gots to be starting something

Yesterday afternoon I inherited a rather large and significant record collection from Honorary Mama. She is moving from her apartment of 11 years and no longer has a turntable and told me she would probably just throw them away if I didn't come and get them, so I borrowed MelRo's car and Damon's arms and drove down to the south side to collect my find. Then we made a trip to Menards -- my first time in this store, and possibly my last only because I can't stand the commercials when I'm watching TV so I certainly can't stand them while I"m shopping. But they did have a nice pressed board cabinet with four shelves that, after an hour of putting together, now houses my bigger, better, badder record collection.

I think she gave me about 150 LP's and maybe a hundred 45's. Nothing is in particularly mint condition, but a lot of it is good or very good. And the amount of originals is astounding. The 12 inch single of Anita Ward's Ring My Bell. Original 12 inch of Rapper's Delight. Several James Brown singles. The 45 of Wanna Be Starting Something, where the b-side is the instrumental track. In case you didn't know, all of these are enough to make me wet myself.

Random facts about my collection: I diligently alphabetize by artist, but I don't particularly care about putting that artist's albums in any order. I used to to alpha by title, or sometimes chronological, but in the end I realized I don't care. If I want a Johnny Mathis album, I don't mind looking through 4 other titles. Because I worked for a long time in bookstores, I alphabetize all artists who's name is "Mc___" as "Mac____". Therefore, Carmen McRae comes after Michael MacDonald. And I never put Diana Ross albums with Supremes albums. Even if they say Diana Ross and the Supremes, they still go under S, while Ms Ross is in the R's.

Words cannot expressed how grateful I am to Honorary Mama. I was going to pay her some money (she previously mentioned that if I wanted to contribute to her moving fund she'd accept it, but I was under no obligation), but the collection is so nice it seems almost trite to give her 30 bucks. So I think I'm going to give her some money, write a lovely note in a card, and make her a mixtape of some of the best of the disco and 80's r&b she contributed to my collection. And maybe bring her lunch as well. Plus, offer my services to her at any time for a favor, which was pretty true anyway, but now she might be more likely to take me up on it.

Between this and the new record pool I joined, I'm starting to feel like the legitimate aspiring producer. And now that my records have a new home in a new cabinet, my work area looks neater and I'm encouraged to play more.

But now, my favorite activity that does not involve vinyl -- grocery shopping! With limenal, which makes it better