New Vinyls :)

[Bill Hart]

In between munching on kale and trying to find the perfect fish taco, I have been buying 'vinyls' in Austin.
Or, as they say here, 'Dude, I scored some killer vinyls.'
Today, it was half a dozen nice 6 eyes, very clean, from Miles to Johnny Cash, to a Decca Headline of a British composer with a name like 'Birdwhistle' to an old boxed Decca of a Rolling Stones compilation circa 1971.
Also found a nice Dinah Washington on Roulette and a few other odds and ends. Typical price for these was average of 10 bucks each, some a few more, many less than that. Most of the jazz stuff came from a collection the dealer bought. The Verves were all later Verves, so I passed on them. I did find an original 6 eye of Jazz Party in Stereo, but the disc was is less than great condition, although the jacket was close to mint.
I think I'll go ride my skateboard down to '04 and hear an 'emerging' band. I love this place.

 

[jazdoc]

What Miles and Johnny Cash vinyls?...

 

[Bill Hart]

What Miles and Johnny Cash vinyls?...

Johnny is CS 8602 The Sound of Johnny Cash, 6 eye.
Miles is Miles Ahead, CL 1041 (with Orch by Gil Evans).

 

[Bill Hart]

Also Ellington Masterpieces, CL 825 6 eye and
Ellington Uptown ML 4639- Gray label 6 eye.

 

[mep]

Austin is a unique place. I love the bumper stickers and tee shirts that say "Keep Austin Weird."

 

[Bill Hart]

Austin is a unique place. I love the bumper stickers and tee shirts that say "Keep Austin Weird."

My wife saw a sign in 78704 that said 'Hello condos, goodbye weird."
We're actually looking on the north side of town rather than the south side, which made the slogan famous. It's pretty funky over there, a hodge podge of shotgun shacks, crazy modern houses sandwiched into tiny lots, funky stores, and some serious weirdness. Also wonderful food everywhere, and not just BBQ. The north side can also be funky, but also has its share of big older homes. We've seen some wonderful stuff, but Austin real estate (at least the good stuff in the right 'hood close to town) ain't cheap. A couple of the places on our radar are older homes that are right in the city.

 

[cjfrbw]

Nice scores, Bill.

I am curious, did you spend some time in Austin before you made your choice, or was it just a rabbit out of the hat decision?

Had a client who was miserable in California. He was raised in Atlanta, but went to school in Austin and worked there for a while. He was a pretty glum dude, but when he told us he was transferred back to Austin, he was so ecstatic he acted like he had been let out of prison.

 

[Bill Hart]

Nice scores, Bill.

I am curious, did you spend some time in Austin before you made your choice, or was it just a rabbit out of the hat decision?

Had a client who was miserable in California. He was raised in Atlanta, but went to school in Austin and worked there for a while. He was a pretty glum dude, but when he told us he was transferred back to Austin, he was so ecstatic he acted like he had been let out of prison.

Carl, a little of both. I wanted a smaller city than NYC, because I find Manhattan absolutely overwhelming, even though when I moved there in 1981, I felt like I was in the center of the world. Now, it feels like too much. So, I spend as much of my time as possible up in the country, outside of Manhattan. So, the score card for alternatives is:

Wanted a university town- for vibrancy- check; one with a good music scene- check; good tech scene- check; law school where I could teach part-time- check; and some funky, interesting stuff, good food, architecture, culture, etc.- check.
Nashville was a little too limited, Berkeley or outside San Francisco would have done nicely, but I think California is a little crushing on taxes and cost of living. I'd live in Big Sur in a heartbeat, but I don't smoke pot and there's nothing to do. (Carmel is nice, though).
So, Austin hits all the buttons, except, it is not on the coast (although we have a river/lake in the middle of town) and it gets hotter than hell here in the summer (so, we'll travel).
The other thing that is interesting is that people here are genuinely nice, without being 'fake nice' if you get what i mean. I have a feeling that, as Austin grows, it's going to get a little more big city aggressive (all those NY'ers and Californians are coming here), but I can roll with it.
At some point, I'd really like to live in Provence or Sicily, but that's the next stage; I'm not quite there yet.

 

[rockitman]

Nice. I bet you miss the cold weather back up here in NY...

 

[jazdoc]

Johnny is CS 8602 The Sound of Johnny Cash, 6 eye.
Miles is Miles Ahead, CL 1041 (with Orch by Gil Evans).

Also Ellington Masterpieces, CL 825 6 eye and
Ellington Uptown ML 4639- Gray label 6 eye.

Very nice my friend. Enjoy!

 

[Bill Hart]

Nice. I bet you miss the cold weather back up here in NY...

The weather here is glorious, my wife is back and forth, dealing with stuff at NY house, house sitter, staff working at the NY house to maintain it in our absence, her aged mom who has fulltime care, the landscaper, the snow plow guys, the plumber, the security guys, etc., ad naseum. I wears me out just thinking about it.

 

[Bill Hart]

Very nice my friend. Enjoy!

Thanks Doc, not uber collectible, but the jazz records looked unplayed, the covers are perfect, it looks like they were purchased and shelved since the 50's.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Bill, glad to see you made it to Austin. If only you could have seen Austin in the 70's, it was vibrant without the traffic and crowding. I'm sending you a PM.

 

[Bill Hart]

Bill, glad to see you made it to Austin. If only you could have seen Austin in the 70's, it was vibrant without the traffic and crowding. I'm sending you a PM.

