Let's get the record straight...

The fate of so much vinyl can be rather gruesome like when records are mutilated and turned into coasters or bowls for trinkets. However, so much vinyl has been abused and is just not really playable. There are only so many earnest pops and hisses one can take. While hunting for records I find so many stored outdoors or piled up high, warping in the heat, becoming scuffed and scratched with dirt and dust. Still, it is impossible to pass records by without taking a peek.

 

Flea Markets

Random and off the side of highways, they can unexpectedly appear. While walking under the dappled shade that fought through the thick canopy of trees, I caught small glimpses into the lives of strangers through what they left behind. I have yet to find a flea market that doesn't eventually lull me into a quiet, pleasant trance. More and more I am interested in the placement and arrangement of the items for sale. I find small collages and assemblages in the piles and displays under the tents.  The familiar sights and sounds of Ranchero music, candies made from leche quemado and tamarindo and the smell of  work to pull my thoughts out of a past I never experienced and into the present.

The Lake

"Down on the lake rosy reflections of celestial vapor appeared, and I said, "God, I love you" and looked to the sky and really meant it. "I have fallen in love with you, God. Take care of us all, one way or the other." To the children and the innocent it's all the same." Jack Kerouac The Dharma Bums

In Dreams

"Performance and image, that's what it's all about."

This time capsule quickly caught our attention. The shop was closed but that didn't stop us from drooling or writing our own personal versions of Two Lane Blacktop, despite the lack of a Pontiac GTO. I took the following photos through the glass that separated me from these steel, V8 gods, but even so, just being able to worship them from afar...those satisfactions are permanent. The long shelves filled with engine block after engine block and a room filled with gorgeous bodies awaiting new lives just about took my breath away.