The Casket Lottery Collection.

So after many years in total, including an 8 year break, in 2012 I've finally completed my Casket Lottery Collection. I am pretty sure I have everything. All first press and besides whacky 7 inch pressing numbers, rarest color.



From top going right
1. The Casket Lottery/Small Brown Bike 10"- Second Nature- Clear/500
2. The Casket Lottery- Possiblies And Maybes Double LP- Second Nature/Status- White/495
3. The Casket Lottery- Survival Is For Cowards- Second Nature- Light Orange/100
4. The Casket Lottery- Choose Bronze- Second Nature- White/110
5. The Casket Lottery- Moving Mountains- Second Natue- Clear/white swirl/100
6. The Casket Lottery- Smoke And Mirrors- Second Nature- Clear/picture disc/520
7. The Casket Lottery/Reflector 7"- Undecided Records- black/
8. The Casket Lottery/Reflector 7"- unknown- black/50 (Casket Lottery/Reflector "tour" version)
9. The Casket Lottery- Lost At Sea 7"- status- brown/white marble/250
10. The Casket Lottery/Hot Water Music 7"- Second Nature- Pink/253
11. The Casket Lottery/Waxwing 7"- Second Nature- Purple/211 (numbered #1369, no idea to the significance of the numbering. Ive seen copies un-numbered but have seen another purple copy with numbering. Myabe its just the purples? I asked Dan Second Nature if he knew of any tour/show versions and he himself could not remember or did not know)

Now that The Casket Lottery are a band again, I will now have to add another LP and 7" when those are released!

(None of this is for sale!)

The Telegraph

The Telegraph is a record store in New London, CT. Now if you are familiar with New London at all, I know you're probably saying "what? theres a record store there?". Trust me, I said the same thing, but yes, there is! New London to me has always been that sketchy port city an hour away from my home that I would drive to and go see sketchy hardcore shows at the sketchy venue called the El-N-Gee. It has always been that and nothing more. Time changes things, everything. After many years the El-N-Gee shut down and stopped hosting shows. To later re-open as a dance club that tried to reclaim some old fame and book hardcore shows once more. However the scene had changed. People and bands changed and it was a change for the worse. Didn't quite pan out. I attended a few of those shows while it was a dance club but nothing spectacular and it closed yet again. To then AGAIN re-open as El-N-Gee. I have no idea what goes on there now.

With new friends that I have made, I have come hip to this new place. From my understanding they have been there for the better part of a year or more. I have had the pleasure to visit once already and plan to visit more every few months or so. Very good atmosphere, nicely done and set up, great stock of all kinds of records new and old. Lost of stuff up my alley. Most of all, good people.

This picture is something they posted about 5 hours ago and to me it is extremely amazing. To me it captures someones dream come alive. The Before is an idea, an attempt, a blank canvas in which to make whatever you want possible. The after being just that. A barren shell. A white wasteland of boring and dull. Turned into something bright, full of life and sound. In argument something a record store should essentially be. I think the store came out excellent. Hard work and creativity can pay off!

From what I was told, even though I cannot speak for the owner(s) operator(s) of The Telegraph, I believe that they are trying to offer more to that "sketchy port city" and offer some sense of a community. Running a business is tough and in my opinion I think New London would be a hard place to do it but if things are happening, people are showing up, local businesses communicates with local businesses, things can take off. It seems to be working for the most part. Nothing too crazy but the beginning is just happening now. I'm sure there is only better things to come.

I wish the Telegraph many years of business, experiences and accomplishments to be conquered. I look forward to popping in again soon!

facebook.com/TelegraphNL

New Homes.

There comes a time when you have to say goodbye. I have started cleaning out some records that I have not listened to in over a decade plus. Some I just don't listen to, some are from bands/music styles I have fallen off with, some were purchased just to be purchased.

I think that I have finally grown enough to know what it is I want and what it is I want out of that.

Good bye old friends. I hope you like your new homes.

