Years ago, my wife discovered and bought these heavy metal rock cards at a local thrift store. She just couldn’t pass them up and through the years we’ve sent one card at a time to various friends… like we put them in a letter here, and a postcard there, and tossed them into envelopes as jokes throughout the years.
We have quite a few left, she probably bought over 1000, I imagine there’s around 600 left, and of course there are duplicates.
I thought I’d share some with you. Here’s card number one, and I just reached in and grabbed the first one at random. I got Alex Scholnick, the guitarist in Testament. Ironically, one of my favorite thrash bands 
There is both a front and back, just like baseball cards, they have awesome stats!
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I recently discovered this awesome podcast of music that was too original to be on the radio. If you yearn to hear new classics, like I do, then save this podcast and listen to it instead of the radio! It’s great.
http://bestradioyouhaveneverheard.com/podcasts/
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Ever wonder what that turntable was in Clockwork Orange? Turns out it’s a Transcriptor Saturn. Recently they started selling them again. You can find these expensive turntables here.
The new models are called the Spider and the T6:
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I threw together an idea the other day. It’s just 3 chords (well, there’s a forth that comes in a couple times), and it was meant to be a piece of collaboration with a friend, but I decided to just end it. Heck, I’d be more than happy to make a Vietnam 2 if he ever comes back with an addition, but I also like this one just the way it is.
It was made completely inside Pro Tools. Shirley thought I was a wee too loud for her this particular night, so I shut off all the amps, and fired up Amplitube and Waves GTR for the guitar part (it’s actually just 1 guitar part). The bass was recorded direct into a DI box. All software – a new age is upon us.
It’s hereby everyone’s property under the really cool Creative Commons license!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Here’s a link to download a copy: Vietnam.mp3
Vietnam by Bracksabbath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
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I know Michael Jackson albums just increased in value, but $75,000? He says it’s “unopened” but it’s in a thick plastic sleeve not shrink-wrap. I don’t see any way to tell whether it’s actually unopened. Unopened or not, it’s definitely not worth $75,000!
To give the seller the benefit of doubt, he’s accepting “best offers”. I should offer him the $30.00 it’s worth.
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I couldn’t believe this auction. You know, only on E-bay. He’s selling a blue Elvis record, which has obviously been broken in four pieces. The second clearly insane thing about this auction is that he wants $33k for a $25 record, and for $25 it should be in one piece. That’s $25 for a pristine record; these can go for $5.00 in ok condition. Ironically, the black colored version of this record is worth much more because most of them were made in blue.
The MOST insane part of this auction is that he’s including a GLUE STICK in the overwhelming $33k price. Take a minute and read his clearly mentally unhinged words below. I don’t know about you, but MY glue sticks are nothing more than wax and have less sticking power than a post-it note. Not only that, but he’s including it because he explicitly points out that HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO GLUE STUFF! What? Well lesson 1, don’t use a fucking glue stick! Not only that, but I think the little tiny grooves in a record would be pretty difficult to line up on all four cracks, not to mention that when vinyl breaks, it’s a lot like plastic; little chips break off when it breaks. In other words, he’s auctioning trash with a GLUE STICK!
It’s just so completely bad it’s hilarious. Quote of the year: “It would be VG+++++, except that it is in 4 pieces”. Really? That’s what you consider VG+? “Well, this car, sir, would be VG+, except it’s totaled.” KA-CHING!
YOU ARE VIEWING ITEM DESCRIBED IN HEADING: THIS IS AN “AWESOME”, “MEGA RARE”, “STUNNING”, “COOL”, ITEM — BY THE KING OF ROCK & ROLL! IT WOULD BE VG++++++++, EXCEPT THAT IT IS IN 4 PIECES & IS SLIGHTLY DISCOMBOOMERATED. THE PEOPLE AT THE GOODWILL STORE, WHERE I FOUND IT, SAID THAT IT COULD PROBABLY BE GLUED BACK TOGETHER. SINCE I DON’T KNOW HOW TO GLUE STUFF, I AM INCLUDING {AT NO EXTRA CHARGE}, A STICK OF GLUE, SO YOU CAN REPAIR IT. THIS LP COMES WITH THE “ORIGINAL INNER SLEEVE” & IS “STILL IN THE SHRINK”. IT ALSO HAS 2 BLUE STICKERS, ON THE COVER, TO VERIFY IT IS AUTHENTIC. IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD THIS LP, YOU MIGHT AS WELL CHECK OUT MY OTHER ELVIS OFFERINGS. KA–CHING!!
Elvis record in 4 pieces
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knitting and records
Usually, I enjoy listening to records with a glass of wine and a comic book. Why comic books? Because it’s not too intense, it’s something for the eyes and hands, while the ears are busy listening. Last night I asked my wife to teach me to knit.
When she knits, it looks she’s crafting something in World of Warcraft – her hands move around and scarves and hats appear in her hands. I thought, why not show me that shit? So, we popped in some music, poured a glass of wine, and knitted together.
What’s knitting like? An xbox game. X X Y O RB Special Move: Cast-on. Y Y RT Knit knit, don’t pearl… I pearled. Pearling is when you hit that shit backwards. If you pearl on purpose, it’s called pearling, when you hit that shit backwards its called FUCK-I-GOTTA-RIP-STITCHES-OUT.
Well, I doubt I’ll be going to her knitting group on Saturdays, but you never know. Besides, in an end-of-the-world scenario, who’ll be laughing at me when I’m the one knitting chain-mail, huh? WHO?
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I’ve spent the last few days diving into the “new” Hendrix album Valleys of Neptune and I must say, it’s amazing. If you don’t already know, Valleys of Neptune is a new release from the Hendrix estate featuring previously unreleased songs and some new versions of song’s we’ve all heard.
What IS on this album is some amazingly recorded, mixed and mastered treasures. Sometimes it feels like Hendrix is merely rehearsing, or feeling out a new song, there are some obvious mistakes and some solos aren’t polished, even for Hendrix terms. But, it sounds as if he went to the studio this year and recorded these songs. The bass is clear, the guitar sits where it should, the vocals are so perfect in the mix that it could stand up as a standard for what to do when recording.
The gems on the album are Hear My Train a-Comin’, Sunshine of Your Love (Cream) and a new version of Red House. These two songs are worth the entry price, or hey, just buy them on I-tunes or your favorite pick-a-song service, but if you buy the whole album you won’t be disappointed at all.
For vinyl lovers, it’s available on 2lp 180g for around $24.00.
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I’ve been noticing a lot of reference vinyl on ebay; more and more actually. As far as counterfeiting a one-of-a-kind piece of collector’s gear, I’d think that a reference record would be right on top. Cheap straight black logos, typewriter song lists… hell, no one knows what the actual reference disk looked like, I mean it’s not documented anywhere because there’s only one out there, and since there was only one pressed, its automatically worth a ton. Isn’t that a counterfeiter’s dream?
A quick ebay search resulted in 257 test press auctions. Really? Is it possible that 257 real test presses are out there for sale right now?
Look at Nirvana’s Bleach in this search result – it’s in there twice! Now obviously, there can be more than one test press, each member of the band may get one, the producer, maybe even for different versions of the album as they are released… but honestly, what are the chances that they’d show up on ebay during the same auction time-window?
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