More dreams

I had another dream last night, this one much shorter. And it was actually music-related.
I dreamed I was interviewing Whitney Houston. A pretty good trick, since she's been dead for five years.
But Whitney didn't let that little problem get in her way. She was lookin' fine and keepin' it real, and the interview proceeded without pausing for any decomposition issues:
Q: Whitney, a lot of people think you had the most beautiful voice in pop music history.
A: Well, thank you. It was nothing, really. I was blessed.
Q: But a lot of people also think you wasted that voice on a lot of really awful material....
A: ...Well, I wouldn't say that Dolly Parton's "I'll Always Love You" was awful material....
Q: Yes, but a lot of people thought you howled like a dog in that song.
A: ...WELL! ....
The dream fell apart and I woke up at that point, but I decided that dream could easily wait until the next day to be posted here. And then I went right back to sleep.

More travel over the Valentine's Day weekend in the continuing mission to collect Strange Music in order to get That Book written. Among the items purchased at Tacoma's HI-VOLTAGE RECORDS and Port Townsend's QUIMPER SOUND include The Incredible String Band's RELICS best-of and LIQUID ACROBAT AS REGARDS THE AIR, Michael Hoenig's DEPARTURE FROM THE NORTHERN WASTELAND, Nektar's REMEMBER THE FUTURE, Enid's AERIE FAERIE NONSENSE (great title) and TOUCH ME, McKendree Spring's SPRING SUITE, Oregon's WINTER LIGHT and FRIENDS, Vangelis's SPIRAL, Argent's ALL TOGETHER NOW, Ambrosia's first, Chris Squire's FISH OUT OF WATER, Van der Graaf Generator's REFLECTIONS best-of, Synergy's AUDION ... oh, and Blue Oyster Cult's SPECTRES, The Who's QUADROPHENIA, and The Shoes' TONGUE TWISTER. Not sure how those last three snuck in there, but anyway.
I haven't heard most of these before, and reports on them will be posted here soon.
I continue to be impressed by HI-VOLTAGE's vast selection of vinyl. They've got lotsa good CD's, too. The atmosphere's wonderful and the people are nice. All music sounds better played on their store sound-system. But bring your wallet, and make sure your bank account can survive a visit. They also have a website: hivoltagerecords.com.
QUIMPER SOUND has some charm with its underground in-a-cave location, and the owner is friendly and talkative. Most of the prices are quite reasonable, and he gave me a great deal on the two ISB albums, which hadn't been priced yet.
The store also has a TON of $1 albums I'd like to dig through, but it could take DAYS. The owner said he tossed a couple of Richard Thompson albums in with the cheapies awhile back to see if people were awake -- and they were gone the first day. So, someday when I have lots of time to waste....

QUIMPER SOUND is also co-sponsoring the 2nd Annual Port Townsend Record Show, set for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 at the PT American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St. Parking and admission are free. QS's owner said they're expecting nearly three-dozen record-dealers, some from as far away as Portland, Ore. More info's available here. I'm planning to attend early, even though it's a work day for me. The owner said last year's session was a blast. Sounds like a good time to me....

Also made a return trip to PT's WILLIAM JAMES BOOKS, a great little hole-in-the-wall used bookstore in Port Townsend's historic downtown district, that The Girlfriend and I hadn't been in since last summer. Back then, I was impressed with their huge music-related and science-fiction sections, but those have apparently shrunk over the last few months ... or maybe they sold a lot of stuff during the tourist season. Anyway, brought home a copy of Mark Lewisohn's THE BEATLES' RECORDING SESSIONS, so it was worth the trip.
My thanks to all these merchants for keeping their prices fairly reasonable for those of us on working-poor incomes....

...Do you think Port Townsend might be willing to change its name to "Pete Townshend" if he were to visit and maybe put on a show...?