yesterday (October 29th) my only outstanding order was shipped. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f4f4f4;">2.). Yesterday (October 29th) I updated my inventory listing to eliminate items that are no longer available. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: #f4f4f4;" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f4f4f4;">3.). In the future I will make use of the “vacation” account close down feature prior to embarking on business and personal travel. </span><span style="background-color: #f4f4f4;">Combined all of these actions should result in a marked improvement to on-time deliveries. </span><br />Greetings from Amazon Seller Support.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately Amazon did't like the plan. After I called seller support I got the following email telling me how to submit a remediation plan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hi Scott,this is xxxx, the associate whom you've spoken with. Thank you for contacting us.<br />Here is my sample POA for Late Shipment Rate. You may get some ideas here or paraphrase and add additional information as well. Please send it to seller-<a href="mailto:performance@amazon.com" style="cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">performance@amazon.com</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Plan of Action<br />Dear Amazon Seller Performance,<br />Thank you for allowing us to appeal the suspension of our selling privileges. We are aware about our Late Shipment Rate metric which is above the maximum target of 4% and I want to apologize for our poor Late Shipment Rate performance.<br />-The issues that caused the complaints:<br />Orders were not shipped on the stated handling time as I was "REASON OF LATE SHIPMENT" which cause unforeseen delays on shipping the orders. These issues were due to poor oversight by management and inefficient procedures.<br />To eliminate future problems, we will improve our current standards regarding:<br />• Order fulfillment practices. Our standard procedure is to check each orders handling time and make sure to ship it on time or on it's Delivery Date to<br />ensure there are no more late deliveries.<br />• We will also review the feedbacks from the customers about our Shipment Processes.<br />• Have a designated staff member to monitor orders and comply with Amazon's polices and the performance requirements.<br />• Take care to more closely monitor my performance to make sure I meet Amazon's selling standards and to read through the Amazon Item Availibity Guidelines to make sure we are properly handling our inventory.<br />• Keep the items that we list in stock<br />• Extend our lead time to ensure you can deliver within the timeframe<br />• Put account on vacation settings if we are unavailable to ship<br />• Hire more staff if necessary to manage shipping volume<br />• We will be implementing a policy to verify at the end of each day that the data was uploaded correctly and that all items that were shipped and to verify<br />this shows this on Amazon.com. We will again check this each morning to re-verify that the correct items were marked as shipped with the correct tracking<br />numbers.<br />• We will be checking our Amazon Seller Dashboard each day to look to make sure that we are in line with Amazon.com policies.<br />• Will also notify our customers if there will be delay on the shipping.<br />Please let us know if you require any further information.<br />Once again, we apologize for our lack of oversight and look forward to your consideration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At first I thought the email had to be a joke. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Their template was simultaneously, bizarre, appalling, insulting, and pathetic. If a high schooler submitted something like this as an assignment, you'd fail them. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The template just reeks with "big brother" attitude, but I swallowed my pride and submitted another remediation package:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have a small business selling used records on Amazon under the name BadCatRecords. My account was justifiably suspended at the end of October for poor delivery times.<br />When the account was suspended I contacted Amazon's customer seller group. They provided me with a template for requesting my account be reactivated. I filled the template out and returned it, but have been told it does not provide sufficient information for Amazon to make a decision on reactivating my account. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The main drivers for the slow delivery times stem from three factors. I've listed them and the corrective actions I have implemented and will continue to put in place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />FACTOR 1: I spend quite a bit of time on business travel.<br />REMEDIATION PLAN: When on travel it is impossible to process, or ship orders. To avoid this issue in the future I have familiarized myself with the Amazon "vacation" feature and will shut my catalog down several days prior to embarking on business travel.<br />FACTOR 2: In several cases I had difficulty locating items in my inventory.<br />REMEDIATION PLAN: I sell used records and they are typically shelved by artist name and album title. In several cases items were not where they should have been, requiring added time to locate them in the stacks. I've gone through the inventory refiling inventory to make sure items are filed in the correct locations. I will now shelve new additions on a weekly basis.<br />FACTOR 3: There have been instances where items listed on my inventory were simply not available.<br />REMEDIATION: To avoid this scenario I have culled through my inventory twice, deleting all items that are no longer available. I will also undertake a weekly inventory review and update.<br /><br />Combined these actions should result in significant improvements to on-time deliveries, bringing BadCatRecords back to the 96% target rate.<br />Thanks for your time<br />Scott Blackerby<br />doing business as BadCatRecords</span><br />
