Before the Microwaves

 Tuna twist was making people sick. Got discontinued. It was meant to stretch 4 sandwiches into 6. It was a flavor enhancer for canned tuna in the 70’s.

Mug o lunch became obsolete when better microwave dinners arrived.

Snack Mate is now called Easy Cheese.

Down by the schoolyard…

 

#vinylcommunity What is my most sought after record?

 

Ever thought as you were collecting what your most desired record would be? The one that got me searching the most was the Descendents “Fat” ep 7” on new alliance records. New alliance was D.Boon of the Minutemen’s label. I had Milo goes to college on New Alliance that I got when it came out but this was an earlier release. I found the “Ride the wild” ep because I worked at a record store down the block from Descendents central headquarters in the 90’s and they stopped in there often and left copies of that now and then but not the Fat ep. At that time they had reissued both eps on one. I got that SST real ease when that came out. Technically I owned both by having that. I remember way before getting that reissue being at a party where a og fat copy was sitting out and I had my backpack and I got tempted to swipe it but in the end I didn’t. I’m glad I made the right choice. That party was a good memory for me. Actually it was a whole weekend party and they played the first Van Halen album over and over and we ate leftover empanadas from a wedding that took place at the same time. I had not eaten much of anything that weekend and those mini meat pies were so good. That VH album was sound great too. I got to go trough the record collection there because they trusted me and they even introduced me to music I never new about like the Lee and Nancy album. I remember spinning records from that couples collection like “don’t fear the reaper” by BOC. So years have gone by and now we have Discogs and I see it there now and then. I saw it not long ago on a #vinylcommunity video and tried to buy it but it sold too fast. Going though my own collection yesterday I began to find records I had forgot about. I found the Saints “I’m stranded” lp I bought years ago and today I heard the singer just passed away. Pretty wild. It got me wondering what I have in my collection still. We just moved so it’s all out of order and jumbled together. It’s all safely stored on the shelves though. I wonder if I still have that “bonus fat” lp? Might be in there. Some of my collection walked away by itself long ago too. I’m also thinking which one is the true copy for me? If I was to get a copy of an og fat ep I would probably look at it and think “this was someone else’s record” and it would remind me of my own greed and bad intentions. It would never be as cool as the reissue I got back then because that was mine. It’s what I had then. Which is why I’m glad I hung on to all my records over the years. Even during cd times I kept them. Attached here are images of those records from the internet. I still am digging to see if I still have that lp. If not, I had that time. I have those memories. I got to have conversations with the guys in the Descendents and even ate at the original Alfredo’s with Karl and Dave Smalley (it was located right on the side of were our record store was…) I remember when every All album came out. We put up posters in the store and had lots of Descendents shirts on the racks. Lunch at the record store was usually coffee and donuts from Winchell’s next door. Descendents wrote songs there too sometimes I think. I remember all the metal kids that wanted there kerrang magazines and carcass earache records. Getting Nirvana Bleach when it came in on import cd which I still have. I remember how much I loved them from what I had heard and having a full album by them was so good. We played it so loud in the shop that first day I had to go outside to get air.

It shook the walls of the bar next door and they weren’t too cool with all the punks that shopped at our record store because of the green and blue hair. (Not a big deal now, but then it got you in fights). I also remember Winchells Cheesecake muffins. I had one every weekend I worked there in the morning. Lots of good memories of that time. I was young and just got my first apartment. Steve the owner (rest in peace) helped me and taught me a lot. I’m grateful for having that time and getting to work with the people there and my friends I made. Much of my record collection is from that shop and that time. Some people call their most sought after record a “grail”, but that’s actually a goblet as you all know. I’m grateful someone gave me a job and a chance. Maybe later this week I will dig through my records again.

