Thursday, August 13, 2015

Clutter Turns Into Colletion: A Walk Down Memory Lane with 45 LP's, Menus and Matches.

Every two years or if in a good mood every year the household needs a more than just a bit of spring cleaning. I've been in my condominium for eight years and it feels like I have accumulated enough items for a family of five and it's only me. Every place I've lived for the last twenty or so years, I've hauled along a past filled with memories even though I've had no intention to look at them until now. In my closet stacked to the ceiling where six crates of vinyl records, some of which belonged to my mother and some from incidental inheritance. These albums represented the evolution of rhythm and blues to soul music beginning with the early 60's through the 80's. Artist that represented almost forty years of artistic richness during the undercurrents of social movements such as the Civil Rights to black power to soul power with new artist such as Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Issac Hayes, Barry White, James Brown, Lamont Dozier, Luther Vandross, The Main Ingredient, Ray Charles, Jr. Walker and the All Stars. Jazz and Funk concerts were bountiful with performing artists and groups of musicians and bands like Sly and the Family Stone, Earth, Wind and Fire who filled grand stages at the Hollywood Bowl and the Greek Theatre. If you were lucky, you saw great acts like Gil Scot Heron, Roy Ayers or even the Last Poets at smaller venues such as the Whiskey A-Go-GO or the Troubadour. There were bands and musicians that actually played instruments packed the arenas and rocked the stages such as Ronnie Laws or Patrice Rushen. A phenomena rarely seen today. Then there were the vocal stylist of Al Jarreau, Sade, Tina Marie who set souls in flight. When I picked up My walk down memory lane led me to a modern discovery of an online website called Discog to list all of my albums and post them for sale. Click here to view more . This site is useful for cataloging vinyl records, CD's and tapes based on country of print, studios, year of release, promotional copies to rare releases. As the account manager, you rate the quality of the copy based on the condition of the media and the packaging. The site will also show how many copies are requested and the number listed for sale as well as the low to high sell prices. In the search box, you type in the name of the artist and then locate the record. Often there is a media playback for each song on the album that sends you into a deeper into the memory forest. Deep in a box under the stack of albums to a pleasant surprise, I discovered a well kept collection of menus and old matches from many popular and extinct Los Angeles eateries. The Sports Deli was a restaurant in Century City above the Schubert Theatre at the time Beatle Mania was playing. There were a couple from a clothing store called War Babies and Nunn Bush Brass Boots. Other matches represented nightclubs that reminded me of the early boom of Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood in late 70's to 80's. There were matches from popular black owned nightclubs around L.A from Hollywood to a Baldwin Hills where a row of nightclubs populated a stretched along Crenshaw Boulevard the Leimert Park district. Each match released a flood of memories; dejavu. I recalled the time when I was under twenty-one when I would hang out with a group of my girls from high school. As partners in crime. We would show up with fake ID to places such as the Speakeasy, the Candy Store that was owned by Jane Kennedy and Leon Issac and the Total Experience. I found matches from Page One; the ever more popular profile for players and pros. Back towards a more esteemed city of West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air were matches from hotels and a pack I took from Sammy Davis Jr.'s home in Hollywood Hills (that's another story). Sometimes, amongst clutters you can find gems that are priceless memories that no amount of money can buy.