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<span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My remediation package resulted in the following email:</span><br />
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<span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We received your information, but your plan is not complete. Our review of your account found the following problems. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Your late shipment rate is higher than the goal of less than 4%. Explain how you will prevent late shipments in the future. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To sell on Amazon.com, please reply to this message with your plan to address these issues. Once we receive your plan, we will review it and decide whether you may sell on Amazon.com again. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For help creating your plan, search for "Appeal the Removal of Selling Privileges" in Seller Central Help. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Have questions? We can help right away. Contact us (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/contact-us/performance). </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We look forward to hearing from you.</span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sincerely, </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seller Performance Team </span><br />
<span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amazon.com </span><br />
<span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.com</span><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I sent several more emails asking for some information on what was required for a successful remediation package. Each time Amazon barfed out an emails, each saying the same thing:</span><br />
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<span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We received your information, but your plan is not complete. Our review of your account found the following problems. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Your late shipment rate is higher than the goal of less than 4%. Explain how you will prevent late shipments in the future. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To sell on Amazon.com, please reply to this message with your plan to address these issues. Once we receive your plan, we will review it and decide whether you may sell on Amazon.com again. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For help creating your plan, search for "Appeal the Removal of Selling Privileges" in Seller Central Help. </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Have questions? We can help right away. Contact us (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/contact-us/performance). </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We look forward to hearing from you.</span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sincerely, </span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seller Performance Team </span><br />
<span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amazon.com </span><br />
<span class="small" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.com</span><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8;">So, after two weeks and a couple of hours of effort, I've given up. I apparently could have submitted a remediation plan that said I'd paiint my house red, dance naked in the street, and pay Amazon to let me sell records and I would have gotten the same canned email. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8;">What a screwed up process.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8;">Goodbye Amazon. Great place to buy stuff, but if you're a seller, you are going to get screwed in one way, or another. At least I'm getting out before sellers start losing money to buyers who simply decide they don;t want to pay for an item. LOL</span></span><br />
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-57183891854413050442017-01-28T16:59:00.003-08:002017-01-28T16:59:51.722-08:00Trump's 'Extreme Vetting' Leaves Thousands Scrambling At Airports<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not particularly political, but this is not the America that I know and love. For the first time in my life I wrote my Governor and my Senators asking them to fight against this action.</span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-42720604376222907852016-11-06T04:37:00.001-08:002016-11-06T04:42:40.128-08:00SPHINX "JUDAS"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLham6XcrlnW4mn5s_w7YRs899-PpsxTVWjS3SKv4nstfoBQccG4v9DpLbk9JTCGEB9Jqlti-NAmUrzu2ilO1e8jhFPTLI8Ai3NYcMsogfAzGzYYcZMJCjbi9VE_e74ma-c2EKS4kEQBc/s1600/BADCAT.2679.large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLham6XcrlnW4mn5s_w7YRs899-PpsxTVWjS3SKv4nstfoBQccG4v9DpLbk9JTCGEB9Jqlti-NAmUrzu2ilO1e8jhFPTLI8Ai3NYcMsogfAzGzYYcZMJCjbi9VE_e74ma-c2EKS4kEQBc/s1600/BADCAT.2679.large.jpg" /></a><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Artist: Spinx</span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Album; Judas</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Year: 1977</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Label: Raas</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Catalog: 2933 105</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Condition: VG+ cover / VG+ LP</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'll admit it - I'm addicted to buying interesting looking albums by bands I know nothing about. Most of the time they turn out to be crap, but once in awhile I stumble across something that's good, or at least interesting in a bizarre fashion.