Topic: Stooge and Confused is now a published author!

[stooged and confused]

Hi Everyone! I know it's been a long time since you've seen me post here. Did you miss me? Anyway, the reason I've been MIA is because I've written a book and I've locked myself in my office morning, noon and night finishing the project. It's a pop/rock history book with 370 artist entries. It will be full color, with over 370 photos, a hard cover coffee table bound book for $39.95 + shipping. If any of you are interested in getting one, you can PM me on this site. I will have books ready to sell by May, as my publisher is very excited about the final product and has his staff assembling it now.

[Dunrobin]

I did notice recently that it had been a while since I saw any posts from you.  Congratulations on the new book.  It sounds pretty cool, although "pop/rock history" isn't really an interest of mine.  I hope you have excellent sales!   

[stooged and confused]

I should add that it covers a wide range of artists from rock and pop spanning the years 1955 to 1990! Thanks, Rob! I worked very hard on it..over two years, actually.

[Dunrobin]

Do you have a cover image or anything yet that you could share with us?

(I did just get a brand new coffee table yesterday...)  

[Added]  Oh yeah - what's the title?

[stooged and confused]

We are working on the cover art now. When I get it finalized, I will post it, along with some text and photo examples. It will be informative, serious and funny, with lots of information, trivia, chart history on artists etc. For those who have seen advanced pages, they've all said they learned things that they never knew before. Many of the photos have never been published.

[ProfessorStooge]

Can't wait to see your book in the stores. I even thought of becoming a published author and writing a Stooges eBook. I haven't put much thought into it lately. I would have to find out the cost of using photos for it. I wonder if there are any Stooges photos in the public domain.

[metaldams]

Congrats Stooged and Confused.  Much respect for you for having the drive, discipline, and self-belief to pursue such a project.  When May comes around, remind us, you know darn well I am interested pop/rock history from 1955 - 1990 (my personal interest goes a few years later until Cobain killed himself), so I may very well check it out.

[stooged and confused]

Thanks, Metaldams. I will let everyone know when I have books ready to ship out. I covered the years specifically from 1955 to 1990, as those were considered the vinyl years, before CDs became the dominant music format.

There will also be entries on The Stooges! One for "Have Rocket Will Travel" and another with the local and national release of "The Curly Shuffle". I also mention The Stooges in several other entries. Gary sent me a great scan of the "Have Rocket" sleeve because the one I have isn't in as good of shape as the one he had.

[metaldams]

Thanks, Metaldams. I will let everyone know when I have books ready to ship out. I covered the years specifically from 1955 to 1990, as those were considered the vinyl years, before CDs became the dominant music format.

There will also be entries on The Stooges! One for "Have Rocket Will Travel" and another with the local and national release of "The Curly Shuffle". I also mention The Stooges in several other entries. Gary sent me a great scan of the "Have Rocket" sleeve because the one I have isn't in as good of shape as the one he had.

As someone born in 1978 and who first started listening to music in the 80's, it amazes me how little people talk about the cassette these days.  That's all us kids listened to back the 80's.  Now you've done the research and I'm sure have numbers that would support or refute this, but from my memory, cassettes were at least just as big as vinyl back in the 80's.  I remember going into music stores (a dying breed these days), and seeing entire walls covered with nothing but racks of cassettes.  Man, how I miss that.

Yeah, but it's definitely true CD's took over in the early 90's.  The problem is artists felt now since the CD was big and could fit 80 minutes, they had to fill up every last space.  This led to a lot of filler.  Major artists like Springsteen and Guns N' Roses were even going as far as releasing two CD's on the same day.  I don't know about you guys, but I'm perfectly content with my half hour - 45 minute Beatles and Black Sabbath albums.

[stooged and confused]

Yes, cassettes were still a big deal until the mid 90's when CD players became standard equipment in cars. During the 80's, hit songs were issued on the standard vinyl 45 RPM format and cassingles. By the mid 90's, cassettes were quickly plummeting in sales and were all but dead by 2000. I have fantastic memories of riding my bike to the local record store with my allowance money wadded up in my pocket to buy my favorite song(s). That's something the new generation will never experience.

[metaldams]

Yes, cassettes were still a big deal until the mid 90's when CD players became standard equipment in cars. During the 80's, hit songs were issued on the standard vinyl 45 RPM format and cassingles. By the mid 90's, cassettes were quickly plummeting in sales and were all but dead by 2000. I have fantastic memories of riding my bike to the local record store with my allowance money wadded up in my pocket to buy my favorite song(s). That's something the new generation will never experience.

Me and the guys who I'm jamming with in that youtube video I posted recently used to walk to the record store in our early teens.  To do so, we had to trespass through some golf course, and we got constantly yelled at for it.  It was all worth it.  Once we got to the store (where we knew the owner), we'd make friends with the older guys working there and talk music.  The guys working at the store didn't think kids our age could handle Slayer, pfft!  Then we'd take the cassettes/CD's and listen to them the entire way through, because, y'know, it was all an art form to us.

The new generation, I have no fucking clue what they do, but all I know is the music stores are dying and nobody's listening to entire albums anymore.  I had fun with my friends the old way, and I wouldn't trade my music experiences for anything in the world.

[FineBari3]

Me and the guys who I'm jamming with in that youtube video I posted recently used to walk to the record store in our early teens.  To do so, we had to trespass through some golf course, and we got constantly yelled at for it.  It was all worth it.  Once we got to the store (where we knew the owner), we'd make friends with the older guys working there and talk music.  The guys working at the store didn't think kids our age could handle Slayer, pfft!  Then we'd take the cassettes/CD's and listen to them the entire way through, because, y'know, it was all an art form to us.

