Where did that year go? Wow, it felt like it just began and what a year it has been! Many great adventures, the heart attack scare, the music room, the creation of the Atomic Vinyl Zombies and being out of a job for the first time in 22 years.
I hope you all had spectacular Thanksgivings and now we can really crank up the Yule celebrations! All of the Vinyl Zombies have started posting their Christmas shellac and vinyl and I am loving the energy and spirit buzzing through the Lounge!
My "landmark" birthday was amazing and friends made it extra special stretching the celebrations out about 2 weeks! My Art Chair, created by Outsider artist Manic Mark (Mark Betcher) ,is a total delight and I love sitting in it, looking at it and it makes me smile every time I enter the music room. Phenomenal gifts of music from Raymond, Skeet, Sal and Cris keep the celebration ongoing!
Junkman Don rebuilt a Voice of Music tube amplifier for me and Skeet installed it into my vintage, fried Voice of Music player so I am excited to play some vinyl on that very soon.
I've been spending at least 1 day a week with Craig, the Record King for our weekly coffee and conversation along with some clean up for the Record King Holiday Bash 2009. Also picking through the Oddball Wall for new gems to turn others on to. Craig also puts new stylii in vintage players I find and gets them working to perfection again. Thanks & hugs, Craig! Love you!
After the initial shock of losing my job, I have happily settled in to being job free and regularly hit the antique shops and thrifts searching for fabulous things to sell on Ebay. I'm also thinking about what I may want to do in the future. The ultimate goal would be a coffee cafe/ antique & art shop. A place where people could come, chat, relax and find fabulous things for their music rooms or general decor.
The Atomic Vinyl Zombies keep me quite sane and they never cease to amaze me with their finds, players and very entertaining video posts. We keep growing and have become quite the diverse family of ravenous record fiends. Thanks Raymond, Manic Mark, Miles, Cris, Sal, Lloyd, Burton, Mark, Craig, Bryan, Joe, Josh, Charles and Scooey along with all the new Zombies stopping in here & there for a chat. You guys have made the lounge what it is and I love you all! 2010 Zombie buttons are done, pressed and ready to go in the mail by next week.
My fave new discovery has been the early century Little Wonder records, the first of which I found in a box on the floor half hidden in a Cold Springs NY antique shop. These little 5" records are one sided, 78rpm records that I particularly enjoy on the Victrola VV-VI which is one of my very favorite early crank machines. Many of we Zombies love the old children's records and the discovery of these little 78's of popular tunes of the day were just a natural progression for me.
My good friend Raymond has gotten me excited about his annual Christmas CD swap and I am hoping to start compiling my contribution here shortly. This will be the first for me but I think it will be fun. Another thing many of us share is our love for vintage Christmas decor and it is so fun at this time of year to see what everybody has! I especially loved Burton's display of vintage Christmas lights and am really looking forward to his future vintage Christmas posts.
Also, to really fuel the holiday fire, I went to see A Christmas Carol in 3D which was spectacular! It is my favorite all time Christmas story and they did a fabulous job keeping it true to the original. I highly recommend it!
On the art front, as you know, I have been semi-retired from the studio for now but still can't keep from creating! I have my mom doing fabulous flowers and leaves for me which I plan to arrange on new Atomic Fez's and I'll reveal those soon.
It's just mind boggling how fast everything goes. My days are flying by at atomic speed and trying to keep up with all that I want to do is a true challenge! I really don't know how I managed when I worked full time! (Probably why I wound up in the hospital a few months back) But I am so much more relaxed these days!!
Skeet & I plan some fun adventures this month like Professor Ouch's wickedly wonderful annual sideshow flea market and a trek to the Brooklyn flea market and back to that place we found called 'the Thing' with an entire basement full of vinyl. We also hit the Chiller Theater Expo which was fabulous fun and the same day picked up the Grundig Console.
The big Nauck's Vintage Record Auction has ended and this time I won 3 of my auction choices, 2 of which were my 'Must Haves' so I was quite pleased!
This month will be filled with baking, finding the perfect gifts and listening to old holiday music. It's the most wonderful time of the year and I look forward to it especially this year and sharing the whole experience with the other Zombies!
This month's tune is Domenic the Italian Christmas Donkey by Lou Monte with the MP3 being provided by fellow Zombie paisano Joe Chompo. Buon Natale, Giuseppe e un felice, in buona salute, musica hanno riempito il nuovo anno! Wishing all a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy New Year! And to all my Zombies:
