July 12, 2011
This is the last night my folks are in town, so I’m going to go meet them and my sisiter and her family for dinner. I thought afterwards I’d just take some random shots while wandering around in midtown. We’ll see if we can find some interesting place in a part of town that’s not too interesting.
Okay, dinner's over so we begin the evening with an obligatory elevator mirror shot with Gumby at my side.
And now we begin our random night out in midtown, let's see what we can find out here.
Here's a Duane Reade with a "Doctor On Premises." What they don't tell you is, it's Dr. Pepper, so if you've got a brain aneurism, you should keep going straight to the hospital.
Turn me on dead men, The Beatles are back! But they must close by Sept. 4th to get John and George back into their coffins.
Hey, there's the Late Show theater. Some drunk guy trashed the outside of the joint the other night. Let's go see the damages.
Wow, they fixed everything already. I guess when you're David Letterman your landlord moves quickly.
Colony Records! I forgot this place existed, and I'm amazed it's still here.
Look at all the different albums in the window.
Ha! Guitar air freshners. Okay, let's go inside and check this place out.
There's a whole case with Beatles stuff in it.
Here's Brian Epstein's book, "A Cellarful of Noise." I remember the National Lampoon satirizing The Beatles in one of their issues and they renamed the book, "A Cellarful of Boys."
Beatle hairdos!
I had this picture sleeve 45 as a kid. I think I traded it for a joint to someone when i was in high school. It now sells for three hundred bucks. Oops!
Here's a reprint of a vintage Beatles poster in the store.
And there's actual albums to flip through in here, what a treat! Let's take a look at some of them.
I always loved the Mothers of Invention album cover! RZZZZZ!
Pisces, Aquarius,Capricorn, & Jones, Ltd. My favorite Monkees album.
Here' a copy of the original 3-D cover of "Their Satanic Majesties Request" by the Rolling Stones.
And the album that three out of four proctologists preferred back in 1967, "Bugaloo '67" by Johnny Colon and His Orchestra.
All in the family, Michael and Janet Jackson, together again!
And of course we all know that Abba spelled backwards is Abba.
One last in-store photo of James Dean and Lucy. I knew that this store has been on this block for over 60 years, but I didn't realize the history of this place till I got back home. I have to go back and document it further and talk to some employees, so stay tuned for that.
And this gentleman in the newsstand outside was nice enough to wave goodnight to everyone. See you tomorrow after dark.
Further reading and watching: Time Out New York, Manhattan Lullaby, StashinRecords and New York Magazine.
You might also like: Charo, SpaghettiOs and Oh Oh.
The First Four Things That Come Up When You Google, “Random Things.”
Random Things To Do
Cool Things In Random Places
Best Random Things
Yahoo Answers
Screaming people fly so fast,
In their shiny metal cars,
Through the woods of steel and glass.
21 Comments
Reader Comments (21)
What a great record store,,,,it's a museum for us Beatles fans. Justin Bieber needs to go there and see he was about 40 years late on that hairstyle,,,lol. That guy waving at the news stand with the sign "Ice cool water" on sale made me laugh,,,,not ice cold,,,just ice cool,,,hilarious stuff.
Classic post! And I agree with Al, the cherry on top was the "ice cool water!" LOL!
That "Beatle hairdos!" picture scared the hell out of me !
How much...is that album...in the windoooooow....(arf arf) ...want 'weasles are ripping my flesh'...(arf arf). The 'doorway to hell' in the cool things in random places link was impressive. When the Russians stage a 'whoopsie', they don't fool around, do they? Not as big as Chernobyl, but impressive just the same.
@Al: There's a Justin Bieber poster in there and I thought the same thing. This place has a rich history behind it, I'm going back soon and document it better.
@Barfly: I agree with you and Al, I loved the "Ice Cool Water" sign!
@GENE: Ha ha ha! It is a little frightening!
@Jaws: You're right, they don't fuck around, do they?
that cool water sign cracked me up too! lol! and i loved the surprise link today, dilbert is one of my favorites!
