After leaving at seven, or close to seven, it was roughly around two hours when we arrived in Madison. There we had passed what one would think were the remains of the "Occupy Madison" movement; though it was more like occupy a parking lot. Anyways, we had eventually gotten to the first store, Strictly Discs. Its basement was filled with vinyls. There was an entire room of jazz and the other with mostly rock. We had spent at least an hour in there or so, and at the end I had found two “prison albums” (i.e. At San Quentin and Live in Cook County Jail), a misleading Who album, Stone the Crows, Vanilla Fudge, Rory Gallagher, and Bob Dylan and the Band's Planet Waves. Not too bad for the first stop. And Strictly Discs had given us a magnet with our purchase. Though later I had learned, through a tweet, that Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches had stopped at Strictly Discs just hours later. Just think- Kimya Dawson stood where I had stood. That's pretty neat.
The next store was out on State Street, so we had piled in the Neon and fled the scene. The next stop wasn't so promising, for they didn't have many used records. I mean, they specialized in mostly new vinyl, though that's not all bad, but it is spendy. On the bright side I had found a Jack White single from this forthcoming album, which is released this coming Tuesday [April 24th]. So that's pretty neat. Though for this time they had a basement of used stuff, which wasn't as superior as the one at Strictly Discs. Their basement seemed to be more in its infancy. But still there wasn't that much there. At the checkout there were Sarah Palin brand condoms, which are “as thin as her resume.” Anyways the checkout person was quite surprised by my single, and had wondered if it was a special. She had also offered me a free comic book, but I didn't know what to do with it, so I passed on the offer. And like that it was time for lunch.
As we were walking down State Street there was a gentleman, who at first glance had the appearance of being 'down and out,' and that being talking about change. So sad, but not to worry, his so-called “down and out” appearance had changed when he personally and directly asked me: “Wanna buy some weed?” I suppose I have that type of appearance, meh. Oh well, it could always be worst. Then at a quick glace I had notice his “little green bag” sticking out of his front pocket of his gore-tex jacket. Anyways, he no longer seemed “down and out,” but would turn out to be more “up and in.” So I had handled it the best way that I could have with a response of, “What?!” And with that magic word, the friendly pusherman had apologized for some reason. We continued on walking, and left him to his own profession. The experience itself had worked up an appetite, so we stopped for lunch. The time on the parking meter was running low, so our time upon State Street had come to an end.
The store was Mad-City Music, where I believe I struck gold. I had been looking for some White Stripes vinyls, so I had ventured over to the new vinyl 'W.' There I was hoping to find their debut album or White Blood Cells. Though if I had been adventurous maybe Elephant. So I was flipping through them and Blunderbuss was there! That completely contradicted the poster near there: “JACK WHITE – BLUNDERBUSS – DEBUT ALBUM – APRIL 24.” Well that's something, but oh well. I'll take it. I had just assumed that when I was going to check out that they would be all “oh, sorry we can't sell you that.” But that didn't happen, so good deal. That was just surprise numero uno. My hopes had gotten up when I found a Blood on the Tracks, but then dead when there was a bar-code. So Cody was flipping through some and found Music from Big Pink. Oh boy, that's pretty sweet. I had gone from the pile to the hands like that, though I had to give up Death, to Cody. Still flipping through came another Blood on the Tracks, but still a reissue. Oh darn. And then another surprise had nipped me: Astral Weeks. That's really, really sweet, and something I didn't think I would see. That's going on my pile. Shortly afterward a Blood on theTracks from 1975 was found. As for me, I was pretty well set. Though the most shocking bit was that Dusty wanted to get something by Bruce Springsteen. Wait. Did I hear that right? So I naturally I just had to question this. Apparently he was being a neat guy by being a vinyl cartel for a Whitewater native. Although the Whitewater native could always do better. I mean, it is Springsteen. Why not just listen to Bat Out of Hell? At least that's listenable, just sayin'.
There was one last stop in Madison, though there was an Aidiko studio near, so of course Dusty being an aficionado, he just had to go and check that out. The record store was an odd store, for the vinyl were either priced quite steeply or they were missing the actual disc. It was rather dull, so moving on. Since our time in Madison was done, somehow Cody had convinced Dusty to take us to Milwaukee. This would be Cody's stomping grounds, and this required more driving. By time we left the Madison, the Neon's speedometer had died. Yeah, that common thing… well for the Neon it is. But not to worry for Dusty would hit it occasionally and sometimes it worked and other times it did not. It was a rather bumpy ride to Milwaukee. There we had hit up two more stores. And like that it was all over, and we went back to Sheboygan where we witnessed all three of the Neon's gauges to dead. Though I still have one thought, and that being: “How did I obtain Jack White's debut album three days before it's released?” I suppose I'm just that lucky.
Not sure if I would've have this much fun in Chicago...
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