Record Collecting #9

7-10-08 Record Collecting #9

This is the part of the story I have trouble telling. After the amusements of the mid-80’s – in 1987, I lost my job. The company I had been working for went out of business. To keep afloat, I sold about 1/3 of my record collection. Do not cry – I got very good money for it by selling it to overseas dealers.

I interviewed at several record labels. I was too young. It was apparent my friends didn’t have any pull, when it came to getting someone hired in.

In 1989, I talked a friend into starting a business in England – a CD exporting company. I did the groundwork, the paperwork, got a work permit for England. When I arrived, he had done almost none of the things I had specified. So my first few weeks of living in England were spent sitting around a bed & breakfast place, watching TV. All in all, I spent about 10 months living in England in 1990. After returning home, the guy I had worked with wouldn’t send me the packages (of the records I had collected during that year) I had prepared. It sucked.

I interviewed at several record labels. I was too old. It was apparent my friends didn’t have any pull, when it came to getting someone hired in.

To soothe my restlessness, I accepted an offer from some friends in Holland. For two years running, I spent 3 winter months (’91 & ’92) staying in Amsterdam, looking after a hotel that was closed for the season – that’s right – bring in the mail, take out the trash – feed the cat. I got caught up with my friends in Holland – I got to see Mam, the group from Tilburg, several times. I wrote letters and called dozens of people – in short, I had a great time – both times.

But the woman I was married to didn’t go for it. She rained sour rays all over my happiness – she didn’t want to be in Holland, she wanted to be in California. The owners of the hotel offered for me to STAY in Amsterdam, and work at their hotel. I couldn’t accept their kind offer – I returned to L.A. with my wife.

I got a job at a small CD store near where I was living. Then I was offered a job at Poo Bah Record Shop in Pasadena. In 1994, I started going to Japan, with my friend Ken Heaton. Then I got divorced.

I knocked around the bars, nightclubs and record stores of Los Angeles for most of 1996 and 1997. I was underemployed; I got a new car in 1997. I got a new girlfriend in 1998. My interest in vinyl was re-awoken. I ventured into previously uncharted waters – I collecting vintage country & western music, The Harmonicats, Wayne Cochran & The C.C. Riders, The Bill Black Combo, Sue Thompson, Doug Kershaw and a truckload of easy listening LP’s. In 1999, I got full time employment.

I started blogging in 2002. This current blog, “The Ron Kane Files”, was started in 2006.

Thanks for reading my stuff.