Welcome back, it's been a while. The last few months have seen me temporarily locate to the other side of the world in Perth. Most weekends I've been desperate for a good rummage through an op shop, something that used to be part of my weekly (almost daily) ritual in London.
The grazing isn't so rich in the West, perhaps because everyone seems to throw away their hard rubbish here rather than donating it. I've never seen curbside collection like it. It seems as though most people regularly replace the entire contents of their homes every few weeks. Either that or they are auditioning for a role in a depression-era America drama, hitching their possessions to a back of a wagon and heading for California.
Although I've struggled to find many decent op shops in Perth (maybe a good thing) I have found that my local Vinnies has a pretty good selection of CDs. I suspect that most are cast-offs from the multitude of backpackers that pass through Northbridge. What seemed like an essential part of that road trip to the Kimberleys is now more like unwanted excess baggage for the long hop home.
This weekend I managed to pick up a few gems, each just a couple of bucks:
Trompe le Monde - The Pixies
Mama Africa - Miriam Makeba
Best of Marvin Gaye
Rude Boy Ska - Desmond Dekker
Mama Africa - Miriam Makeba
Best of Marvin Gaye
Rude Boy Ska - Desmond Dekker
But my favourite find this week is Voodoo Jive by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. I have to admit, I had no idea he penned the classic I Put a Spell on You. But even better is discovering how genuinely weird his music was. The last track is called Constipation Blues - as you can gather from the title, not one for the faint of heart. In the spoken introduction to the song Hawkins explains that this is the first song that deals with the 'real pain' of existence. And so it is.
