No One Sleeps On the Yellow Lines, No One's That Alone

After the flood hit the basement, out of the vinyl that was damaged and had to be thrown away there were two records that I really missed.

One was George Harrison's 33 1/3, the other was Warren Zevon's The Envoy.

A few weeks back I went to the new downtown record store, Spoonful Records. I found 33 1/3 within minutes. After speaking with Brett, the owner, I felt confident that he'd find The Envoy for me.

Yesterday I got a Facebook message that he found it, and asked if I still wanted it.

This morning, I'm sitting in the back room, drinking juice with the sun rising to my right and The Envoy is playing on my turntable. All is right in the world for the moment.



That's what I call great customer service. He's won my loyalty. These are not valuable records, nor are they the greatest music ever made, but they both have some meaning to me and having them on vinyl again is such a thrill - and that's what being a music fan and record collector is all about.

Next time I go there, I'm playing a couple of games of pinball!

I did some other shopping in the recent past. After winning IWPS we always talked about having a green jacket to pass on to the champion. That could cause logistical problems regarding the size of the jacket. There's no one size fits all here and I do not think a green snuggie is going to fly.

So I went looking for an object, a Stanley Cup of poetry if I may say so. After looking in no less than five thrift shops one Saturday afternoon, the object came to me, in the last place I looked, in the last store I was to look in before giving up the quest.

I sent a picture of the object to my friend Beverly and asked her if she would be able to bedazzle it for Writers' Block. Happily, she agreed and did an amazing job adorning it. Really. I did not see it clearly until I opened it up in the bathroom at Kafe Kerouac. It's an amazing piece of craftsmanship.

Last night I got to present Vernell with the hardware, that is now called The Uni. I think she likes it.

There are rules and responsibilities to owning The Uni, the main one being that it must be handed down from Writers' Block IWPS Champion to the next. There is only one Uni.

No pictures yet, if you have not seen it I want you to imagine what it looks like, but they are coming soon.