skepticlysm

The $5.98 Blog Post

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Skeptifist

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  • Starship ain’t what it used to be.
  • When “we” were kids, Starship Records and Tapes sat in a small, converted house off 11th & Delaware.
  • Place was yellow and blue on the outside and had a really pointy roofline.
  • Smelled like weed on the inside.
  • Full of bongs.
  • Sorry.
  • Paraphernalia.
  • I’m pretty sure I bought my “Crash Course in Brain Surgery” t-shirt there in ninth grade.
  • (Metallica cover of Budgie.)
  • …waitaminute…
  • You don’t think …
  • …
  • …
  • Nah.
  • Anyway, had fond memories of the place from the two or three times I visited.
  • A while back, they moved.
  • Kinda over by Mother Road Market off Lewis.
  • The kid’s into traditional vinyl records, so I thought we could go.
  • And she could practice driving.
  • Down Lewis.
  • Which, like Peoria, is stupidly narrow for some dumb reason, curbs adding to the difficulty rating.
  • Weren’t cars fatter in the ‘50s and ‘60s than they are now?
  • You’d kill each other going four wide in some old Lincolns, Fords and Chevys.
  • Anyway.
  • She did well.
  • Starship … didn’t?
  • Took her to Studio Records to make up for it.
  • Shoulda seen her eyes light up when we entered.
  • And yes, we walked out with records.
  • She paid for most of them.
  • They actually had The $5.98 EP – Garage Days Revisited on vinyl.
  • Which was the first Metallica album I bought the day it came out.
  • Everything before that was out before I found them.
  • I still listen to that EP all the time.
  • I love those five songs.
  • Okay, the first four.
  • I can take or leave the Misfits cover.
  • The internet’s telling me that EP dropped August 21, 1987, which makes it … jfc … 38 years old.
  • Sigh.
  • Fuckit.
  • I’m not apologizing.
  • I still like a lot of the music I grew up with.
  • And I’ll defend my roots until they play this stuff at my wake.
  • Play “The Wait” at my wake.
  • Heh.
  • I’d be worried if I only listened to “old” music, but I still find new music.
  • I know, I know, I have recited that “do not go gentle” line a million times at this point.
  • Don’t know what to tell you.
  • I’m not going to stop.
  • Fuck it.
  • Like, I’m in the middle of reclaiming my fitness.
  • I’ve ridden my bike three times in the past two weeks, increasing my mileage a tad each time.
  • And each time, well the first two times, I’ve been wrecked after.
  • Sore all over.
  • I will overcome.
  • I will be back.
  • I cannot do this any other way.
  • I can’t imagine giving up.
  • Not now.
  • I’ve mentioned the immobility, stiffness, lack of flexibility, and lack of strength.
  • Holy shit, some people just give up and age like that?
  • If this were a PT problem, I’d be at PT.
  • (I might, btw, if my heels don’t improve.)
  • I’ll give work a month or so before I start leaving for PT.
  • But … damn, man.
  • I need to be able to ride at least 35 miles (or 25 on gravel).
  • I need to be able to ride Turkey Mountain.
  • I need to be able to run a damn 5k.
  • And do 40 pushups.
  • Hell, it’d be nice to be able to run a 50-yard sprint, but … I’m trying to be patient here.
  • The point is age takes things from you.
  • Some of which are unavoidable.
  • Maybe you can affect the pace.
  • But holy shit, don’t just shrug your shoulders and go, “Okay.”
  • I can say that because it’s what I’ve been doing for three years.
  • I let this shit beat me for a while.
  • And I still don’t know if I’ve won or not.
  • I’m just no longer lying on the couch and taking it.
  • I’m working on applying that to everything in my life.
  • Anything I feel deficient at.
  • I’m coming for you.
  • Okay, the “Green Hell” portion of the Misfits song is pretty great.
  • (Of course I put the EP on when I started typing. After the fifth bullet point.)
  • I can’t actually imagine hearing Danzig sing it.
  • I was never into the Misfits.
  • I know Cliff wore the shirt, but …
  • We didn’t have streaming back then.
  • What you gonna do?
  • I only owned like a dozen tapes.
  • Maybe a few more than that, but not much.
  • Got what I could from Columbia, got out.
  • I still have some in a red metal lunchbox in the upstairs closet.
  • One of them’s the “Creeping Death” single.
  • I wrote a list on Friday.
  • Facebook did not like it.
  • Gave me an “error” each time I tried to post.
  • It’s over on the blog if you want to read it.
  • I liked it.
  • For what that’s worth.
  • My favorite song on that EP was “The Small Hours,” which apparently belonged to a band called Holocaust.
  • Didn’t remember that.
  • I’m sure I knew back when.
  • Cause I sat on the bed and read the jackets for everything I had while I listened to it.
  • According to the Internet, Metallica’s played that song live a whole seven times, the last being in 2009.
  • I always imagine bands whose songs get covered by modern acts are grateful, because there’s money involved.
  • Each time a song gets played, someone gets a royalty check.
  • Unless it’s by Spotify, then they get screwed.
  • Another example of some rich asshole getting paid for something a creative person created.
  • We watched Argo again this afternoon.
  • They kept showing scenes of Iranians burning things in effigy.
  • Future flashback.
  • And now we’re at the end of  the EP where they butcher the beginning of Maiden’s “Run to the Hills,” which seems a fitting sentiment to end on.
  • Better than sitting here letting the Monday Dreads win.
  • F it.

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