Notes for July 24, 2025.

July 24, 2025. Day .

Cartooned a slightly forlorn man in a suit.

I worked a little today, then interrupted my day to go to Euclid Records, because I saw on their Instagram that they were having a dollar bin sale.

It's become clear to me that collecting records is a silly pastime. I've let so many records go -- sold them, gave them away, threw them away, lost them in a move, lost them in a flood. If I still had my high school/college records I could retire.

I collect them but I don't hold on to them. It's hard to explain, but the main value they have is they ether remind me of something or the will remind me of something in the future. I play them all the time, but I also play mp3s; I have many more of those. (I think I have about a thousand records.) I could save up my money and buy some good new stuff, still sealed, or I can buy commodity junk like I did today, or I could buy a copy of Electric Light Orchestra's Discovery because it remnds me of the day I was sitting on the floor in the living room watching TV and my mom came back from the mall and handed a copy to me, with the words, "you wanted this, didn't you?" I've rebought a lot of records I had and liked as a young guy.

Today I finally got Al Stewart's Year Of The Cat, an album I've always been curious about. It was a dollar. I don't think it'll become a favorite, but it was a dollar.

I got Rod Stewart Blondes Have More Fun, so now I have played "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" in the confines of my own home, not on a radio, on purpose. And I like it, I really do. But I bought the record -- for a dollar -- to have "Ain't Love A Bitch", because I really like that song.

What else? J. Geils Band, Wet Willie, Jerry Lee Lewis and Linda Gail Lewis. I got albums by Richard "Groove" Holmes and Esquivel with split seams, and the vinyl might not play, but I have tape and a Discwasher brush. A couple more. Lou Rawls (Natural Man) and Bobby "Blue" Bland. A United Records comp of "California Blues" with Johnny "Guitar" Watson on it. Seams fully split, and United was famous for releasing unloved material and not having inner sleeves, but the disc looks good.

I follwed up this record shopping trip with a four-hour nap. And right now I'm listening to the Felice Brothers' Life In The Dark, because I bought it a month ago and shelved it too soon, before I'd spent any time with it. Could be good.

notes sketches Euclid Records record collecting dollar bins Year Of the Cat Blondes Have More Fun Natural Man United Records Instagram Electric Light Orchestra Discovery (ELO album) Al Stewart Rod Stewart Jerry Lee Lewis and Linda Gail Lewis Richard "Groove" Holmes Johnny "Guitar" Watson Bobby "Blue" Bland J. Geils Band Esquivel The Felice Brothers Life In The Dark naps mp3s