Hurts And Noises

Sorry, folks, the past few weeks have been hectic due to work and personal deadlines, so we've found ourselves with less time to spend 'round here. Fortunately, we've struck gold repeatedly lately, and our vinyl scores have made slogging thru the drudgery a fair bit easier.

Valery had been looking for this Nimbus 45 for longer than we've been together, and I'd made it my mission to locate a copy for her. Luckily, my pal Andreas (thanks, dude!) brought it to my attention because a.) the track she was after is the record's b-side (of course) and b.) the German PS misspells Lollipop, rendering all saved searches useless. I'm a complete sucker for the Pretty Things and being able to finally scratch the domestic pressing of their Midnight to Six Man single off my wantlist was a welcome relief indeed.

A few years back, my pal Michael gave me the Plugz Tie sleeve he'd inherited as part of David Wiley's (Consumers, Human Hands, etc) collection. I'd since kept the sleeve loose, storing it next to my standard copy of the EP, figuring I'd marry it up with a stray 45 eventually. Needless to say, I was stoked when my buddy Ryan recently came through with an unplayed sleeveless disc. Later that same week, my pal Marc pointed out a copy of the first Real Kids single that matched up splendidly with the mint picture sleeve (featured elsewhere) I'd found at last year's WFMU fair. Thanks again, fellas!

It should come as no surprise to you, dear readers, that those damn Gauls created some of our very favorite 70s punk rock, so imagine our elation at landing a Francophile 1-2 punch. How the Dogs' debut platter managed to elude us until now remains a total mystery. We'd been waiting and waiting for an unstamped, unclipped and unblemished copy of the Guilty Razors' sole vinyl offering for so long, it was beginning to look like we'd never succeed in snagging a copy. Many thanks to Hidehisa (and you, too, Mike!) for making this a reality!

You didn't think we'd leave you high and dry at the end, did you? Here we have a copy of the second Kriminella Gitarrer single—scored through sheer good fortune and, more importantly, on the relative cheap. Our hands-down favorite of their many fine moments ...although we would gladly change our minds if someone wanted to give us their Vårdad Klädsel 45.

Lastly, all of our li'l whittled models are recent acquisitions, too!

On Whom They Beat

Decided to devote this entry to the legion of furball Vikings who've had the good taste to make our foyer their own personal Valhalla. Popular during the mid-60s, the majority of 'em were manufactured in Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Japan. Valery originally started this collection, with me contributing a good chunk during our early courtship days. Nothing says I Love You like giving your girl an armed warrior bent on bloodshed and buggery.

Here are some of our favorites:

The middle guy's probably the most laughably hirsute of the bunch. Our blow-up doll Viking was a recent arrival and we're still trying to figure out what its designer, Carl Bent, was thinking when he dreamt it up. Guess he figured it was easy to get bored on a long voyage...

The guy on the left is my absolute favorite—I love his triangular body and mace. The other two guys are similarly bushy and menacing.

These three little guys make a great set. This larger one's an Italian lamp from the 60s. We've got a matching Caveman (as seen in the Sounds of the Weird-Ohs spread), too ...I'm sure we'll devote a separate entry to 'em somewhere down the line.

Our army stares wistfully at their ship on the horizon. Found the gnarled and enormous (it's 5' long!) Witco Knarr portrait listed on eBay by a seller in Atlanta. We were both stunned when it went for the minimum bid of $9.99. Needless to say, we picked it up in person the same day!

Sick Of Being Sick

Being under the weather lately's got us thinking about the many ways we're gonna indulge once we get past this damn flu—and has also led to us to a wistful examination of some of the vintage barware we've got laying around the house.

Valery found this set while on a road trip through Florida some years back. Don't really have much to go on except that each Beast is apparently summoned through the imbibing of the hard stuff. Bear, octopus, jackass and rodent ...definitely sounds like most drunks I know!

We found this pussycat set at a local thrift store for .35 a piece. There were originally four of 'em, but one shattered in my hand before we even left the store cuz I'm such a hulking brute.

Lastly, we located this lost C. Schulz masterpiece at a great antique store in Austin my buddy Ryan took us to while we were trekking between Arizona and Georgia.