Monday, July 4, 2011

What's in the Bag? Part 2


(Figure One: The Bag - still)


So I'm talking about a musty old bag full of not-so- much that I dug out of the garage (further context and pictures can be found HERE) to whomever is still following this little digression (bless you!)


(Figure Five: The 8-Track)

A commenter asked about the presence of any cassette tapes in the bag and, shockingly, there wasn't a single one. There was, however, this vintage 8-Tracks (ask your grandparents!) of Winnipeg's legendary band, The Guess Who and their album "So Long Banatyne" (named after a famous city street). I bought it for .50 from a junk store because I wanted to stage a re-creation of the cover with this guy who looked EXACTLY like Randy Bachman (who isn't even on this album) for a Guess Who fanatic I knew in Vancouver... (Ah failed ideas I have known so many of you).


Figure Six: The Exes

The items are above are fragments of early relationships. I'm not exactly a pack rat but I do save odd things and then have difficulty throwing them away once they hit a certain level of resonance. The plastic bracket and the plastic vampire teeth on the top are from an early and awkward and intense dalliance (there's an old photo that I've grayed out simply because no matter how hard the photo was to zoom in, it felt weird). The ring box in the middle, is from more complex relationship partner, and has heart-shaped post-it notes and still smells of that perfume twenty years on and goes to show that I have had a few different types in my life. The fork on the bottom was a 'gift' (she stole it from a restaurant called the Four Seasons ) my first (and ne'er to be forgotten) girlfriend. End sappy part.


(Figure Seven: The Stickers)

Yes there were no actual cassette tapes herein but over a dozen different types of blank cassette stickers - man did I kill a lot of music via home-taping back in the day (And no I have no idea why this one image will not fucking turn sideways!)


(Figure Eight: The Needle)

A record needle because while we've got 8-tracks and cassette labels we need some more dated technology - there's gotta be an Edison Cylinder in here somewhere *digs*).


(Figure Nine: Nic-A-Brac)

I have a friend named Nic who travels the world (I've never left the North American continent) and two of these are gifts from those trips (both may be from India) but the third item is a one of those little emblems you could punch out messages on at airports back in the day. The message on this one really says that Nic "does Bob Dylan voices". This was a metallic lie. Nic refused to do Bob Dylan voices so I created an impersonation of "Nic Doing Bob Dylan" which devolved into further ridiculousness like "Nic doing Bob Dylan Doing Iron Maiden" ad nauseum. High school: Your excuse for everything.

Part 3 will come after a slight detour into Mega City Four

Feel free to give us your reasonably kind take on my little Heinrich Schliemann-meets-Marcel-Proust project in the COMMENTS section and, worry not, there's no way with my shutter skills that this blog is gonna decamp over to Flickr.

7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Sorry, had to delete my messge. The last paragraph contained a thought burp that seemed vaguely pornographic.

    It's interesting to think about why we save these things. All of this is completely useless, it's next viewing will be by your heirs, and it should be thrown out immediately. I'm certain that 50% will go back in the bag.

    I found this layer of the archeological dig more interesting. I have at least 100 of those cassette labels as well. They're stored in a walnut box from some sort of DiscWasher paraphernalia.

    On second thought, keep the romantic stuff. Dump the cassette & 8-Track stuff, the needle is probably a cheap one, and worn. Ditch it. I don't know what to do with Nic. Put either the cow or the token on your dresser or somewhere you'll see it occasionally. Whatever that black cow thing is, it isn't attractive and in the small picture it resembles a used condom. It's gotta go.

    You're doing better than I. I have boxes and boxes of stuff. I'd need Cinerama to take in the scope of my revered trash.

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  3. I find this all oddly fascinating... and also feel the need to dig through my closet shelf.

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  4. You are not alone. Who doesn't have boxes (or bags) or junk squirreled away, things that were once too valuable to discard? I love the cassette stickers and needle- I have stores of the same items. My 8-track collection, however, was tossed long ago although I did keep a copy of the Rock and Roll High School soundtrack for many, many moves until I finally pitched it. As for friends who sing- you should hear a pal of mine sing The Star Spangled Banner as Gordon Lightfoot. Thanks for sharing; it is comforting somehow to know that we have company out there.

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  5. Ah, a Maxell cassettes man...

    Respect!

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  6. I love these type of posts maybe more than music posts. I found some of my tapes from tape trading days recently.

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  7. Don
    "They're stored in a walnut box from some sort of DiscWasher paraphernalia."
    I so have that box!

    "I'd need Cinerama to take in the scope of my revered trash."
    I sense a vblog in the making...

    Adelle
    Glad this kept you interested (if you take photos let me know I'm thinking about doing a reader-generated follow-up.)

    fervorcoulee
    "Thanks for sharing; it is comforting somehow to know that we have company out there."
    Cuts right to the heart of the blog, that does.

    Bio
    Yeah though I was primarily a TDK man, it depended what was on sale at Brian Reimer Audio.

    Chris
    I love these kinds of posts too, glad to know it's not pure self-indulgence on my part to do them.

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