Discover what I forgot I had and hopefully learn to not take things for granted. I don’t have donuts anymore but I still love a good cup of coffee. Thanks for your interest and for reading if you got this far. Happy Trails and God Bless You, Scoocher

Some exercise today by cleaning the studio

 Did some record shelf organizing today in the studio. Got all my Kiss records to fit in three cubes at the top. As I went through it all I played my cd copy of Kinks Everybody’s in show biz which is my favorite of theirs. All three of my uncles always loved it too. I might have it on vinyl as well but it’s all jumbled out of order now. Another record my uncles liked was Snazzmanass by Flamin Groovies which also has a cartoon character cover. I never had that on vinyl but ordered it last week and as I was going though the records it showed up on the porch today. Must be my uncle saying hello from the great beyond. Found my copy of The Saints I’m Stranded too which he also loved. One that he got me into. I got my copy about 1981 at PV Records in Rolling Hills courtyard mall which is long gone now. They had great used bins full of punk records then for about 3 bucks each. I often saved my lunch money and got a record after school instead. I played that record a lot over the years. I might have another one by them in there. Not sure. I found Los Lobos Will the wolf survive and Mott the Hoople Brain Capers too. I saw Steve Carlton’s Sunday morning show with Kat featured that Los Lobos a month or so ago and I wondered if I still had that one…yep, I did! Found Rodney Allen Rippey lp I had and Mac Davis Hard to be humble which my day liked to sing all the time in the truck. In my room as a kid I had a banner from jack in the box that said “take life a little easier” which was Rodney’s catch phrase. That’s a great feel good record. He would also hold up a jumbo jack in the commercials and say “it’s too big to eat…” 
Exploring my collection and discovering so much to be thankful for. Grateful to have some time to discover forgotten treasure buried in my record shelves that were blocked by my canvases for about 10 years or more. I purged a lot when we moved and I’m not really sure what’s even gone it went so fast. Grateful to have any of it at this point in my life. My heath seems to be improving. I had been doing a cleanse but my doctor put me back on my medication that I was not sure if it was working. I think this time it is now. He had me get compression socks for my legs and that’s helping a lot. I have plans to start swimming soon so I am trying to get exercise of some kind most days to build strength so I can start that. I got some new trunks and a swim shirt in the mail last week for it. Been going on the Kiss FAQ message board and reading the latest things happening in the End of the Road with them. Lots of good Kiss things lately. I love those two Peter Criss solo album reissues by the Rockologists. If you are a fan I recommend those also to anyone that likes 80’s Billy Joel type music. They are fun records. Enjoying Kiss Off the Soundboard releases too. Tokyo 2001 is really good but I was surprised how much I’m liking Virginia Beach 2004. Paul’s voice is a bit challenged and there are some rough moments but it’s real and there is a revitalized energy from the new line up that year… different and not as good as the original four but pretty strong and the deep cuts on this tour are sweet. I got it on cd and keep thinking about maybe getting the green vinyl. I might yet. Hope you all are finding some joy out there. Happy Trails and God Bless You -Scoocher

Also, Rest In Peace Gilbert Godfried who I heard passed today. Have a laugh on his behalf. 

Chickened Out? Maybe save it for later...

 

