Tuesday 28 August 2007

Little Things



I was woken by JP on the phone. It was hard to make out what he was saying because there was so much background noise. I tried to ask him where he was, but he said he had to be quick. I was to meet him at Rydell's Café later that morning. He'd found a guy who use to work at JCP records here in North Carolina. I knew the label, and had a few pieces in my collection back home. They released several worthy garage discs, and I was always eager to investigate further.

I went to meet him and, as ever, he was distracted. He kept looking across at an old man that was sitting in a booth on the other side of the room. He told me that he had arranged a meeting with this guy, but he couldn't go himself. He said I should go to the guys house and gave me an address. I finished my milkshake and got up to leave. JP said goodbye, still watching the old man, who hadn't moved since we'd arrived there.

I went over to the address, and knocked on the door. A quite elderly man answered the door. I introduced myself, and after the usual formalities, I broached the subject of the label, and any possible records he may have. He smiled, leading me to the back room. He had piles of old stock records. I scanned though them and found a nearly complete set of the great JCP garage discs. While I was looking, he was affably sharing anecdotes of the old days. It was a pleasant afternoon.

When I got back I played through the stack of 45s on my portable. This record by a local Raleigh band called the Sands particularly struck me. Finding items like this is what it's all about.

The Sands - Little Things

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