I Was Here

Going to spend the night here at Zombie Logic Press headquarters on the Holmes Block. Just rented Enter the Devil on Amazon video. Haven't written a word here in two months. Not a damn thing to say about anything going on. I play Dungeons and Dragons on Tuesdays, and nothing that happens in those sessions strikes me as any more bizarre and surreal that was has happened around me this year.

We got a piano this week. And a roll top desk much like the one my parents had in their home. Nothing fancy, just a department store style roll top desk, but when I saw it at the thrift store I knew I had to have it. Been looking for five years now, and this one just appeared when we were trying to waste a few minutes browsing on our way to something else. I bought her a piano and she bought me a desk.

Night of the Living Dead has been on a constant loop on the VHS lately when I'm here at the apartment. 

recently I stopped collecting vinyl records and started collecting cassette tapes instead, for a couple of reasons. First, vinyl records are just too expensive, and I never really liked them in the first place. I was happy when cassettes, then compact disks came along. I just wanted listening to the records at all, but I have no fear about putting a five dollar cassette in my boombox and listening to something like Van Halen or Tom Petty.

Enter the Devil is a really effective and unique low budget horror movie shot in Texas in the early 70's. A nice addition to the Satanic cult genre that was so en vogue then. And a unique take on it. 

I was here.

P.S. The Devil never does enter Pin It

Cassette Collecting As An Alternative To Vinyl

Some days I wake up and I think to myself, "What is absolutely the dumbest thing I could do today?" And a few weeks ago I sunk to a new low with my answer: collect cassette tapes. 

What?

I hated cassette tapes. Perhaps nothing in my lifetime was more lowly and uninspiring than cassette tapes.

The number one reason cassettes sucked is the number one reason vinyl records are still cultural artifacts: the artwork and liner notes. However, I never envisioned myself collecting vinyl records ever again, until a couple of years ago. When I considered all the albums and bands that had made a difference in my life, it occurred to me that I had no physical obejects that commemorated that. Just digital files. So I slowly started collecting some of the albums that had been my favorites. Devo's Freedom of Choice was the first, but Queen's The Game and The Cars and R.E.M and The Police soon followed. Even AC/Dc and Judas Priest. Soundtracks like The Monster Club and The Return of the Living Dead.

But soon my collecting habit was becoming expensive. So, I wondered if there was a more economical alternative. Like 8 Tracks or cassettes. The reality is we never owned an 8 Track player, so I have no sentimental attachment to 8 Tracks. I really don't get very sentimental over cassettes, either, but when I used to go into the record store they often would have the album I was looking for only on cassette, so I'd buy it in that format. 

The first thing we'd do back then when we bought an album is record it on cassette. If we'd been smarter that would have been the only time we ever played the album. We'd have put it in storage and just listened to the tape. But who thinks of that kind of thing at the time?

So, here are a few of my first acquisitions...

Devo!

Of course it's Devo. I got these for like five dollars each, which is still about half of what I might have paid for them when they first came out. I'm still not entirely convinced cassettes are something I want to collect, but there are about 50-100 albums I'd like to get in this format.

The Twin Peaks soundtrack will run you about $50-$100 on vinyl, but I got the cassette for seven dollars. Of course it doesn't have the feel and impact of a full vinyl album, but who can afford vinyl at those prices? 

It's still possible to find cassettes on the cheap. I bought Paul Simon's Graceland for a quarter Wednesday night. Still a lot of people just looking to get rid of them. Will they ever be highly collectible? Probably not, but it really depends on the artist and album, The ones that are nearly impossible to get on vinyl are often available on cassette. It's not an entirely satisfying substitute, but it's something. 

August 9, 2026 update. Ya, it's a great idea, unless you use the storage bin you keep the tapes in to prop up you air conditioner and it leaks all summer and when you finally open the bin you've got a compartment of mold. 

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