Thanks, Steve. We are currently living in Clarksville, and I get a huge kick out of Nau's Drugstore (which looks like a movie set) and Bond's TV Repair across the street. I don't know if I posted about Bond's already, but once you get past the front showroom, it is a vintage TV repair store from the mid-50's, with a wall of ancient TVs dating back to the late 40's. Mr. Bond was there, in shirtsleeves, tie and tie clip, as spry as ever. He started the business in the mid-1950's and is now in his 80's- the place is a time capsule. Clarksville, for those of you who don't know it, was named after a freedman, and not only has some historic shacks, but a multitude of 1920's era craftsman homes, many of which have been restored, added onto, etc. There is a neighborhood within it called Castle Hill named after the old Texas Military Institute, which is a crenelated castle that sits on top of the hill. The neighborhood is extremely funky and vibrant, although the prices are somewhat brutal, even by NY standards, e.g. an updated cottage, with 1 bath, no views, for 1.1 million. No pool, not even sure it has a garage.
But, it's a few blocks walk to the city, and there are some amazing places, from over the top modern reinterpretations of bungalows (one has dormers made entirely of glass) to places that really look like Appalachia, run down, just waiting for somebody to die and the developer to grab it. Most of the renovations are extremely tasteful, but I'm also digging the really unmolested old houses that time seems to have forgotten. Great fun! (I love architecture so I'm in heaven here, there's a ton of mid-century modern that just cracks me up).

 

[Shaffer]

Good driving country out there, I understand. Though, Upstate isn't too bad in that respect. I, too, moved to Manhattan in '81 and have been living Upstate with my Manhattan-birthed wife for the last 20 years. Sometimes we miss the city, but the less stressed lifestyle is nice. Congrats and best wishes.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Thanks, Steve. We are currently living in Clarksville, and I get a huge kick out of Nau's Drugstore (which looks like a movie set) and Bond's TV Repair across the street. I don't know if I posted about Bond's already, but once you get past the front showroom, it is a vintage TV repair store from the mid-50's, with a wall of ancient TVs dating back to the late 40's. Mr. Bond was there, in shirtsleeves, tie and tie clip, as spry as ever. He started the business in the mid-1950's and is now in his 80's- the place is a time capsule. Clarksville, for those of you who don't know it, was named after a freedman, and not only has some historic shacks, but a multitude of 1920's era craftsman homes, many of which have been restored, added onto, etc. There is a neighborhood within it called Castle Hill named after the old Texas Military Institute, which is a crenelated castle that sits on top of the hill. The neighborhood is extremely funky and vibrant, although the prices are somewhat brutal, even by NY standards, e.g. an updated cottage, with 1 bath, no views, for 1.1 million. No pool, not even sure it has a garage.
But, it's a few blocks walk to the city, and there are some amazing places, from over the top modern reinterpretations of bungalows (one has dormers made entirely of glass) to places that really look like Appalachia, run down, just waiting for somebody to die and the developer to grab it. Most of the renovations are extremely tasteful, but I'm also digging the really unmolested old houses that time seems to have forgotten. Great fun! (I love architecture so I'm in heaven here, there's a ton of mid-century modern that just cracks me up).

Is that the area around 10th street, not too far from the capitol building?

 

[Bill Hart]

Good driving country out there, I understand. Though, Upstate isn't too bad in that respect. I, too, moved to Manhattan in '81 and have been living Upstate with my Manhattan-birthed wife for the last 20 years. Sometimes we miss the city, but the less stressed lifestyle is nice. Congrats and best wishes.

Hill Country is pretty nice, kinda makes me want to get on a bike again, although I agreed to stop riding after a crash some years ago. NY driving- killer roads once you get north enough- Hudson Valley near West Point has some great roads, Adirondacks- fabulous, border near Vermont, gorgeous, etc. Many drives over the years upstate in many sportscars. Autumn is spectacular.
Visiting the city is fine, stay in a good hotel, eat a meal, shop, whatever. Working the grind there though doesn't let you take advantage of Manhattan at its best. But I know plenty of people, I'm sure Myles is one of them, that are hard bitten city critters who could never give up the buzz of NYC.
When I was younger, it was like adrenalin for me- I needed the intensity. Now, I find it nerve-wracking. Ironically, when we lived in Brooklyn Heights back in the 80's and early 90's, you almost had to apologize for being from an outer borough. Now, it's the hip place to be. Go figure.

 

[Bill Hart]

Is that the area around 10th street, not too far from the capitol building?

Clarksville is just west of Whole Foods, up on the hill above 6th St, on the edge of Tarrytown. We're also looking in Judge's Hill, which is mostly big old houses right in town- interesting mix of old mansions, mid-century modern, some of the big houses have been converted to professional offices, lot's of dead-ends and few main thoroughfares, so it is very quiet. Some of the houses have great views of the city.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Clarksville is just west of Whole Foods, up on the hill above 6th St, on the edge of Tarrytown. We're also looking in Judge's Hill, which is mostly big old houses right in town- interesting mix of old mansions, mid-century modern, some of the big houses have been converted to professional offices, lot's of dead-ends and few main thoroughfares, so it is very quiet. Some of the houses have great views of the city.

Thanks. Ne plus ultra used to be in one of those old mansions and was a great audio store.

 

[Steve Williams]

Great city Bill

My oldest daughter,her husband and my grand daughter live in Austin. We were there a few weeks ago and saw most of the things you described. Have you been to any of the wineries outside of town. We stopped at several on the way to the Salt Lick. We walked the lake you talked about in the center of town and as far as summer heat, you aint seen nothing yet. It's a scorcher there. Have you eaten in the Whole Foods at their corporate headquarters