The 6149

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I just got back from a jaunt over to one of Soho's (London) vinyl graveyards.  I use my lunch break to seek out old records that need new life breathed into them. Today I feel like a regular Dr. Fronkensteen (not Frankenstein!).

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Lunch breaks aren't just for eating...unless you use them to gobble up the best of London's vintage vinyl.

I have recently discovered that there are almost one dozen vintage vinyl shops near my office in London. I work off of Oxford Street, near Soho. I went for a stroll the other day and realised that I was smack dab in the middle of my London Record Shop Search map (find it here)!

This is dangerous for many reasons. In the next few months I see three things happening as a result of my lunch break discovery...I will get skinnier, my wallet will get lighter and my vinyl collection will get much fatter. The other problem I see is that I will have to come up with excuses as to why my lunch hour has turned into a lunch hours.

Damn the problems!  I have mass vinyl at my fingertips! 

I am going to use this post as a photo album for my lunchtime vinyl hunt exploits. The album will keep updating as I send pics frm my iphone (via the PicPosterous app).  I'll update the comments so that you can see when new vinyl haunts have been properly hunted.

To kick things off, let me tell you a bit about what I saw today:

The first shop I stopped in was"On the Beat".  This shop has been alive and owned by the same guy for 31+ years!  He not only had the coolest old vinyl, but he was playing great tunes...RL Burnside was blaring out from the shop into the streets when I approached the shop. He had all kinds of old Melody Maker, Creem, Rolling Stone original copies hanging on the wall; tons of artifacts and souvenirs, framed, autographed pictures; many racks of obscure, bootleg and special release vinyl.  

I need more time in this shop. Too much to take in just thirty minutes. I found a gem here though: an original pressing of Bob Dylan & The Band's, "Basement Tapes".  There'll be good rocking  at my place tonight for sure.

The second shop I stopped in was "JB's Records".  JB's was a bit smaller, certainly did not lack in volume of cool vinyl.  The shop itself has been there for almost 30 years; the current owner has had it for the last ten.

Here I picked up two classics from two fave acts:

• Booker  T. & The MGs: "Green Onions"
• Keith Richards: "Talk is Cheap" (first solo album)

Stay tuned for more vinyl bin flipping fun...

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I like to do my reading in bars. I like that reading is a solitary activity; I don't like solitary confinement. I like to read in bars because there is always background action. It reminds me of when bar bands play where half of the audience is listening and the other half is fragmented with loud conversations, hook-ups, put downs and bar flies who drink Mad Dog margaritas and roll funny cigarettes.  

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I have been a bit slack on writing for The 6149.  I'm sure the eleven people that read this are heartbroken. Since moving to London, my interweb access has been shoddy, at best. Finally we moved into a new flat two weeks ago. New digs means setting up the utilities, TV, phone and umbilical cord, better known as broadband connection.

Pause: as a result, I have had a chance to pause and think about what direction to take The 6149. I'll let that manifest as naturally and transparently as possible. 

Make no mistake about it, this blog is not a money maker or a product seller, nor is it soap box. It is a spot for me to talk about music, practice writing skills and provoke thoughts (my own and anyone else who is playing along at home). 

That being said, here is what might be my favourite Neil Young song: "Thrasher".  The themes, lyrics and symbolism in parts of the song play out here on the blog...and the subtitle of it as well. I love this fucking song.

_____

OK, back to the subject matter in this post's title. 

On two occasions in the recent past, I have guessed blogged on my friend's site, www.yourunemployeddaughter.com, otherwise known as "YUD".  YUD and I are kindred-unemployed-spirits. YUD's blog is a great read about life as an unemployed writer/managing editor and New York'er.  We thought it would be interesting if chimed in from a similar angle, but from London. For this exercise I am YUP: Your Unemployed Parter. Here is the original YUP post to find out what a YUP is.

Here is my latest YUD contribution with a preamble from YUD, herself:

Today’s dispatch from across the pond comes at a good time. I myself am a little bit down in the dumps about finding a job. Daylight savings time is over, marking the final door-slam on our already closed summer of frivolity, and while I have freelance work, it’s not enough to occupy me. I want more. Challenges! Excitement! Coworkers! I need more. Free Halloween candy in the kitchen! A water bubblah! Money!

And I’m irritated and a bit numb from not hearing back from the one million peoples and places to whom I’ve sent my resume, of feeling like every effort I go to has so little effect, why bother…

Oh, it’s deadening, isn’t it? But we can’t let that happen. Because we are good, we are worthy, we are deserving of jobs. And if those jobs don’t want us, fuck ‘em. It’s onward and upward, my friends.

One step I have not really taken has been going to a recruiter. I know others have done it. Some markets rely on them far more than others. But it’s a step that I may just turn to, next, since the jobs I see on Mediabistro and Craigslist are not doing it for me. ($5 to edit an article? Thanks, but no thanks.)

Let's listen to what YUP has to Say:

It’s time we had that chat. No, YUDites, not that chat. I hope by now you are well-versed in the ins and outs of the birds and bees. The chat I am talking about it the one concerning … recruiters [collective sigh]. Funny, isn’t it, how these two aforementioned topics are related: Sometimes you can get royally fucked by recruiters.

Oooh, that was harsh. Unfair to the entire recruiter community. That being said, there are some whose goal it is to turn you over quickly and put another notch on their bedpost/quota. You know them. They work for the big chop-shop recruiting firms. They shop you around like today’s lunch special hoping they can shoehorn you into a role. They are in it for them, not you.

You meet them in a small, antiseptic, unwelcoming room. They offer you water. They ask you to tell them your story. As you pour your guts out, they are looking right through you, categorically sizing you up. They ask some vanilla questions and say, “I think we may be able to do something for you.”

Yeah, right. Next time you hear from them, check the calendar. I bet you half of my next paycheck (whenever it arrives) it will be toward the end of the month (quota time!).

There are some very good recruiters out there … but you have to seek them out. These recruiters, or career consultants, are a bit harder to find, but worth the effort. They usually work in specialized, vertically aligned recruiting firms. They cover a specific sector. YOUR sector. They have good contacts. They care about placing quality with quality. They care about helping YOU find work.

I usually find three to five recruiters of this ilk. I meet with them and try to give them a very real perception of who I am, what I want, and how I want to go about getting it. This approach is even more important when you are looking in a foreign market.

Here are the Recruiter Rules I use when gathering my posse:

If you want to read on about my Recruiter Rules, head on over to YUD to read the rest of this post and check out some of her other musings on life as YUD:

William Shakespeare and the New Recruiter Rules

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