Wednesday, April 28, 2021

What I've Been (Crate) Digging

Last Thursday I left work early to get my monthly shot at the VA, one that I haven't had for around 4 months. As I left my brain came up with the brilliant idea to go to Blue Moon Discs and do a little crate digging. BMD is only open M-F from 12-5, which means I never get to go there due to work, so I seized upon the idea and boy was I glad that I did. Check out below what I found.


The Ramones - Leave Home $10 As it 's written on the plastic, the cover is in bad shape but the vinyl was fine. What a steal! I've been wanting to find an original (old) version instead of this newfangled 180 gram stuff that's so readily available. This was the next to last record that I found 



The Drivers - Short Cuts $3 I knew nothing about this band so I googled them and had a quick listen. Turns out they were NIck Van Eede's band before Cutting Crew. You know, "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight." Can't go too wrong for 3 bucks.


The Jim Carroll Band - Day Dreams $6 I mean, it's Jim Carroll, what more needs to be said? 



The Del Fuegos - Stand Up $6 Like many, the song "Don't Run Wild" was my introduction to Boston's Del Fuegos. This is the album that came after and was issued on Slash. I' have never found anything released on Slash that disappointed me. This was a no-brainer.


Cruzados - s/t $3 From the ashes of The Plugz came Cruzados, at least for a few albums. They were featured in the movie Road House. I first heard the song "Motorcycle Girl" on a compilation cassette called American Rock which featured quite a few good bands. Not that's something that needs to be released on vinyl. 


Cruzados - After Dark $3 2nd album The band recorded another unreleased album after this before calling it quits. Lead singer Tito Larriva next formed Tito & Tarantula and the band was featured in From Dusk Till Dawn as the vampire house band.

Six albums for 31 bucks. So what have you been buying?.


Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Finally Finished - Does This Count zine # 2

After wasting a lot of time I've finally done another zine of Does This Count. Issue 2, subtitled Poetry From A Non Poet is my second haiku zine. Originally slated to be quarter size it ended up becoming a half size, basically because I mangled the cutting of the pages pretty badly and then opened up an inch long cut on my middle finger, thanks to a moment of inattention with the cutting board. So instead I scrapped what I had and started over. 


This issue will be going out in about a week to all of my zine friends and those that I admire and appreciate. With it will be the March and April issues of my newsletter I'm Not From Here I Just Live Here, as well as a mini zine dedicated to the most recent records that I bought. 

I've another zine that only needs the front and back covers to be designed and then it will be ready for printing. Of course it's been in that status for about 6 months now. Who knows when I'll get around to finishing it. 

Then there is Exercising Demons # 5, which I've been writing for off and on since 2019, my Cleveland Browns zine, one on shit stories, another for some of my favorite photographs I've taken, one for the 3 years of my ska radio show I did from 1997-2000, another about cats and, and, and there are actually more.

As you can see, I've got more ideas than I've time to work on them. They just keep on coming unbidden. Such is life. At least I'm creating again, which always feels nice. So I've got that going for me.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Feeling Like I Can Breathe Again

During the last six months a lot of things I do have been left withering on the vine. Unlike many people who have used their quarantine time to start (and finish) many projects or to learn new things, I went the opposite direction and just stopped doing a lot of things that I enjoy. Like this blog and my podcasts. To be fair, Podomatic stopped recognizing my files or I'd probably still be doing the occasional episode.

Also unlike a lot of people who have been bettering themselves, I've never really had much of a quarantine. I've gone to work steadily and even got outsourced. After the first few months of the shutdown restaurants in Tulsa reopened gradually and then fully, for the most part. There haven't been any sporting events or concerts but movie theaters have reopened as well. The only thing really different is that I wear a mask in public and part of the time at work. Life has gone on.

Work has been difficult. Starting in January I had to drive 55 minutes to another city to cover a site because both of my crew there quit their jobs on very short notice. Not only did I have to do my job but I also had to cover the emergency release of information job for that site. Then I had to drive back home, so not only was I getting up an hour earlier I was also spending almost 2 hours of my day driving. All of that led to a great deal of stress and anxiety and even had me doubting if I could do this job adequately. That's never happened to me before.

Because I had to work like this I let a lot of things go. For instance, I felt as if I couldn't take any time off since no other member of my very short handed team could make the drive on a daily basis. So I cancelled my annual physical at the VA, cancelled my appointments with my therapist and stopped going to the gym. My physical and mental health started declining. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and my mind immediately went to what I hadn't gotten done the day before and was going to get into trouble over.

My boss wasn't happy with me and I just plain wasn't happy with my life. I wanted out of the situation badly but worried what would happen to my family if I quit my job. Finally I had a serious talk with my manager and let her know what was going on with me. Another site lead gave me some suggestions which helped me be keep my team better organized and focused as well as myself. The three empty positions we had were filled and though training new people wasn't easy, things have improved gradually.

Now I can take some time off and address my mental and physical health. I've felt like starting my projects again instead of vegging out on YouTube videos after coming home from work. New zines will be forthcoming, perhaps even some new songs providing I can find someone who can do the music. I still don't know if I want to remain in this job. After all, I didn't choose this company, I was outsourced to them and I had to work, for my families sake. 

Things have improved enough for now though to the point where I can breath a little and take measure of my surroundings and assess where I am and where I want to be. It's a start. I'm just glad my heart isn't pounding as my anxiety and depression rage out of control. I'll take it, for now, but my eye is on the future. Time will tell.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.