The Harp-Tones - Sunday Kind Of Love & The G-Cleffs - Ka-Ding Dong & A small story: (Does anyone really care obout this stuff anymore?)

Most record guys are dicks: This is NOT one of them....


I just picked these 2 records up yesterday @ the local flea market. I bought them off of a guy i have been buying records off of for a few years now. Nothing major, but i always buy a few cheap 45's off him. These were only a few bucks each as most of his records are. He is a nice guy. A little older and is always jamming oldies out of a boom box in the back of his van. We always talk a little bit about this and that and of course records & music, but yesterday was a bit different. He was talking about how he was thankful the weather is getting nicer and he was thinking of moving his operation. (he sells at different markets around town) And we got the talking about "The Spot". Now the spot is a place i have been buying records at for a lot longer than most and i used to go every weekend without fail for years and years. But the spot isn't the same since "Old Man Mike" died. I talked about Old Man Mike a way back and how i have been buying records off him since the 80's. Well since his passing there has been a whole lot of crazy shit that has gone on with his record collection and his family and people getting at his records and what not but that is a different story... SO ANYWAY... I knew that he knew old man Mike but did not know if they were friends or not. You see there is A LOT of competition in the world of record collecting and selling. Most of these old cats that sell out at the markets make their living off of doing this shit so its a dog eat dog world in the land of flea market record buying and selling. And most of the guys would stab their own Mother in the back to get at a box of records FIRST! But this guys isn't like that at all, he is mellow and i have always liked him, after all we both have the same first name, but once we got talking about Mike and i found out he had nothing but nice things to say about the old man and he was telling stories about how Mike helped him out of a few tight spots my affection for the guy grew even more. So after an hour or so of telling some stories about the record folks we like and dislike i paid my small few for a few moldy old records and went home thinking about Mike and all the other record freaks and all unscrupulous shit that goes on out there amongst these assholes and thought what a waste of time. I collect records for the fun of it and because i love music. I don't make money doing this, i SPEND money. And then i thought to myself, man, you sure do have a lot of records. And who gives a shit. I mean does anyone really care about two 45's from 1956 in this day and age? and why all the hub bub? People treat these records like objects and lose sight of the real reason that they even exist, to be listened too! I guess for some people this is business and i know i am a small fish in a big pond when it comes to records but i have a fairly large collection but i am a bottom feeder. I don't have deep pockets. But i have some decent stuff most of which i have come across by hours and hours of digging and hitting thrift stores & markets at 6 AM. i just hope that when i croak my family can make a few bucks off my vinyl and keep the asshole record collectors away from my shit!

So anyway, here are 2 records you may or may not give a rats ass about. In the big scheme of things this shit matters not, but enjoy anyway... ( or not)

oh, and if you see "Tommy" above, buy something off him and tell him the devil sent ya....


The Harp-Tones - Sunday Kind Of Love

The G-Cleffs - Ka-Ding Dong

The Videos - Trickle Trickle

I've been digging for this record for a while now to tell a little story that goes along with it.

This here record was one of Old Man Mike's favorite records. He told me a story about it once that i will now tell to you.

See he grew up in North Jersey and used to go to this little soda shop joint after school with his pals. I guess they'd buy burgers and what not but they would always play the juke box. I guess it must have been right around when this 45 was released in 1958 that a copy made its way in to the soda shop and Mike would play this 45 over and over and over again day after day for weeks until one day he walked in and went over the the juke box to play his favorite record and to his shock and dismay the record was no longer in the juke box.
slightly agitated at the missing 45 he walked over and asked the owner "what happened to my favorite record?" The owner then reached under the counter handed a then young Old Man Mike that very same 45 from the juke box and then said "Here its yours! Go play this at home!"

The old man still had that very same record in his collection some 50 years later...

This one has seen some wear. Good records most time do as they are played and played again. This isn't the same 45 as spoke about above but Mike did sell this too me and he gave me the story for free.

Thanks Mike! RIP Old pal...

The Videos - Trickle Trickle

The Wheels - My Hearts Desire - Let's Have A Ball

Ok, if you read the post below then you know what this 45 is all about...

check 1:17 & 2:10:

this is the 45 that cemented our friendship....