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, this one certainly fits the latter category.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Alec R. Costandinos started out as a singer, but enjoyed his initial international successes working with the band Aphrodite's Child and Vangelis in his solo career. By the mid''70s he was also dabbling in disco and with partner Don Ray made this bizarre album. Released in 1977 at the zenith of disco madness, "Judas" featured two side-long songs - "Judas Iscariot" and "Simon Peter," basically setting the story of Judas' betrayal of Christ.to a disco beat. The disco arrangement's aren't anything you haven't heard before (okay the Gregorian chants are a little out of the ordinary), but the theme ... well hard for me to picture coked out dance patrons shaking their <span style="color: white;">groove things to t</span><span style="color: white;">his o</span><span style="color: white;">ne.</span></span></span></span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-23013899712712367702016-10-25T19:22:00.003-07:002016-10-25T19:22:26.527-07:00EVER HAD A SONG CREEP INTO YOUR HEAD?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My father died about 20 years ago. He's buried in a small cemetery in Leesburg, Virginia. His grave is in the cemetery's older section, surrounded my a mixture of older and newer graves. Overlooking this section of the graveyard is a majestic, old Maple tree.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow, I had a physical this morning and after getting through it unscathed, I decided to take the day off. After doing a couple of other chores I suddenly decided to drive out to Leesburg to say hello and make sure his plot was clean. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was one of those wonderful Fall days. Bright blue skies; warm sunshine; green, green grass, and that Maple tree just beginning to change colors. Anyhow, as I was standing there trimming the grass around the grave James Taylor's 'September Grass' climbed into my head. It was the perfect soundtrack for the afternoon. Simply one of my favorite Taylor tunes:</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7vsh-YZxFw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7vsh-YZxFw</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-840034669430356262016-10-01T18:06:00.000-07:002018-04-09T03:36:20.106-07:00ROCK'S WORST VOICES<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I writing this knowing full well I have no musical talents. After all, how many folks do you know who have been kicked out of seventh grade recorder band? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Against that backdrop I have zero credentials for criticizing other folks. 'Course that's not going to stop me from putting this list on the web.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"># 10 - Tony Bird</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Bird's a white African born in <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Malawi, living in New York.</span> He's recorded sporadically since the mid-'70s with a couple of obscure albums seeing an American release <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(1976's "<u>Tony Bird</u>", 1978's "<u>Tony Bird of Paradise</u>", and 1990's "<u>Sorry Africa</u>"). </span>Imagine a mash-up of old Bob Dylan and "Graceland" era Paul Simon and you'll have a rough idea of what Bird sounds like. His voice is something else. Thin, dry, and nasally, he sings as if infected with a nasty lisp. His accent (apparently a mix of English and Afrikaans) makes it even harder to figure out what he's singing about (though the themes are often activist in nature related to his home country). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Admittedly the sound quality isn't particularly good and this is a live performance, but this clip from a 1983 performance at the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Winnipeg Folk Festival will</span> give you a taste of Mr. Bird: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyJRQ2JWkEg"><span style="color: cyan;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyJRQ2JWkEg</span></a></span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-4431047222268217072016-09-26T14:09:00.001-07:002016-09-26T14:11:29.795-07:00WHEN YOU SEE THE UNFORTUNATE, WHAT'S THE ANSWER?<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;">My wife will tell you I have the sensitivity and awareness of a brick. Usually she's right. I tend to be pretty oblivious to most things.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;">Anyhow, after seeing a photo reflecting how much weight I'd put on, for the last year I've made it a habit of trying to walk whenever I can. One of the places I'll walk is to my local library. It's about two miles each way so I'll put on my earbuds and listen to NPR, or a Pod episode while I make my pilgrimage.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;">Sunday I walked into a situation I'd never encountered before. I was a couple of blocks from the library and I saw a young woman sitting in a wheelchair in the middle of a side street. She looked bewildered and was in tears. Like a lot of people I tend to shy away from engaging with folks I don't know. In this case I was walking by her and stopped to ask what was happening and if there was anything I could do. The girl (her name was Haley), was probably in her early 20s. Long hair, pretty face, very quiet and demure. It turns out she and her boyfriend were staying in a Fairfax County shelter which happens to be located right next to the library. Her story was that she and the boyfriend had a massive fight and he stormed out of the shelter. She followed him in her wheelchair, but he started running and she couldn't keep up. When she finally stopped she discovered she didn't know where she was. That's when I crossed paths with her.