Clik here to view.
The wish list, sort of
After posting here last month that I’d found the record that had been No. 1 on my wish list for 10 years, my friend Jim dropped me a note from across town. We had this exchange on New Year’s Day: Jim:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The rise and fall of Stiller’s Top Ten
On Memorial Day weekend in 1965, the folks in the music department at the Stiller Co. in downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin, launched a Top 10 singles chart just as summer started. They put it in an ad,...
View ArticleLoitering in the driveway
Yesterday was one of those long days that turned into a long night. As I pulled into the driveway 14-plus hours after I’d left for work, a cool old song came on the radio. At first I thought it was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The smoker you drink …
50 years ago last night, on Tuesday, March 10, 1970, The Association played a show at the old Brown County Arena in Green Bay. I posted that music history tidbit to our local Facebook history groups...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Changes in attitudes
My memories are hazy, but 42 years ago tonight, on March 31, 1978, I saw Jimmy Buffett play at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Because my memories of that night are hazy, I emailed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What are you gonna do with time
John Prine and I went way back. In the mid-’70s, I was introduced to his music by a guy who covered his songs. Pat Houlihan sang John Prine’s songs at The Office, an old tavern in Wausau, Wisconsin,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s a Pandemic Pick Parade!
Record digging — the actual physical act of flipping through bins of records — is just one of things you can’t do during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our local record stores closed, then found ways to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Recording the war at home
The unrest in Minneapolis has hit home. We’ve visited the epicenter — Lake Street — a bunch of times in the last decade. The photo above is from Hymie’s Vintage Records, one of my favorite digging...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stiller’s final closeout
Our story so far: In February 1970, the Stiller’s Top Ten singles chart suddenly disappeared from the Green Bay Press-Gazette after running in the paper every Friday for almost five years. The Stiller...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Riding with Records on Wheels
It is the early summer of 1965. School’s out in Green Bay, Wisconsin. You’re cruising Main Street, your car radio blasting away. You’re plopped down on the bed, listening to the tinny sound from your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Green Hornet rides again
When I got back into record digging more than a decade ago, this was one of the first records I bought. I had no idea it existed, but was delighted to find it. I’ve loved “The Green Hornet” since I was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Greetings from Maryland
One of the great things about record digging is where it takes you while traveling. You often get down to the neighborhood level, where many tourists don’t go. You find other cool places along the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Where should I sign?
This is quite a story if you haven’t already heard it. Delivery guy drops a box of 30 autographed Taylor Swift “folklore” CDs at a record store 15 minutes before it opens. A young woman signs for it....
View ArticleClik here to view.
See ya around, Poot
“North Dallas Forty” was on again not too long ago. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. I knew the leads — Nick Nolte and Mac Davis — were still around. So I googled as I watched. Kinda surprised to find...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The good, the bad and the Cubs
Van Halen memory No. 1 Eddie Van Halen’s death takes me straight back to when and where I heard Van Halen for the first time. Summer 1978, home from college, sitting at the Bar Phoenix in Schofield,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Getting down … to Earth
Got nothing else to do during the pandemic, so I’ve been playing a bunch of my records. Listen, OK, listen, OK, listen, OK, listen, OK. Not necessarily ripping them, though. Then I dropped Eddie...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fully involved
“War” started with the Temptations, but it was seemingly too hot to handle. The story goes that Motown didn’t want to sully the Temps’ reputation by releasing a protest song as a single. (If that’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Now playing: Rarest Earth
Last month, I pulled out “Dreams/Answers,” Rare Earth’s debut LP from 1968, and announced on Facebook and Twitter that it was “Now playing.” “New to me!” Casey said from Kansas. “Never heard it, but I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thanksgiving night
This is Thanksgiving night. You may have eaten more than you should. You may have drank more than you should. On Thanksgiving night 1969, similarly overstuffed, all you can manage is to plop down into...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cuts from the Christmas crate
There are just too many Christmas records scattered around the blog’s world headquarters. Guess things get that way after 40-plus years. You find a couple every year while digging, and — BOOM! — you...
View Article