The new generation, I have no fucking clue what they do, but all I know is the music stores are dying and nobody's listening to entire albums anymore.  I had fun with my friends the old way, and I wouldn't trade my music experiences for anything in the world.

I can't believe we are nostalgic about cassettes here!  I worked at a used record store in Pittsburgh, PA for 7 years called Jerry's Fine Used Records.  They are one of the biggest used record stores left in the country. When I worked there, we had every kind of recorded music media there. Jerry moved his store to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh (where Moe's brother lived and his family still reside...Hertzog is their name, I believe).

A fantastic place to work, and I wish I still worked there. Jerry is a fantastic person and a great boss! I worked primarily with the jazz, big band, country and classical sections.

http://www.soundadviceblog.com/features/jerrys-records-in-pittsburgh-pa-records-for-people-to-listen-to/

(you can see some of the signs that I made for the old store still being used in the background!)

and his website 

http://www.jerrysrecords.com/

Hey, Rich....weren't you in the biz back in the glorious 70's??

[metaldams]

I can't believe we are nostalgic about cassettes here!  I worked at a used record store in Pittsburgh, PA for 7 years called Jerry's Fine Used Records.  They are one of the biggest used record stores left in the country. When I worked there, we had every kind of recorded music media there. Jerry moved his store to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh (where Moe's brother lived and his family still reside...Hertzog is their name, I believe).

A fantastic place to work, and I wish I still worked there. Jerry is a fantastic person and a great boss! I worked primarily with the jazz, big band, country and classical sections.

http://www.soundadviceblog.com/features/jerrys-records-in-pittsburgh-pa-records-for-people-to-listen-to/

(you can see some of the signs that I made for the old store still being used in the background!)

and his website 

http://www.jerrysrecords.com/

Hey, Rich....weren't you in the biz back in the glorious 70's??

Thanks for posting that, Mar-Jean.  I LOVE old record shops like that.

[stooged and confused]

I am with you two on this subject. In fact, the opening of the book discusses this very topic. ALL OF MY FAVORITE RECORD STORES ARE GONE, except one, suffering the same fate as the drive-in theatre. I love the scenes in "High Fidelity" that take place in the record shop and I went to a place like that which still survives in my home town.

The ipod is convenient, but I agree that it's changed the way people listen to music. They don't play an album through from start to finish and I can't stand listening to "Abbey Road" on the ipod as the medley gets choppped up on an ipod-blech! Plus, there is just something about going to the record store and making an effort to get the stuff you wanted. Being able to look through the shelves and see the big cover art on the LPs or the wonderful 45 custom picture sleeve jackets. Kids today don't get those things with their music anymore. It's sad.

[metaldams]

I am with you two on this subject. In fact, the opening of the book discusses this very topic. ALL OF MY FAVORITE RECORD STORES ARE GONE, except one, suffering the same fate as the drive-in theatre. I love the scenes in "High Fidelity" that take place in the record shop and I went to a place like that which still survives in my home town.

The ipod is convenient, but I agree that it's changed the way people listen to music. They don't play an album through from start to finish and I can't stand listening to "Abbey Road" on the ipod as the medley gets choppped up on an ipod-blech! Plus, there is just something about going to the record store and making an effort to get the stuff you wanted. Being able to look through the shelves and see the big cover art on the LPs or the wonderful 45 custom picture sleeve jackets. Kids today don't get those things with their music anymore. It's sad.

Ha!  During Snowfest '10 here in Delaware, I had the entire Beatles catalog on shuffle while shoveling, and sure enough, "Sun King" sounded real jarring in this format.

I literally live around the corner from Main Street in Newark, DE. where University of Delaware campus is.  There used to be 4 or 5 record shops, but only 2 remain that I can think of.  One of my favorites closed down recently, as I enjoyed talking to the guy behind the counter once or twice about old doom metal albums.  We still have Rainbow Records, and while they still have a good vinyl section, they've definitely downsized over the years.  I still like going there, though.  There's one other store on the street, I won't mention its name, but I'll just say word has it the only reason why it's still in business is because of the drug paraphenalia/system cleansing stuff they sell.  It used to be a good store, but it's music selection sucks these days.

When I was in York College 10 years ago, there was this fun little used CD place called Classic Tunes run by a couple of Dead Heads.  I loved that place!  There's also this CD shop in Wilmington called Bert's that I've heard nothing but great things about and I'm going to be heading there this weekend.  I have grown tired of the whole Borders/Best Buy/itunes scene myself.

[metaldams]

Well, the CD store I said I was going to go to?  Nothing but empty CD racks and a few boxes with vinyl records on the floor.  The was there, and after 39 years, the only reason he's in business is to buy and sell people's old vinyl collections.  Absolutely a depressing experience.  It felt like an abandoned ghost town.

[FineBari3]

Well, the CD store I said I was going to go to?  Nothing but empty CD racks and a few boxes with vinyl records on the floor.  The was there, and after 39 years, the only reason he's in business is to buy and sell people's old vinyl collections.  Absolutely a depressing experience.  It felt like an abandoned ghost town.

How sad!

Jerry, the record store guy in Pittsburgh, tried to retire twice and sell his store. No takers. He keeps it going because he just loves vinyl.

[Rich Finegan]

It's too bad the vinyl stores you are mentioning are in western PA and Delaware. That's a long trip from here. But they sound like good places to get rid of a few thousand LP's I'm trimming from my collection.

[FineBari3]

It's too bad the vinyl stores you are mentioning are in western PA and Delaware. That's a long trip from here. But they sound like good places to get rid of a few thousand LP's I'm trimming from my collection.

I know that you have 'the good stuff' that would make Jerry's mouth water! Promos and rare stuff...

I'm sure he would work out something; he used to take trips all over the Northeast when I worked there.