going going ...

this blog has run it's course ... so it's getting on it's mobility scooter & driving off into the desert ... goodbye .

the dimestore Dostoevsky

20 cents >   1983 reprint of Jim Thompson's 1952 classic paperback

Stereo sounD

$3 >   for this 4 track tape in StereO !

noise

50 cents >    about reducing noise rather than making it .... damn !  

1975 edition of this 270 page academic paperback    

pintupi

50 cents > The Lizard Eaters by Douglas Lockwood a 1976 edition of this 1964 book about the Pintubi or Pintupi people of the australian western desert region these were the last known tribal group living a traditional lifestyle to have contact with european australians [boat people] part of this tribe that had no contact was discovered as late in 1984 .

deranged

$1 >    for this 1980  7" on Ralph Records . Fred Frith's cover of Martha & the Vandellas 1964 Motown hit 'Dancing in the Street'  this is the way cover versions should be done ... totally deranged ! . i wasn't a fan until i saw Fred Frith play once at The Basement in sydney in the early '90's . the jazz snobs just about started stuffing their martini olives in their ears when fred started whacking his guitar with a hairbrush at high volume ... & then layed it flat & dropped handfuls of rice on the strings ... great stuff !  my friends & i saw him outside later having a smoke . he was a really nice friendly bloke , said he'd much rather have played at a rock venue , but i don't know if he'd have gone down too much better at an aussie pub rock venue ... though i sure would've liked to have seen it ! 

farming '77

$5 > 1977 was a big year in music ... with of course Farming '77 undoubtedly being the most important release .

the wastrel

50 cents>   wastrel : a self-indulgent person who spends time avoiding work or other useful activity

the greatest honor is having a leader

$1 >  1973 North korean Mansudae Art Troupe lp on the Korean Record label. bought two of these in my local op shop. they have songs with great titles such as 'the greatest honor is having a leader' 'keep red heart forever' 'prosperous pyongyang' 'leaders lofty plan bursts into red bloom' & of course who could forget the timeless classic 'bumper harvest of apples'

pillar of salt

50 cents >  1963 paperback of short stories by australian author Jon Cleary 

   

more biker exploitation

50 cents >  lock your doors the angels are coming !

cheep warble & squawk

$1 >   Simtrak Studios label cassette of australian bird songs overdubbed with generic orchestral music  . overly syrupy , but strangely addictive ...

junior android or ghost ?

50 cents >    i don't know anything much about classical music [or much else for that matter] but this 10 inch is a pleasant enough listen & has a bonus scary weird cover ... i mean that kid in the white is some kind of junior android ghost or something. the other kids have certainly noticed that something's not quite right ...

afghan trucks

i can't remember how much > Afghan Trucks by Jean-Charles Blanc published by Stonehill publishing company 1976 i bought this at a second hand book shop many years ago . the cover is a little damaged but the rest of the book is in very good condition . there's a one page written introduction then 106 colour plates of nothing but afghan trucks . no captions just afghan trucks & their amazing array of artwork . if you ever see one buy it .

holiday

i shot this in vietnam in 2002 . if you like it you can go to youtube & lookup my username thesweetspotdiviner read a short blurb about it & see some other crap i've put on there ...

in a jam

20 cents >   I959 paperback . torn 'n' tattered but a err interesting cover ... i wonder what was on the bottom bit that has been deliberately cut off ???

hard-core naturalism

20 cents >  She Devils Stories by Barbara Sheen . an interesting find , i didn't know anything about the author or the book , but i liked the look of it & the back cover snippets & quickly read it from cover to cover

blow speed racer blow

$1 >  some sort of a hand held fan or paddle , but i'm not sure what this is or anything about it . at first i thought it was Speed Racer , but when i looked at Speed Racer's pic's on the internet i realised that this aint Speedy at all & that's not his girl Trixie either ... they're some sort of impostors. i dunno anything about this sorta stuff . if someone out there does i'd be kinda interested to know who these characters are & the story behind this item ?

girlcussion

50 cents >  ... not sure what to call this one & no idea of its origins . it's a kind of hand held percussion instrument decorated with a painting of a 50's style 'girlie' sitting in a cocktail glass . it makes a fairly annoying ding ding sound on it's own but sounds o.k. with other percussion . also found that it make some interesting sounds when using the dinger thing to strike the strings of electric guitar or bass , kinda of like a piano hammer hitting a piano wire ... only more random . 

kaleidoscopic vibrations

$ 3 >  four track tape in near mint condition of Kaleidoscopic Vibrations by Perrey & Kingsley recorded in 1967 using Moog Synthesizer & the Ondioline . this was a flea market find i picked up a few year ago along with a bunch of other 4 track tapes for $3 each .

d.i.y. musique concrete

$3 >  flea market purchase . oxford university press 1971 . good condition . what else d'ya wanna know ?

beer powered radio !!