This is the last shot i took of the old man... He was most likely talking smack about egg beard.... RIP buddy. I guess i'll never find out what girlie covers and 45's you were holding for me when i showed up that Friday morning and you said you didn't bring my stuff because i never show up on a Friday....


SHORT TIME TO LIVE, LONG TIME TO STAY DEAD....


The Wheels - My Hearts Desire

The Wheels - Let's Have A Ball

RIP Old Man Mike...

The Old Man showing off some rare gems...


Digging in his bag for some gold...


JJB & the old man.... the back seat and trunk of that car was always full of vinyl...



DJ Prestige, Old Man Mike and DJ Jack The Ripper, Not even freezing winter weather stopped the sale of records...

I aint been feeling much like “blogging” these days for a multitude of reasons… Sorry there will be no Halloween here @ The Devils Music. But the news I got the other day really hit me like a ton of bricks. I found out a good friend and record mentor passed away. I’ve been buying records off Mike or as he is better known Old man Mike, The Old Man or Samurai Mike since the 80’s when he ran a record store out of the Tom’s River Connection, which was an indoor Flea Market type joint. When that closed up he had been selling records at “The Spot” for years and years and I’ve been buying records from him ever since. Some of those very same records have been posted here time and time again.

Mike and I became fast friends when I brought him a record to de-warp. See he had some “device” (actually just 2 pieces of cut glass w/ holes in the middle for 45 labels to fit in) that he could de-warp old 45’s. He would put the 45’s between these 2 sheets of glass and then put them in a toaster oven and depending on the make up of the 45 (Plastic, Vinyl, Styrene) he had a precise time set for each one, he would then de-warp the records. He told me that he had found out these times by trial and error and had ruined countless 45’s by the trial and error method included a few rare gems… But anyway I heard he had the system down and I brought him one of my fave 45’s to de-warp. It was a 45 by “The Wheels” and the Songs being “My Hearts Desire” and Let’s Have A Ball”.

He really liked this 45 and was surprised by such a young guy (remember this was a while ago and yeah, I was young once) having this 45. And I can remember him asking me a question about the 45 before he took it from me to de-warp. He said to me, “Do you know what the best part of this record is?” and I said without hesitation, “yep, it’s the breath the singer takes in between lines in My Hearts Desire. He started to laugh and was like man that’s wild that you say that because that is my favorite part too!

That locked it in right there. We were buddies full time now. From that day forward he would hold certain records for me and we would spend hours and hours shooting the shit out there at the spot talking about records, music and life. He would even hip me to certain tables that had good records and never turned his back on me if he got into a box of gold. Even though he made his sole living from buying and selling records if we were walking together and he came up and a box or some said hey Mike I got some records for you to look at he would always say to me “Go ahead take half the pile” That is just the kind of guy he was. Not unruly or surly like most Flea Market Record guys that would shove their own Grandma out of the way to get in a box of moldy old records first. I loved that guy and I’m really going to miss him. I always looked forward to getting out there bright and early with my coffee and finding the old man and see what he was holding for me, shooting the shit and talking music. We would talk about old times when he grew up in North Jersey, about family and friends but mostly music and records. And he knew his stuff about Music and Records. He was always awesome with my kids and would sell them old coins and comic books and the occasional Hot Wheels car.

We became such good friends that I actually sold records for him via eBay for a while. The only time in my life I ever sold a record was for the old man who didn’t have the internet and still used a rotary phone. He was more than fair with me and I got a handsome percentage of the total after sale. We sold some soul records together for over 600 dollars!!!

After I had kids and needed more money to live and raise kids I didn’t go to the spot as often as I used to and Mike found someone else to sell his soul 45’s on eBay but even if I didn’t see him for months at a time always had a pack of 45’s for me. He would store in brown paper sandwich bags and write down on the outside who it was for. He never wanted anyone to know what any other guys was getting for fear of getting anyone upset that they weren’t getting the best records…. Crazy sounding I know but if you knew how some of these kooky record guys are you would understand.

I’m going to miss you Mike. I don’t think I ever told you how much you meant to me or how important an influence you were on my musical journey through life. It just never even dawned on me that you would just be gone one day… Rest easy and I hope heaven has all the records you ever wanted…

I'll be back to posting some music at sme point but right now the music has died...