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;" /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;">Even though she didn't realize it, Haley was only a block away from the shelter and so I told her I'd walk back with her. She was clearly upset by the episode so we didn't say a great deal during the walk. She wheeled herself along the sidewalk and I walked along with her and in five minutes we were back on familiar ground. As we were waiting to cross the street to get to the library and the shelter, I asked her what she was going to do. Her response was to text the boyfriend, but her phone had broken so she'd use one of the library computers. At that moment her chair was sitting in the middle of a busy library parking lot so I asked her to let me wheel her across the lot, up the handicap access ramp into the library. She agreed and that's what I did. Last I saw of her she was heading for the library computers. After I check out some new books I looked around, but she'd seemingly already left so I walked home.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">So now I'm wondering if there's anything else I could have done, or should have done for Haley .</span></span><span style="background-color: white;">..</span></span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-46531409634334766052016-09-24T15:51:00.002-07:002016-09-24T15:51:32.370-07:00HONEY LET'S GO TO A HOME IMPROVEMENT SHOW - NEVER AGAIN<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not sure why, but a couple of weeks ago we got a couple of free tickets to a home improvement show here in Northern Virginia. Given we've been thinking about undertaking some renovations we decided to check it out in the hopes of getting some good ideas and seeing some of the new materials and products available on the market.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This particular show is held at this gigantic old box store that's been converted into a site for all kinds of shows and conventions. You walk into the gigantic open space and there are literally a couple of hundred displays lined up into about a dozen aisles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What we didn't expect was to be accosted by dozens of vendors and contractors looking to sell us everything from new windows, to some new brand of power drink, and everything in between. Insurance? LED lit shoes? Body massages? Candy? What in the world ? As we wanted up and down the displays we were literally attacked by desperate vendors anxious to give us an opportunity to save money on this product, or that product, while getting a chance to win $10,000, $100,000, a new car, an old car, a vacation, etc. And there was the sale material. You could turn around without some stuffing a sales brochure in your hands. As fast as people have me stuff I threw it into the garbage cans helpful placed at the end of each aisle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most common approach seemed to be "Sign up for a chance to win xxx ..." or "So what's your next renovation effort?" We quickly discovered the way to disengage and move on was to tell them we were interested in tile. Most of the vendors weren't selling tile so they had no interest in us. On the couple of occasions we were confronted with tile dealers we said we were interested in pest control. Between those responses, walking in the center of the aisle, preferably behind older people, and keeping our eyes on the ground, we managed to navigate the last half of the show/obstacle course without too much pain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here's where it got even stranger. There was a guy selling tile that looks like wood flooring. We're actually interested in putting it in our bathrooms. We wanted to find out more about the product - styles, colors, costs. The vendor had zero interest in us. Basically blew us off. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good news is we were in and out of the place (including a bathroom break) in less than 45 minutes. Went to Old Town Alexandria for the rest of the day. Much more fun.</span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-4413252053407737422016-09-17T20:03:00.003-07:002016-09-18T16:31:36.280-07:00YES, I'VE BEEN PART OF THE KARDASHIAN PROBLEM<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A couple of weeks ago I discovered I was reading a Yahoo story about one of the Kardashians - something to do with one of them being fed up with a former basketball player husband. I guess there are a couple of them in that position. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This evening I noticed that three of the top-40 banner articles on AOL are about the Kardashians. Pardon my language, but WTF? I'll admit they're all attractive, but I know next to nothing about them. They're famous for something, though I don't have a clue what it is, other than one has a butt that's insured for $1M, or something along those lines. I've never seen their television show(s). I've never bought any of their products.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So as one of $330 million Americans, I'm done with the Kardashians. I don't care if the whole family shows up at my home naked and throwing hundred dollar bills at me. I'm not going to pay attention to anything that carries a Kardashian tag.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are simply too many other things going on in the world to waste my limited time on these folks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So my small, insignificant life is now officially Kardashian free. </span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-2720555792321862812016-09-04T07:59:00.002-07:002016-09-04T07:59:49.899-07:00A BEER FOR VINYLHOLICS<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admittedly I'm not a beer snob. I tend to avoid brews that are flowery, or appear to be a fruit juice, rather than a real beer, but If it is cold, I'm liable to indulge. