graypunk

So, when you can’t actually upload new stuff, you can always fall back to piling up records to upload when you can. In addition to the purchases I made on Thursday, I bought a good chunk of a private collection yesterday. Somewhere around 150 albums and thirty-something reel-to-reels. So I now have quite a backlog of stuff once I get my computer back (and once I ensure that everything is either still on it…or is restored to that state). Said collection is heavy on English folk, so heads up there. After that, a bunch of 60’s and 70’s rock. Smattering of blues, few jazz things, a handful of sealed 80’s titles, amongst others. Oh, and a sealed copy of a super nice German six-lp Buddy Holly box. So, if any of that sounds good, hang in there until, hopefully, mid-to-late next week.

Yes, all has been quiet as of late. And all will likely continue to be quiet for the next week as the Graypunk office hub is a bit under the weather. At some point late Sunday night, my Macbook Pro screen darkened. And never, ummm, undarkened. Needless to say, I was semi-freaking about the impending trip to my local Genius Bar, concerned that it would be a prohibitively expensive visit, potentially resulting in me having to throw down for a new computer (and this one is only about 3.5 years old).

My local genius – Isaac – tells me that the video card is no good. He then tells me that it is actually part of the circuit board (or something like that), so not as simple as, well, replacing a video card. Okay, I tell myself, I’m gonna need to weigh the cost of replacing the guts of my current Mac with buying a shiny new model. Okay Isaac, give it to me. I’m a man. Well, physically anyway. Isaac tells me that the video card that was used in this model has a history of premature death. Okay… Then the kicker – Apple will fix it for free! And then when it’s been repaired, Apple will ship it to my house. For free! Now, I don’t wanna go on a Lefsetz “Steve Jobs is God” rant here, but this isn’t the first time I have had my ass kicked by Apple’s customer service. And I don’t expect it will be the last. And that is primarily why I’m a total Apple fanboy. That and the fact that the company just makes great – and great looking – stuff.

Anyway, yeah, no computer until early next week. And, hopefully, I’ll be back up and running shortly thereafter. I throw “hopeful” out there because there was one more thing Isaac mentioned to me before he took possession of my MacBook. “When was the last time you backed this thing up?”, he asked. Being the Apple-ist that I am, I have a Time Capsule, which wirelessly backs up my hard-drive every day. “Yesterday”, was the answer. He then tells me that when these kinda repairs are undertaken, the hard-drive often gets wiped out. Uh, gulp. Really? Really. Okay Apple, I can live with that as long as all your various pieces of  hardware – and accompanying software – work as seamlessly as they should. I’ll keep the faith. As my life – and my business! – are all on this computer, faith is all I have at the moment.

Once I have technology back on my side, I’ll be ready to upload a sweet stash of sealed records, including some very rare titles like Steely Dan’s “Two Against Nature”, Robert Plant’s “Dreamland” (hella limited and numbered), a reissue of Wolfman Jack & The Wolfpack on Bread and Iron Maiden’s triple-lp  epicness, “Rock In Rio”. Also some scarce stuff from name artists – Petty’s “Last DJ”, Creed’s “Human Clay”, Eminem’s “Slim Shady LP”, Aerosmith’s “Honkin’ On Bobo.” And finally, it’s tough to turn up punk stuff in halfway decent shape, let alone sealed, but managed to get my hands on some pretty tough-to-find titles from Less Than Jake, Poison The Well, Mr. T Experience, Reach The Sky, The Dickies (“All This And Puppet Stew”!) and Poison Idea (a limited, numbered German boot of a 1991 UK show snarkily entitled “Record Bootleggers Are Potential Millionaires”).

Yes, it was a good day in the vinyl mines. See you next week. I hope.

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