Wow that bugaloo '67 album is something special! And I just spent waaaaaayyy too much time looking at cool things in random places.
Great Post Marty! Like you, I am a big fan of classic record stores! I spent many youthful hours just looking at album covers and wishing i had the money to buy them! I once visited the same store every day because i was slowly peeling off the plastic wrap off of The Mothers Freak Out record because i just had to know what was inside the gatefold! I eventually whined loud enough to covince my Mom to buy that record for me in 1966! She was not happy about that! As for Johnny Colon.........If i was gay and i am not........not that there is anything wrong with being Gay AT ALL, I could see myself as Johnny's Rusty Trombone player!
@rita r: Glad you liked the surprise link!
@kari: That's a real time waster itsn't it? I blew about an hour yesterday!
@Professor Dungpie: Loved the Mothers/Mom story! A good deal of my youth was spent begging my mom for money for records too. Regarding Johnny Colon Rusty Trombone player: Ha ha ha!
Cool water, cool store! I should take my old Japanese Duran Duran mags in there and see if they'd give me a dollar for them! As for Johnny Colon, he's not exactly my type. Nice ears, though.
Just today there was an obit of Italian Saloon Singer Jimmy Roselli in the NY Times. There was a pic of him outisde Colony Records in 1963.
Linked here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/arts/music/jimmy-roselli-italian-american-singer-dies-at-85.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
did a double take on the obligatory elevator mirror shot - thought it was a shot of the great late joe strummer - hey, the great live marty wombacher is just as cool!
@Biff: I think it's a rule if your last name is "Colon" you're blessed with nice ears.
@Ken K. in NJ: What a wacky coincidence! Thanks a lot for putting up the link! R.I.P. Jimmy Roselli.
@John: Thanks so much, but I wish I was one quarter as cool as Joe Strummer!
I wouldn't say the Ed Sullivan theatre was 'trashed' like the news reporter claimed. It was a little bit of a mess.
Weasels ripped my flesh! I love the Mothers. Great record store. I look forward to the re visit.
damn...no partin' shots of the "folks"...still a great post!...could go on and on but "the followers" already hit on the "ice cool" things...which rocked my boat...alot more to say but that "rutgut 45" x 6 is kickin' in....oh yreah jaws got the original "weasles" make offer...and Al who's Justin Bieber?...and biff "ears"?...side note...after standin' at the bus stop for an hour today i at one point thought i was in Willoughby...
A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.
~Frank Lloyd Wright
rr
Nice looking store!!
Random stuff:
One of these days you have to check out the Record & Tape Center on Fifth Ave. (Brooklyn) - around since '65 & full of good stuff. It has a lease for 3 or 4 more years and then ...
My current reading is "The Inside Story of the Original Rolling Stone - Brian Jones" . Got it for a dollar at a stoop sale. Pretty trashy but a great read on the subway! A friend's mom typed up his autopsy report!
Oh & did you notice that at Sunny's the music (well not the live music) is all from albums kept behind the bar, & is played on a little old record player? Beautiful!
@Clacky: As usual the Post exaggerated. I want to go back and get some better shots of the store and talk to the staff. I found out later that the store is housed in the old Brill Building!
@rr: I didn't want to bug my folks with the camera on their last night. Great stuff as always, and great quote as always, thank you sir!
@onemorefoldedsunset: Any place that still sells tapes I need to get to fast, I'll try to get to your neck of the woods soon, we'll talk about it on Sunday. Did your friends mom make a copy? Probably not, no Ebay in those days! And yes, I love that record player at Sunny's!
Did they have the butcher album? Yours was the first one I've ever seen in person. That Colon dude's album cover is just wrong...the pants, the pose...
@Britta: I didn't see the butcher cover in there, but I'll ask when I go back. And your right about old poor Johnny Colon. A sad fellow blessed with a sad name.
Wow amazing record store! I love it!
@Tiki Bar Susie: It's a great place, I'm going to go back again.