I Bet My Bottom Dollar on a Diamond in the crate

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Okay, so this has nothing to do with Lenny and Jan’s project but it led to much inspiration and a little bit of progress on the photo book project.

I have this itch that I often need to scratch, the itch to dip into a random thrift store in search of diamond vinyl. Last week, I was kinda sorta near a goodwill store where I had previously found an Aretha Franklin record for $2 as well as an only-slightly-scratched Barry White album. As I made a smooth transition out of the slow lane and into the parking lot, I was dismayed to see all of the windows boarded up. : (

And today, for some reason, after picking up Juney’s flea prevention tablets (What oh what is the connection?!), I thought came to me to drive by this thrift store in Union that I had noticed out of the corner of the corner of my eye recently, as I was driving from dropping off clothes at a tried and true thrift store that I frequently donate outgrown kids’ clothing to. I politely, using the right magic words, asked my phone to take me to the establishment. I parked, double masked and scoped out the inside of the place quickly. I saw a “Records” sign to my right and there was only one person sifting through the crates. I put my winter gloves on, grabbed a nearby shopping cart to ensure proper social distancing and set to work. Hidden among collections of Polka music, Classical compilations and a record with a very very creepy minstrel image of a white man in blackface (yep - glad I had gloves on), I saw it: Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds. (Ding Ding Ding! - that’s the sound of a win at the slot machine. Also, imagine flashing oversized lightbulbs). I grabbed a couple of other jazz records i discovered but I was primarily concerned with playing Eastern Sounds. This whole operation (in and out) took about15 minutes.

When I listened to this Yusef Lateef album, I almost cried at a couple of points. Each song is so complete and unique and alive. It takes me places where I want to stay, to a couple of whens, whens of my twenties in my little apartment in Buffalo, the when of me beginning to discover jazz by listening to what I inherited of Lenny’s music and then wading it further as a result, perusing the local record shop.

I played Eastern Sounds four times. There are no scratches on that thing! And it’s mine now. That was one diamond dollar spent on magic. It took me the third round before I finally turned to the task at hand.

I managed to complete two more sections of the proposal and I decided on the sample of Jan Stacy’s writing. As I finish the other sections, I may have to consider the format/style of the thing but at the end of the day, the simpler and succincter (a made-up word by Ena that I feel is legitimate enough to use), the better.

So I stumbled this week, several times, but as I told my daughter the other day: you often have to stumble before you can find your footing.