Frank Gutch Jr: Rockin’ the Universe with The Claudettes, Rich Krueger, Gris-de-Lin, Tobias the Owl, Jerry Castle, Banners Raised, Andrew Ryan, Larkin Poe, and Stop Light Observations… Plus Notes

Holy shit! I am practically crying, the music gods are being so good to me.  Just discovered a band which is killing my brain cells and making me enjoy it! They are called The Claudettes and are out of Chicago and I am in love! Lordy, I must have somehow done something really really good. If I could only figure out what it was…

Frank Gutch Jr: Thompson’s and Chrystalship: The Changing of the Guard; A Video Guide to Boulder’s Zephyr; and A Short String of Notes

The first record store I ever frequented was in Eugene, Oregon— Thompson’s.  I wanted to put “Record Mart” behind it but I am not sure how they labeled themselves.  A building on the north end of the city, not too far from Skinner’s Butte, it was small, square and as I remember it, white, with large storefront windows behind which racks of records were displayed, mostly 45s, a small wall of listening booths, and stereo equipment— lots of it.  I have no idea how I found out about it, being a small town boy who hardly ever visited the big city (and to me Eugene was big and a city), but I found myself one day, after much begging and emotional pyrotechnics, entering this Taj Mahal of vinyl.  I remember it like it was yesterday.

Frank Gutch Jr: Confessions of a Rock Critic (Or, I Hear Dead People)….

The best review I ever wrote, nobody read.  It was for an EP virtually no one heard and a band virtually no one remembers (outside of Sea Cliff NY, anyway) and it may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back (actually, mine), the review which makes me wonder why I even bother with them.  There are only so many “if a bear shits in the woods” scenarios one can take before cracking, you know…

Frank Gutch Jr: In-Stores From Hell, The Game Played Right (Questionable Advice From a Questionable Source), and Notes….

I remember the first time I ever walked into the Peaches record store in Seattle.  It was a big as the Tower Records store on Sunset in Hollywood and, for myself, more impressive.  You needed binoculars to see the records in the back corner of the store, it was so expansive, and every bit of the space was filled with bins of albums (real vinyl ones, kiddies), so many that the storage space beneath the bins were packed solid with albums as well.  Someone told me that there was over a million dollars worth of vinyl, wholesale,  in  the store, an unbelievable number considering the fact that albums retailed for about $3.98 at the time.