The Salvation Army Grand Finale

The two or three human regulars among you know that it's been quite an exciting couple weeks of finds at my Salvation Army. But as all good things do, this stretch has seemingly come to an end. But it's going out on a sweet note.

 

I don't need to say too much about this, do I? Ron Howard, George Lucas, Val Kilmer. There y'go. Oh, and this copy has the booklet!

 

Ah, Fievel Mousekewitz. Little immigrant rodent with big dreams. Lots of people remember that Linda Ronstadt/James Ingram song Somewhere Out There...well, next night you're out for bar trivia (oh hey, that's tonight!), remember that this is the movie it came from.

I must not get out much. I had no idea there was ever a Raggedy Ann & Andy movie in 1977. Even after looking at the cover I still didn't know much about it...besides Joe Raposo, that symphonist of Sesame Street, being the mind behind the music. That makes this a great find right there. A quick look at IMDB reveals that while there weren't the biggest of stars on this movie's roster, they were still good solid names: Mason Adams, Arnold Stang, and game show favorites Alan Sues and Charie Brill. One of my personal game show favorites, Didi Conn, was Raggedy Ann. Andy was played by Mark Baker (not to be confused with Mark Linn-Baker of Perfect Strangers, but easily confusable nonetheless - he's #9 with that name on IMDB).

The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

What an absolutely incredible weekend. Let me rephrase that: what a spectacular, star-studded, surprising, victorious, exhausting, satifying, rewarding, grueling weekend. I think I'll split this into sections so you can digest it better. Trust me, there's a lot to talk about.  Here's Friday. Not even off the Island yet and I'm scoring. And not feeling bad at all about missing the legendary NY Public Library Record Sale.

Just when I thought it was all over on Tuesday at the Salvation Army, I made more discoveries. Apparently there was more where the first pile of magic came from because there was a whole new world of greatness to dig through. More CBS Sound Library, more CBS EZ-Cue production music...and more soundtracks. I'm still not sure what the source of it was, but what a rich source indeed. I wish I could find out.

Sam & Dave had the original hit with it, but Saturday Night Live's John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd took Soul Man to a whole other level when they turned into Jake & Ellwood Blues. This peachy copy only cost a quarter. I'm sure it'd cost a lot more if I got it anywhere else.

What kid didn't love growing up on Saturday mornings learning their ABCs from ABC? Interestingly, Schoolhouse Rock really owed more to jazz than to rock. Pianist Bob Dorough and trumpter Jack Sheldon were accomplished jazz musicians, but they parlayed their skills into rockin' numbers (see what I did there?) about every school subject there was.

I had the lunchbox for this in 4th grade. I had no idea that a) it was a movie; and b) that this character's name actually was American Rabbit. I still don't know a lot about it. But I know that this should be a cool soundtrack. It's on Rhino Records, and the music was done by two gents named Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman...aka Flo And Eddie...otherwise known as The Turtles.

A couple friends of mine were surprised that this movie had a soundtrack. They were even more surprised that it consists of music and not robot noises. I don't remember liking this movie much when I saw it. Maybe I should see it again.

Hall & Oates' breakthrough album was 1973's Abandoned Luncheonette. But here's their first album from the year before. That contatiner of oats signifies what they wanted to call themselves: Daryl's last name was Hohl, so changing it to Hall seemed like a natural thing to do. The rest is history.

Some albums I buy just because they look interesting. I like surprises when it comes to recrod hunting. And this is sure to be one: my research tells me it's French heavy metal from the '70s. I should file this next to the Italian prog-rock I found on Tuesday.

Certain areas of the country have legendary kids' TV shows. Philadelphia had Pixanne. Boston had Jabberwocky. New York had Wonderama. And for years, Wonderama had Sonny Fox as its host. When he left, Bob McAllister took over. I don't remember much about Wonderama, but I do remember Bob McAllister. So this album will jog my memory.

Next up: The Saturday Flea

I saw the sign...

And somehow I knew it actually read "danger." But I went ahead anyway. The actual wording of the sign was, "All Records 4 for $1.00 ($0.25 each)." At a thrift store, that usually means someone lef them with about nine crapfuls of garbage that just HAS to go: Mantovani, Mathis, Firestone Christmas. Well, there sure were a lot of records, some in places they usually aren't seen in in that store.

But if they only knew what they had...maybe they'd charge more and not worry about all that space. I bet they could get away with it.

And if only I could learn the story of how it all happened.

Not 30 seconds into digging through the oddly-placed cabinet by the register did I realize that someone dropped off a stash with a great history. Broadway soundtracks were vaguely interesting...but look at all these Spanish albums. A Muppet Show soundtrack with a cover in Spanish. Movie soundtracks...Bernard Herrmann, Maurice Jarre, Ennio Morricone.

Loads of sound effects albums. Someone seemed to want to make movies as much as he enjoyed the soundtracks.

Woah...production music! THAT'S what I'm here for! That someone must have been in radio at one time.

Yep. Not only production music, but actual radio shows. And commercials!

Nope, definitely not expecting any of that. Yep, definitely a good idea to stop in. By the time I did my diggin', I ended up with over 30 records...and a Gloria Estefan LaserDisc. Total cost: about $8. And to think, that would've only bought me one album at the other thrift I hit today. Sorry, Frank, I don't need to hear your version of Bad Bad Leroy Brown that badly. And sorry, Linda Evans, but that sealed copy of your Crystal Light Body Workout is gonna have to wait. Daddy found a goldmine today...and he's gonna have pictures to show you. Stay tuned.