One monkey don’t stop no show.

Big fan of my hood, always new things to discover and amusing characters to meet. Today I finally went into the second hand “book exchange” book shop, which I have walked past a million times but for many reasons never stepped inside (some reasons include, the place is pretty shambolic, i got no room for books and I imagined the owner to be the weirdo second hand bookshop owner type, which he was). I had time on my hands, and walking by I noticed there was a customer in shop, which means I could enter and not have the sole attention of the owner, and walk out unapologetically if I wasn’t going to buy anything, feel me? The customer who was in the shop happened to be perusing the porno magazines and at the time I entered he was asking how the owner had categorised them i.e “are these like sorted by big boobs and stuff?” Looking around the shop it was a pretty valid question considering it was the only section that looked orderly and cared for.

I noticed a little box that had a couple of records in it and flicked through while listening to the other customer try and make a decision about which mags he wanted, discussing the merits of each. I picked out one Frankie Valli LP which had the gem Beggin’ on it expecting to pay maybe $2.00 for it and also had a few 45s including Bruce Willis’ - Under The Boardwalk ? (picked it up for the novelty factor). Also in the pile were a couple of cassette tapes. 6 items in total and he told me $15.00!! noo wayyy. I said how bout $1 p/item? He wasn’t having it. So I looked at the pile and offered him $5 for these two 45s:

He said ok, then I opened my wallet and I told him I only had $4 (which was kinda true-ish). These two recs were a bit of a gamble. Never heard of either nor the label. Chosen by the year, the cover art and the “Demo only. Not for sale” stamps, which always add a bit of intrigue (no way is it a stamped certification of goodness).

Kristal – Ete Super, was everything I hoped for! Crazy Italian 80’s funk/disco. The raps are just Super.

But this is the bit i’m curious about. Are Monkey Productions records rare and sort after?? According to this website, the 12” of Dee D Jackson - My Sweet Carillon is worth £132.76 ?? hmmm…

Oh yeah I almost forgot. Before he left, the porn connoisseur told me he had some records at his house he’d be happy to sell me, mentioned Sam Cooke which I dig. But really though? He gave me his number, he did seem a little “out there”. Do I follow this up? He’s crazy, but got recs for sale. Hmmmm…