May, Maryland: Record Riot / Tom Waits, Rain Dogs, Promotional Copy, Not For Sale

The internet finds out what you like and sends you more of it.

I didn’t actively seek out a traveling record show, but I apparently had clicked on enough vinyl-related things to inspire Instagram to send a Record Riots ad my way. 

It’s a traveling “show” that entails a rented room, fold-out tables, and fanatics selling their wares to other fanatics. It reminded me of the baseball card shows that I attended as a kid in the 80s—lots of hands digging through lots of crates…a few select rarities on display behind the table…and the feeling that you are glimpsing your potential future self: If I persist with this stuff, I might one day be on the other side of the table.

This particular event was at a fire station tucked away in the suburbs of Frederick, Maryland. Other Record Riots take place up and down the east coast.

I met a friend in the parking lot, and we both questioned whether we’d gotten the address right. Then we heard music. Someone was playing Wet Leg on a boombox. We walked in and were cordially greeted. We began to scope things out.

The first table we visited was selling Kraftwork’s Autobahn for $35. The next had the same record for $24. Apparently, it would be worth our while to shop around.

 

One vendor specialized in jazz. Another had an impressive selection of cassettes. Crates were labeled: metal, soul, rock, hip-hop, punk. The one commonality to the music on offer was that it was all pretty much good. This wasn’t a garage sale. Every record could have been a nice find for someone with more than a passing interest in music.

In terms of what to buy, I approached it the same way that I’d approached the other stores mentioned in this blog: with no particular plan. Just wanted to see what jumped out at me.

It turned out to be this:

 

To be clear about what we’re looking at here: this is a promotional item, a record to accompany the release of Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs in 1985. I couldn’t buy it quickly enough.

One side of this record is just Tom Waits talking about the songs on the record and what it's all about...

And the other has just three songs--Hang Down Your Head, Downtown Train, and Clap Hands...presumably chosen to pique an interest in the record...

...personally, I would have gone with Jockey Full of Bourbon, Gun Street Girl, and, well, Rain Dogs. 

To backtrack a bit: we all have music that we love, but it’s the music that you found when you were younger that carries the most weight. That’s the music about which you say: This album changed my life. Albums, I suspect, tend not to change the lives of anyone over 30.

Rain Dogs changed my life. I was 19 when a friend made me a copy of it on cassette and I began listening to it on my walkman while wandering around Iowa City. Prior to that album, I was exclusively interested in music on independent labels. This was in the mid 90s, "mainstream" was a dirty word, and any music not on an independent label was corporate and hence commercial and hence uninteresting.

The independent label ethos that I encountered at the time (and wholeheartedly embraced) was that major record labels didn’t let artists be artists…they manipulated music to broaden its appeal—which inevitably cheapened it and sucked the life out of it.

Did I ever actually hear a professional musician state that this was the case? Well, no. But you can see the logic to it: the music on the radio tended to be schlock, and if you wanted to explore more interesting stuff, you had to look elsewhere.

And then I found Rain Dogs. “Found” it about ten years after it was released. The music seemed to be every genre all at once and yet something entirely new. Part of me wants to take a stab at writing about it, but then I did purchase that record mentioned above. And so I shall defer to the man himself:

“A rain dog is...You notice it in lower Manhattan more than anywhere else. After a rain in New York, all the dogs that got caught in the rain…somehow the water washed away their whole trail, and they can’t get back home…so that’s a rain dog. … Most of the stories on this record have to do with people in New York who are experiencing a considerable amount of pain and discomfort. And that’s really what the record’s about.”

In addition to loving the music, this album forced me to acknowledge the fallacy of indie vs major. Interesting stuff can be found anywhere. 

Having found this album a few decades back, I can't say that I have it on frequent rotation. It's still a favorite, but it's good to keep looking for new things. I do have this framed photo of paperbacks made to look like the songs on the album:

My wife bought me that. She doesn't like Tom Waits. Which, I mean...I guess he's not for everyone. The best art isn't. Or it doesn't try to be. Whenever I think about this, I come back to something Tom Waits said when being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--something that I think is the most important take on being an artist that I've encountered:

Well, they say I've got no hits and I'm difficult to work with. And they say it like it's a bad thing!