GoJohnnyGo at The Minnesota Record Show in LynLake Minneapolis, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11th

You never know who’s going to show up! Jimmy Page & Lynn Zecca at the Record Show in London.

upcoming events:

The Minnesota Record Show 9AM-4PM Saturday, February 11th at The Ballantine VFW Hall, 2916 Lyndale Av S. (at Lake St), Minneapolis

Sound and Vision Sale 9AM-3PM Saturday March 24th at Valley Creek Mall, Woodbury, MN

Tartan High School Vendor Fair 9AM-3PM in the gymnasium, Oakdale, MN

Rochester, MN Record Show 10AM-3PM Saturday April 14th at The Eagle’s Club, 917 15th Ave. SE, Rochester, MN

LaCrosse, WI Record Show 10AM-3PM Sunday April 15th at All Star Lanes in the Banquet Room

St Cloud Record Show during Record Store Day Saturday April 21st, details tba

Crate Diggers returns! Friday April 27- Saturday April 28th-Sunday April 30th details tba

Tags: 45, album, LP, Minneapolis, Minnesota, record, sale, St Paul, vinyl

Dragnet “Never the Groom” cassette from 1985

Dragnet ruled. A good hint to that is their choice of covers on this tape: The Suicide Commandos and The Who. Produced by the estimable Terry Katzman. None of the five original songs here made it onto their two 7″ singles or their Life in General LP. Thanks to Greg Schaefer for turning on the green light to post these tracks for you, and to John at City of Dust for pointing me to this tape.

 

Falling Down

All the Peacocks

Attacking the Beat

A Legal Matter

Solitude

Trees

No Second Chance

 

Tags: cassette, Dragnet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pubk rock, Terry Katzman

those rad posters I found in Iowa about ten years ago

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I used to work for record distributor ADA, and I was privileged to travel the back roads of the mid-west, searching for record stores. On a visit to exotic Sioux City while visiting legendary record store Uncle John, I saw some unusual posters hung up in the back of the store. I asked store manager Thad Sand about them, noting they presented many bands I had never heard of. This scene of bands seemed to be based in mid-1970s Western Iowa; the musical acts seemingly lost in time in the age of the internet. Thad said “we have a bunch more of these in this box”, pointing to a package stuffed behind a pinball machine. Amazed, I made an offer on the entire box, bought them all, and brought them back to Minnesota. Terry Drea was a booking agent that put on shows in Western Iowa, many at The Twin Lakes-Lookout Ballroom in Rockwell City and the Starlight Ballroom in Carroll.  I donated some of them to The Iowa Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, traded some to historian Tom Tourville, and gave one to Johnnie Bolin. Johnnie was then drumming for Black Oak Arkansas, and he was shocked I had posters of his teenaged band Malachai. Note: the poster shown by Iron Maiden is NOT the British metal giants. Other bands on the posters: Vixen (they went onto bigger things) Truth & Janey, Terrace, Van Man Grease Band, Armageddon, Burntshoe, Kickin, Magic, Spencer, Sass, Rural, Kilowatt Pioneers, & Stack.

Tags: Iowa, Johnnie Bolin, Johnny Bolin, poster, posters, Sioux City, Terry Drea, Thad Sand, Truth & Janey, Uncle John, Vixen

Thee Jay Hurley five-song cassette from March 1992

Stunned I was as I glided through this cassette. Jay and Ed Ackerson together (and Tommy Roberts too!). This is Jay post-Sedgwicks and pre-Hovercraft/Shatterproof. World class singing, playing, and songwriting- absolutely wonderful. Thanks to Jay for saying yes to my request to post these great songs.

To Sleep

A Drink in Hopes

Straws of Glass

No One is Breaking My Heart

Your Kind of Young

 

Tags: cassette, Ed Ackerson, Hovercraft, indie rock, Jay Hurley, Minneapolis, Sedgwicks, Shatterproof

two Passage cassettes from 1995

Great ambient pop from Minneapolis, related to Judgement of Paris and Shapeshifter. All of these tracks eventually ended up on the Wellspring CD, issued in 1998. You can buy Wellspring for cheap on amazon. Thanks to Christian Erickson for granting me permission to put these up for you to hear.

Wellspring

My Ugly Raincoat

Soft Volcano

Curve

I Didn’t Hear You

Tags: Ambient, cassette, Judgement of Paris, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Passage, Shapeshifter, Wellspring

Terry Eason solo cassette ‘Three Songs’ 1993

With all the hoopla that Terry has been involved with in regards to his Song-A-Day project and its quickly-approaching zenith, I thought I’d present to you some songs Terry did eighteen years ago with some local heavy hitters Steve McKinstry (Salamagundi Studio) and Steve Bjorklund (Burr-Holland Studio). Terry kept the bar high back then, and continues to do so today, literally every day. One of a handful of true Minnesota studio-guitar psych-pop geniuses, I’m honored to call Terry a friend. Thanks Mr. Eason for allowing me to put these up for the folks to hear.

I Know (You’re Probably Right This Time)

No Time Like Now

Sister Polly Sez

Tags: cassette, indie rock, Minneapolis, Minnesota, power pop, Terry Eason

Ben Blake Mitchner and the love of psychedelic prog rock- a true visionary artist

I want to introduce you to Ben Blake Mitchner, easily the most interesting customer I’ve met recently via selling records online. This guy has incredibly good taste in music, is highly opinionated on a Mensa-caliber level, and has a great sense of humor to boot. I was tipped off that he is an artist and musician, and was intrigued by the LP cover art for fictitious records that Ben had created. The easy label would be the Mingering Mike of Prog Psych, but a close look at the liner notes convey a true love for the graphic description and presentation of music from 40 years ago, something many of us would agree is a fascinating subdivision of our vinyl obsessions. Hats off to Ben, I hope we all will see much more of his art, and hopefully hear some of his music too. Ben, thanks for letting me present your art on the gojohnnygo blog.

Here is Ben’s blog Vinyl Antiquity

Tags: Ben Mitchner, fictitious album art, Mingering Mike