Basement Party 2

Basement Party 2

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tonight's Slab: I Got the Beat

Well, the Canadian Belle (my "Zooey-esque" girlfriend) is at the bar with co-workers, so I'm holed up in the office of Castle JEP looking at cool stuff online and digging some tunes. I purchased a BOATLOAD of records over the past month and am slowly listening to the mountain of sides that recently came into my possession. To record some of my purchases for posterity, I thought I would start a new semi-regular blog feature I'll call "Tonight's Slab."

Have fun babe. It's cute when you come to bed with Pabst on your breath!

Spinning on the table tonight is the debut album by The Go Gos, "Beauty and the Beat." I dropped the needle on this one, cranked the sound way up, and could feel the pulsing beat of the kick-drum as their song "Our Lips Are Sealed" bounced exuberantly out of my speakers. I have dug the Go Gos since high school, when I became acquainted with their hits via VH1 shows like "I Love the '80s." Their music has a punk attitude melded with catchy pop hooks. Unlike some of the *shudder* "mall punk" bands of 10 years back or so, the Go Gos had real punk credibility.






I picked up this record, along with their third studio album "Talk Show," for $2 each at East Lansing's legendary Flat, Black & Circular. Near mint vinyl for $2 a pop...you can't beat it! This store been around since 1976 and has a great selection with reasonable prices. When I went in there Super Bowl weekend the place was busy as heck! Word of warning, the record store clerks I have encountered are of the surly, music snob variety.

The Go Gos broke up in 1985 but have had numerous reunions. I think it would be a fun show to go see if they end up on tour again sometime soon. There's one other thing I should mention when discussing my fondness for the Go Gos: my humongous crush on rhythm guitarist and co-vocalist Jane Wiedlin. I just love her spunkiness and cutesy voice. And I have a thing for brunettes.

Pay no mind to what they say, Jane. It doesn't matter anyway. Shall we go to the pub for a Pabst?



4 comments:

  1. You're stealing my Vinyl Fridays!!! Nah its cool, the more vinyl love the better!!!

    I never really got into the Go-Go's, but I as well always found the bassist super-hot. She's a spinner for sure.

    As for this record store of yours, I want to go when we are up there and i will take those snobs to school. I love nothing better than out-snobbing a snob. ;)

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  2. Funny side story that I was just reminded of that I must share now.

    Back when "Countdown" was coming out, I took my brother to the comic shop and he asked me if he should pick up any of the recent issues issues.

    I distinctly remember saying to him, "nah dude, I already let you read the ones that were good. This book has been shit since the 7th issue."

    Well, the store clerk (of the snob variety) got all pissed and butted his head in with the retort "you should let him make up his OWN mind. Countdown is essential DC Comics reading right now."

    I said "this is MY BROTHER, and I'll recommend him to read whatever the fuck I want, and Countdown isn't going to be it."

    Store clerk goes "well there's a lot of good stuff in Countdown, that's all I'm sayin'" as he turned back to stocking the shelf.

    I said "no-one would recommend Countdown to anyone, no matter how many copies are on the shelf." Snob-clerk had no retort.

    When we left, my brother said that it was awesome how I handled "the loser."

    Shop snobs ain't got nothing on me!

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  3. How could anyone in their right mind recommend Countdown? My God, that guy sounds like he had no shame.

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  4. Oh yeah Matt, I forgot to mention that the bassist of the Go Gos (Kathy Valentine) is easily my second favorite.

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