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago a friend who knew about my vinyl addiction gave me a six pack of a product manufactured by the Great Lakes Brewing Company (Cleveland Ohio) - Turntable Pils (a Czech-styled Pilsner). I live in Virginia which probably explains why I'd never heard of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow, the beer wasn't half bad - nice summer beverage. The label is the crowning glory. Perfect for any of you that suffer the same addiction I have. By the way, that was the last of the six pack. Will have to search around for some more.</span></div>
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-59289621135279237632016-02-03T17:28:00.001-08:002016-02-03T17:28:49.235-08:00AND YOU THOUGHT ONLY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS A MESS - AMAZON ISN'T FAR BEHIND<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to admit I think Amazon is a pretty amazing company, but anyone who thinks the Federal Government is the only messed up organization is wrong. Amazon has more than its share of issues.<br /><br />So first let me tell you I have a small sellers account on Amazon where I sell used records albums. If you're under 30, there's a good chance you won't have a clue what an album is. Ask your parent, or grandparents about record albums. They'll tell you about the old, pre compact disc, or MP3 files world. Anyhow, I sell used albums. Most were pressed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, well before the introduction of Universal Price Codes (those little black and white bar codes you see on virtually every product known to mankind).<br /><br />Back to Amazon. If you have a sellers account, when you add a new product to their sales inventory they want you to provide a UPC code, or something similar like an International Article Number (EAN) identifier. I fully understand the concept. Makes sense for a retailer to have that kind of product information.<br /><br />What happens for those millions of items that don't have UPC, or other codes ? Well for books you can ask Amazon for an exemption from the requirement. You fill out a short form; send it in, and when Amazon approves your request, if you go to sell an old book that doesn't have a UPC code, no problems. <br /><br />Well, just like books there are millions of pre-mid-'80s record albums that don't have a UPC code. Shouldn't be a big deal to get an exemption for old albums right? Wrong. Amazon will not grant you an exemption for records. Their suggestions are to buy UPC codes for older item. Now I'll readily admit I did not know you could buy UPC and EAN codes. Turns out there are a slew of companies that will sell them to you. A typical UIC code will cost you roughly $1.29 (I'm sure there are discounts it you buy lots of them at once). <br /><br />So Amazon wants me to pay an added fee to get a UPC code and the privilege of doing the work to add a new item to their inventory, in addition to the privilege of paying them the existing fees they collect on sales ... Maybe it's just me, but something doesn't seem right here. Am I going to pay $1.29 to get a UPC code for a used album that I bought for $2.00 and will sell for $10.00? I don't think so.<br /><br />So where's that leave me? Well from here on out I will only list albums that are already listed on Amazon since I won't need to worry about a UPC code for an existing item. That means the more obscure and expensive albums I own and would like to sell, will not be listed on Amazon. Those items will get listed on MusicStack, CD and LPs, and Discogs. Those companies will get their cuts of the sales, That means Amazon won't be getting their slice of the sales for those items. Not that Amazon cares one way or the other. Still,you've got to wonder. If they can't get this little thing right, what hope is there for the rest of the system? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And as for those helpful folks staffing Amazon's customer service group ... Ever had to talk to the IRS about a tax issue? Well, my experience with the IRS was more helpful than dealing with the Amazon folks.</span>BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-4578516789316047002016-01-26T17:53:00.000-08:002016-01-26T17:53:03.926-08:00WAS (NOT WAS) "KNOCKED DOWN, MADE SMALL (TREATED LIKE A RUBBER BALL)"<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Knocked
Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball) (Don Was - David
Was) - 3:05</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0b45LMNEO1D3MMy0CZaHV_FO_70c1K8jIVBJzB_cqYAXCChxGHPQxWOb9MdfFHUqwH_T5ogVdsgAudAtE-IhRkgGFFQI96RSgoCE_W5bhSiNCYZ1YpNu2SGyW3otf-nXimPf-NtFFs44/s1600/WASnotWAS451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0b45LMNEO1D3MMy0CZaHV_FO_70c1K8jIVBJzB_cqYAXCChxGHPQxWOb9MdfFHUqwH_T5ogVdsgAudAtE-IhRkgGFFQI96RSgoCE_W5bhSiNCYZ1YpNu2SGyW3otf-nXimPf-NtFFs44/s320/WASnotWAS451.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">With
Sweat Pea Atkinson handling the lead vocal, the soul-meets-rock mash-up
results were staggering. I remember hearing the tune on the radio one
afternoon and wondering who the world these guys were. I then saw the
MTV video and was equally stunned. I may be way off target, but I
always thought the tune was about spousal and child abuse and I remember the
original MTV video (with some serious bad mid-'80s production work), having
a plotline that seemed to support that contention. The video was
subsequently edited deleting the abuse part of the story, </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Regardless