I was all ready to get my you tube vinyl community introduction video going. I was thinking of having my own channel to talk about record collecting but I wanted to talk about my art too. Maybe I felt like I was joining a club. I'm already commenting on some of the sites I follow there. I just don't think I am ready to deal with peoples comments yet. I do have much to share but I can do this here on my site and blog like I have been for awhile. Journaling has become important to me. I think I have decided to get back to making comic books again. I really want to make something you can hold in your hand. I'm not really big on the digital world thing and where everything is headed. The thing I like about records is you can hold them. you can feel the texture or gloss on the cover and sometimes they have good liner notes and a cracker jack like prize now and then or a die cut window or foil embossing. I love album cover art. Maybe more than playing the music at times. That's the kind of thing I want to share. Maybe it's enough for now just to be a fan of other people's you tube VC channels? I have a few art jobs that came my way this last week. I am grateful for that. It's good to be back at some kind of art again. I have not got back to my own personal art in awhile so this is a first step back to that. I got some input on a comic book idea from my wife today which was unusual. It got me thinking about making comics. We have this little print shop in town here. I worked in print shops growing up so I'm going to go talk to them about printing and see if they can make what I have in mind. I did see they offer offset printing that I want. All my years in those print shops I kept my sketch pad near me everyday at work. What I wanted back then was to be what I thought was a real artist. I already was an artist though since I was 5 years old. I got those dream jobs later on. Working as an Illustrator like I wanted but I had to learn along the way to get there. I had limitations too. Like being partly colorblind. When I was young I would only draw in black and white. When I got into professional production art they gave me a pms color matching book and it was up to me to match colors exactly before they went to print. My boss got plenty pissed with me at times. I thought I would never need math but in my job I had to size things with a proportion wheel and ruler. I had to know stat cameras and how to maintain them. I cut rubylyth which was a red film with a gel layer you peeled away to place a color on the image you wanted printed. The reason it was such a good and fun job was it took skill and effort to get it right. If you made mistakes the whole company looked bad so I got better as I went. I did bindery too. Cut down paper stock with a huge cutter that was really scary to operate. I did boring work like collating papers into books then binding them. The smell of the rubber based ink from the presses. The ink looked like pudding. Checking the dot patterns on negatives with a loop lens. T squares to set up type in paste up before the stat cameras. That golden pee like wax roller machine to wax your lines of type you needed to cut and paste to blue lined boards. The routine and the discipline. The main shop I worked at was run by old Beatles loving hippies. I was a punker at the time. We learned about each others eras. They let me get away with a few things like growing my hair long because I did not really see the public. I had a goatee then. Bleached my hair once. It turned orange at first and I wore my jeans cuffed at the bottom at that time. One guy said I looked like Chucky from the movie child's play and would yell Chucky! at me every morning. The thing you learned to ignore but never forget was the sound of the presses. One guy that worked there became a famous rock star later on and wrote a lyric in one of his songs about the sound of the pretty machines. I used to bug him about doing flyers for his band at the time back then before he got famous. He always said no but one day he gave me a demo tape of his band on a new wave bright color cassette with basic shapes like circles and triangles printed on it. A TDK blank tape with his band name hand written on it. I think I still have it someplace. I am grateful for that time. That someone would hire me with my limited schooling (I did have some vocational schooling before I got hired) The best part was seeing your work done. The ink sitting on top of the paper still wet with a smell to it. the perfect look of the kiss cut trim on the completed stapled chap book. The clean thick white pages with a golden rod colored paper cover that one of my friends said looked like a taco wrapper. I'm pretty sure they don't make goldenrod paper anymore. Maybe I will try and find some someplace for this project I am dreaming of. Thick cardstock paper. Like it was back then. My boss once handed me an R. Crumb comic strip of Mr. Natural washing dishes and grunting as he did it. The last panel was a rack of dishes and he was thing to himself "a job well done!" he gave that to me when I left. I'm still writing new chapters of my life to this day. Those cartoon characters are in there waiting to get out. Just gotta make it happen. Time keeps on ticking.

-Scoocher 4/7/2022

Gratitude of Scoocher

 

At this time in my life I am filled with gratitude. I have received so much love from family and friends that kept me on a path to where I am now. I got here by making better choices. I have my studio with things I collected along the way. I purged a bit of it recently and when we moved all I kept to where we are now I am having a great time going through it. I have a better appreciation for it all. Looking at old photos in the studio I realized things were not always as great as I remembered them. I worked hard to get here. My wife taught me what’s important in life. We stayed home while our friends went out to save money. We went to flea markets to find things for our home. We often went with our whole family and our friends. I had good jobs. I worked in a print shop for years doing any type of art job they had. I worked at a record store on weekends and learned about collecting records from my boss there and my uncle. I learned how to have fun with a small budget. In the last few years every now and then I bought a record or two from art job money I earned. It’s getting too expensive for me now for that but I have a good collection to dig through and find things. My old studio was so small that I had clutter in front of all my albums and rarely played them. For a few years my stereo was not even hooked up. My studio had become a cluttered catch all. I am grateful for my new space. I have a window where I can look out to the front yard and another window to watch birds and bugs fly by. I’m grateful for this new clean air each day. Out of the smog and truck pollution. I’m ready to watch my wife’s new garden grow. Our dog is getting the walks he always deserved. He is so full of joy here. The local market has very good things and the people here have welcomed us with so much love. It’s amazing. I’m thanking god for each day. I am grateful to be where I am. 