Frontier(s)

My recent score was from a band called Frontier(s). A band you may not have heard of but a band who is fronted by former Elliott singer Chris Higdon. Naturally being a large Elliott fan and with my recent re-introduction to collecting records again I had to pick up these releases to fill out my Elliott collection.

I did not have a record player upon the release of these records so sadly I thought I missed out when I started searching around to try to find some copies on ebay. Until I randomly checked No Sleep Records webstore and saw that they actually had color copies left. Which I swore they sold out of a while ago. Not only that but they were in the sale section. Heres the thing, you could have either purchased the 2 separately for a total of $12 or If you pay attention closely you will see when you add an item(either the 7" first or the LP) there is a package deal available for those 2 releases specifically. So long story short, I got the Frontier(s) 7" The Plains & their full length "There Will be No Miracles Here" for a total of $7!

Im a happy camper.

Frontier(s)

Cleaning your records, with wood glue?

You can show me all the videos you want of this and I still will be sketched out. If you're brave enough and some of your records need cleaning, give it a try!

I'm thinking about maybe picking up something super old and used and giving it a go on that.

Sunday Mornings

Keep it on Wax

Christmas came and went. On this Christmas though, I received a great gift from my girlfriend. She got me a record player! It was quite the surprise. I apparently had said something many months ago about it and when the large box was put under the tree, I had NO idea what the hell it could have been. Turns out it was this!


Its a Crosley CR704. A 5 in 1 musical...box...for lack of better terms. It has an ability to play AM/FM radio, CDs, cassette tapes, has an MP3 jack and a turntable up top.

Its a pretty classy item, I dig the vintage look. Although a little skeptical at first. Since I've been without a record player for 7 years or so after the one I was handed down crapped out and I never sought out a replacement. I never knew the first thing about record players since I was 16 listening to Punk-O-Rama 1 to even now being 26. I just sort of felt that a 5 in 1 contraption that I am pretty sure you could order out of a catalog similar to Sky Mall would be all that good. Well, I was proven wrong. It sounds great in my opinion. I have it in my living room and I usually spend most of my time not in the living room and it fills the house with sound and I am surprised to be honest.

Sure there are probably better players out there. There are also worse I'm sure. The reviews for the most part are very good and as far as most of the complaints about this player go, all I would have to say about it in defense is that this player is quite obviously not a sound system. If that is what you are looking for then go out and buy big speakers, an expensive turntable and a receiver. If you are looking for something that is for the most part compact, lightweight and something to just enjoy listening to your records again as a hobby, this is right up your alley.

My last stated reason is exactly why I am so happy to now have this. Record collecting has always been a slight hobby of mine. Something that I have taken a long break from doing. Since being without a way to listen to all my old records, this could be the worlds most gigantic piece of crap and I would probably be just as excited. It's gotten me back into an old hobby, spending money...I mean record collecting! The funny part is some friends of my girlfriend have also just gotten a record player. At a recent birthday gathering the boys were all in the corner talking about records. Chris had said something that I will currently butcher trying to reiterate that having a record player brings back what "listening to a record" used to be. There is no shuffle, no mix, no skip, none of that. You put the record on and you listen to it. Which is very true.

The only negative things to say about this player is that you may have to open up the back and adjust a screw which controls where the record finishes. When I would play 7" records, it would end just shy and not finish the record. A little bit of a pain but something that is easily remedied. If you call Crosley they will gladly put you in touch with a technician who could walk you through the process. Unfortunately they are only open M-F 8-5 when I am at work but they emailed me instructions. Luckily a friend of mine also has this same player who had the same issue so he came over and helped me out. Secondly, all my records were skipping in certain spots. To me it was either record pressing plants have gotten super sloppy OR my player was not working properly. So I placed a penny on the end of the stylus to add just a little bit of weight since there is no sort of weight adjustment on the player(maybe where that turntable would come in handy?) and my problem was solved.

So in short, I am stoked and pleased with this player. The flood gates have now been opened. Record blogs to come!