I’ve been all over the city tonight, stopped at Dick’s and he gave me a box of 45 rpm’s. Dick is an elderly hustler. Not sexual…a record hustler. He’s been in the business since the age of 9. He refuses to go on camera or use his whole name out of fear of his home being robbed. A home, I might add, whose walls are lined with lead in order to keep the noise down. A true music man.
Dick has a record collection of 78′s that R. Crumb would envy. The earliest of anything, blues, jazz, country, gospel. He knows the bass lines that we all know, but he knows the first time they ever appeared on vinyl. That standard blues melody, that old familiar progression, they all originated somewhere and then caught on – Dick is the man who has the proof they were invented and copied, not eternal…
Here’s a Japanese 45 from the box he gave me. I’ve given him 10 or so 78′s over the last few years and he has always promised to get me some old Mexican “ranchero” records – the early southern neighbor of country western. Instead he pawns off a box of strange 45′s, but this one caught my eye. As soon as I get the needle repaired on my machine, I’ll report back. But I know Dick’s a hustler, so I don’t expect too much. I enjoy his company so I let it pass.
stay tuned to learn some English in Japanese in the coming week…