of the song's intent, one of the classic '80s tunes. By the way,
YouTube has both of the promotional videos: </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGgRipOH0nY "><span style="color: blue;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGgRipOH0nY </span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nqKOFNA6dg"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nqKOFNA6dg</span></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">The tune was tapped as a single:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <u>7" format</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-
1983's 'Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball)' b/w '<span class="tracklist_track_title" itemprop="name">Man
Vs. The Empire Brain Building</span>' (Geffen catalog number <span>7-29407</span>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> 12" format</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-
1983's '<span class="tracklist_track_title" itemprop="name">Knocked Down,
Made Small (Treated Like A Rubber Ball)' and 'Bow Wow Wow Wow' b/w </span>'Smile'
and '<span class="tracklist_track_title" itemprop="name">Shake Your Head
(Let's Go To Bed)</span>' (Geffen catalog number PRO-A-2079) </span><br />
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-3989899952797469792016-01-03T18:37:00.002-08:002016-01-03T18:42:23.637-08:00BETTYE CRUTCHER "UP FOR A LITTLE DOWN"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjvFIxk9dP5SmbMB5ONHwcIdy8p_x5t_Bc0KkYHYwAYcuBP0NNM9tD3l1ezbOrpMoTRM-4aoFaE_0DevhT_P097si6w0jOuaFrm9mTk48ZBd2hhPtcglH8hzVKapKf7ZHzi5FQ6fuX7o/s1600/CRUTCHERbettye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjvFIxk9dP5SmbMB5ONHwcIdy8p_x5t_Bc0KkYHYwAYcuBP0NNM9tD3l1ezbOrpMoTRM-4aoFaE_0DevhT_P097si6w0jOuaFrm9mTk48ZBd2hhPtcglH8hzVKapKf7ZHzi5FQ6fuX7o/s1600/CRUTCHERbettye.jpg" /></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bettye Crutcher only recorded one album during her life and for some reason I thought I'd sold my a couple of years ago. Crutcher was better known as a songwriter, but she had a great voice and if you ever get a chance to buy it, pick up a copy of 1972's "Long As You Love Me". Anyhow, discovering I still had a copy of the album I decided to give it a spin to see if it was as good as I remember. For the most part it was. The one track I didn't remember being as good was 'Up for a Little Down'</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p>If you're a certain age (say your mid-'50s like me), then
you're liable to have fond memories of some of the Bacharach-David tunes Dionne
Warwick turned into mega hits. Admittedly many of their collaborations
leaned to MOR, but it was quality MOR with hooks that were beyond
reproach. Why am I mentioned this? Well this breezy tune could
easily have come from the same source - if you've ever smiled when hearing 'Do
You Know the Way To San Jose', or 'I Say a Little Prayer' you were liable to
get the same feeling listening to this one. Another track where you had
to wonder how Stax missed the ball.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here's a YouTube link: </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH2bSYz7S1E"><span style="background: white; color: blue; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH2bSYz7S1E</span></a></span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8186540265651586051.post-28854579676621172572016-01-03T18:20:00.001-08:002017-11-19T00:27:01.438-08:00BETTY CRUTCHER - "LONG AS YOU LOVE ME"<div style="margin-bottom: -18px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiouqgT31O-pDqlsag5htUwpGqJjWKuL85BzPh-cxjMnTB1cEhz6hpXtAA3Tm0JSiOn-y3jqbk_zH_5HgNbYi2PyJg1Obj8t6q15EwUBEkGeBQbZX58iGz6cG5SIpey0LaGKDseZ8_5z7k/s1600/CRUTCHERbettye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiouqgT31O-pDqlsag5htUwpGqJjWKuL85BzPh-cxjMnTB1cEhz6hpXtAA3Tm0JSiOn-y3jqbk_zH_5HgNbYi2PyJg1Obj8t6q15EwUBEkGeBQbZX58iGz6cG5SIpey0LaGKDseZ8_5z7k/s1600/CRUTCHERbettye.jpg" /></a><span style="color: cyan; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">
</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bettye Crutcher only recorded one album during her life and for some reason I thought I'd sold my a couple of years ago. Crutcher was better known as a songwriter, but she had a great voice and if you ever get a chance to buy it, pick up a copy of 1972's "Long As You Love Me".</span><span style="font-family: "arial";">Anyhow, discovering I still had a copy of the album I decided to give it a spin to see if it was as good as I remember. For the most part it was. The one track I didn't remember being as good was 'Up for a Little Down'.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: -18px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: -18px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial";">If you're a certain age (say your
mid-'50s like me), then you're liable to have fond memories of some of the
Bacharach-David tunes Dionne Warwick turned into mega hits. Admittedly
many of their collaborations leaned to MOR, but it was quality MOR with hooks
that were beyond reproach. Why am I mentioned this? Well thia breezy tune could easily have come from the same source - if you've
ever smiled when hearing 'Do You Know the Way To San Jose', or 'I Say a Little
Prayer' you were liable to get the same feeling listening to this one.
Another track where you had to wonder how Stax missed the ball. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "arial";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black;">Here's a YouTube link:</span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH2bSYz7S1E"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH2bSYz7S1E</span></a></span><br />
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BADCATRECORDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10386711556731595929noreply@blogger.com0