I will be making You Tube videos soon. I am off all other social media now. I’m focused on getting healthy. I went to the doctor recently to get a check up. I’m eating better. Gave up all soda. Trying to limit sugar. Gave up my beloved bagels. Next is getting exercise. My doctor gave me a recommendation for a fitness place that starts real easy and that’s what I plan to do. Swimming. I got new trunks and a swim shirt this week. I got compression socks to help my legs. I have been letting my hair and beard grow. Might trim my hair this summer but I want to see how long I can grow my beard. My wife loves the beard and if she’s happy with it so am I. She says it makes me look like a man of god. I'm trying to stay focused on the righteous path, you know? The worst thing I have done lately is have a few oatmeal raisin cookies.

I’m getting better at updating my website popkustomshoppe.com each week now and I have more time for it. I am grateful for that. I still have so much I have to work on. Lots to learn. Trying to get stronger each day. 

-Scoocher April 2, 2022

Change is good sometimes

 

Listening to this cd. This one is great and worthy of a vinyl release. Had a very close friend tell me I lost my passion and how I felt, and what I need to defend and speak up for. Said I’m too nice. Here’s what I got. I love my friends. Especially when they check on me and my well being. I know we all have bad days. I was pretty passionate for awhile about starting a band. I asked some friends that had bands and I was older than them and pretty embarrassed to play guitar in front of anyone. My first attempt was in junior high. We had two practices in my parents garage. One guy went on to a long career managing some famous bands. I took guitar lessons and mostly learned basics from that time. I did not play much for a long time but I loved learning about music gear and loved rock and roll. 

The next attempt years later I met some friends at their house and they were good musicians. They sort of threw me in the deep end and hollered at me to just keep playing. I get what they were trying to teach me but this was too intense for me. 

Third try…made some friends with and had coffee a few times with those young guys I told you about.

This was different. These guys had a studio with a huge fender amp. I had got myself a really good Gibson and a fender telecaster. These guys were not only good but gentle with me and said just let them know what I wanted to play and everyone makes clams (bad notes) at first and just keep going. We recorded them too to good equipment. They knew how to record. I’m not sure if they made the recording sound better later or not. I got to use both of my good guitars as we did two songs. One I wrote about being large like Godzilla …how it feels to be my size. The other was a big star/teenage fan club attempt. Both were instrumentals. I was so heavy at the time and it was summer in a hot studio. I almost had a coronary. I kept going and we finished both songs. I was going to add vocals later but that was too much for me.

I was not confident about my playing but it was one of the best things I ever tried. Before I did all this I went back to taking lessons again too. It gave me much needed discipline and a routine. My friends were concerned about how bad my health was and said they wanted to help me. We went on some walks together around town. 

I was very passionate about this band thing but I was already an artist. I started drawing dozens of band logos for this band, my friends got busy and did not have time for it and suggested I find other people to play with. I’m grateful they gave me that opportunity. 

After all of this I realized I enjoyed playing guitar by myself alone or playing for my dog who loves the sound of Spanish acoustic guitar. It took about 20 years to realize art is what I do. I play guitar now and then. Most of my friends have moved on and don’t have time to get together. It’s part of life. Change can be good. You don’t always win. 

I’m still passionate about art and music and I have a better respect for both. I have to pat myself on the back for overcoming my fear and trying more than once and in the end feeling good that I made the effort. 

You can hear these songs on my website. That’s me on guitar as Godzilla. The song is called Monster X takes Tokyo. I love it. I’m proud of it. I love my friends for believing in me.

Painting is fun. Guitars are fun. I love to listen to music and make art. Simple as that. My wife has be very patient with me and all my dreaming and gives me encouragement to keep trying things. She listens to my wild rants and reads my journaling and lets me be myself. She is the biggest part of my life. We have been through many changes. The current path so far has been healing and my health is improving. Somedays I am amazed how much more my love grows for her and how much she does for me. I am fortunate and grateful to have her and my dog here with me each day as well as the friends I have and family. I’m kind of hurt by what my friend said to me today in a text, but we aren’t all the same and we might think we know people sometimes when we might not. 

 

I like to laugh. I’m kind of sensitive. I try to learn from things. Most people might think I’m a nice guy. I don’t like to swear, I don’t drink anymore. This is me. I yam what I yam. Hope you all have the kind of day you want from life today. I’m going to get a fresh cup of coffee and dig though my collection to see what I got still or what I might have forgot about. Happy trails, god bless you and enjoy! Adios for now, Scoocher