50 cents > from Dick Smiths Fun Way Into Electronics 1979 a recent op shop purchase . 

suitcase record player

$8 >  HMV stereophonic automatic electrogram ... thats what is says . it's a  suitcase style record player not that you'd wanna carry it around ... it weighs a ton ! the lid is a speaker & detaches as in the pic . it doesn't have a radio it just plays records at either 16/33/45 or 78 rpm . you can stack up a bunch of records & it'll play one then drop the next one down & play it & so on & so forth , it's a regular party machine ... i bought this at a second hand shop around 1996 & it's been my only way to play vinyl since . which is the main reason i cant upload any vinyl to this blog , as it doesn't have any outputs . a specialist repair shop told me that it 's a 1957 model . i've googled it but can't find any more info . i wouldn't even think of parting with it , but i do think of getting a more modern turntable & amp from time to time .

budgetbilly

$1 >   from the closing down sale of Synaesthesia Records , you just never knew what you might find there  ....

ant men !

20 cents >  1969 u.s.a. reprint of this 1955 apocalyptic paperback set in the central australian desert.  written by Eric North a pseudonym for australian author Bernard Cronin 1884-1968 . i bought this book  at Camberwell market coincidentally the same melbourne suburb that the author lived & died in according to wikipedia ...

knitted breakfast

$12 >  not from an op shop or market , bought from a small regional art gallery in queensland 

hand painted by daisy pitty

$3 >   a small 180mm x 122mm china plate hand painted with a landscape of Haasts Bluff [i think] in the MacDonnell Ranges . done in the style of the great Aboriginal water colour artist Albert Namatjira who was of the Arrernte people & from the Hermannsburg Mission in central Australia . i can't find any information on this artist who's last name has been obviously anglosised . i have never seen another plate like this one , but thats not to say there aren't any ...

feedtime on cassette

50 cents each >  i didn't buy these , they were given to me by someone i worked with who saw me in a feedtime t-shirt once ... a very observant fellow ... he came up to me one day & said "i found some cassettes in an op shop that may interest you"  he then handed me these still shrink wrapped cassettes . he didn't want them & wouldn't take anything for them , so ... if you're out there steve , you sir are a true gentleman .

as familiar as i was/am with this band [i was at the recording sessions for 'shovel'] i had never seen these albums on cassette before . they were released on Rough Trade in the U.S. only . just before the label went bankrupt & folded in the late '80's / early 90's . 

"all the kids are here they all look the same"

50 cents >  1983 'Death Party' 7 inch 33 rpm single by 'Gun Club' produced by Chris Stein of Blondie & J.L. Pierce ... strangely the title track is the b side .  i found this in a pile of the usual scratchy old crappy op shop faves & it just jumped out at me.  the cover is a bit trashed but the vinyl is very good . i use to have this on a 12 inch 45 but it disappeared into the bermuda triangle that has claimed so many records over the years . i also saw them in brisbane around this time with the line up of Jeffery Lee Peirce, Kid Congo, Patricia Morrison & Spencer p Jones & Billy from 'The Johnnys' i remember being impressed at the time .

capitalist

$2>  canaries for pleasure & profit 1965  by Cliff Newby paperback

 >> click to enlarge you just gotta see their little hairdo's 

communist

20 cents>   'little red book' quotations from chairman Mao Tse-Tung 1967 second english language edition vinyl cover 

birds on piano

$4  > Olivier Messiaen 'Catalogue d'oiseaux' [catalogue of birds] 4 lp box set bought at the same op shop on the same day as the Xenakis box in a previous post . this beautifully packaged box by french composer Messiaen [1908 - 1992] played by pianist Yvonne Loriod on the Record Society of Australia label [!] is a nice thing to have & it's a great listen too

 Messiaen on birds 

hard cover comic book on shooting technique with the introduction by three time F1 world champion Jackie Stewart [...?!]

$2   >  to quote the former world champ "it is always refreshing to see a new approach being used to encourage & educate people, in the past, shooting books, i feel, were rather dreary, heavy reading - certainly not material to tickle the fancy of impulse buyer browsing in a bookshop !"

...

"i hope this book gives the pleasure, the knowledge & the education that it is intended to & that it produces many new artists!" signed Jackie Stewart  

two dodgy war exploitation paperbacks

$1 each ...

biker exploitation paperback novels

50 cents each  2 biker exploitation paperbacks both from 1972 great tacky covers ... i might even try reading 'em one rainy day  

my best buy ever might be this Iannis Xenakis 5 lp box set i bought for $4 [!!!] in an op shop [!!!] in september 2007 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 $4 !!! Sorry about all the exclamation marks , but i couldnt believe my luck when i walked through the door & saw this box set sitting at the front of a stack of newly arrived records on the floor in one of my local op shops !!!!!  i bought some other interesting items on this day , but i leave them for another post .

recent op shop purchases

50 cents  a small snap shot mounted under glass with 'INHERITANCE 2003' written down the left hand side ... cant help but wonder what the story is behind this one ...
$2  for this small soft cover book with beautiful glossy colour photos of australian wildflowers by the wonderfully named Barry Allwright