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01 Aug 2009 12:21

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Offbeat: Just like mom used to play: A son buys his mom’s old records

  • 1979 May O. Rainey of San Lorenzo, Calif. dies. She was a big fan of music, always bringing her vinyl records to big-band dances, and making sure to label them so they didn’t get lost.
  • 2009 Paul Campfield buys a bunch of records from an antiques store, and doesn’t think about them for months. Earlier this week, he plays them, and realizes they were his mom’s. Whoa. source

26 May 2009 01:29

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Offbeat: Guinness’ most-litigious man sues … wait for it … Guinness

  • I’ve filed so many lawsuits with my pen and right hand that I got arthritis in my fingers, numbness in my wrists, crooked fingers. I flush out more lawsuits than a sewer.
  • Jonathan Lee Riches • A man currently incarcerated in Kentucky who filed a lawsuit in Eastern Washington against the Guinness Book of World Records for saying he’s filed more lawsuits than anyone in the history of mankind. Riches, who goes by such nicknames as “Lawsuit Zeus,” “Johnny Sue-nami,” and “Troy McClure,” claims that they plan to print false information about his feat. Dear Johnny Sue-nami, please sue us! We want to be next! • source

29 Jan 2009 17:53

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Music: Obama’s top-secret access to a killer record collection

  • Presidents have great vinyl Back in the 1970s, the RIAA decided that the presidential library needed some records. Back in the late ’70s, they decided they needed some cool records. So, during the Carter administration, the music industry gave the president some pretty awesome 33⅓ rpm platters. But in the Reagan years, they were confined to the basement (along with some old reels of Bedtime for Bonzo, we’re sure).
  • What’s in the collection? From classics by Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones to cult-classic platters by Captain Beefheart and Talking Heads, it’s a pretty darn cool record collection marked with a presidential seal. Most of the albums are fairly pristine and have just been sitting around untouched for 30 years. No word on whether any of the albums are worth pilfering by DJ Shadow, or if there’s any no wave in there, but we hear there’s lots of punk. source