The Logistics of Grandmaster Flash
This story begins way back in 1983. I was living 16 years old, in Marin county, living neck deep in music, punk rock and other genres. We didn’t really have any super good record stores in Marin, they were OK, but not amazing for alternative stuff of any kind.Consequently, my friends and I would take the vvveeerrryyy sslllllooooowww Golden Gate transit bus over the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco (a maybe 30 min car ride=2 hour bus ride), getting off somewhere on upper Van Ness, then walk about a couple miles to Rough Trade Records, then on 6th and Folsom. Rough Trade was a Mecca of 80s punk rock at the time, but also sold other types of music, (“imports” they were called at the time) so Rough Trade also sold reggae LPs and 12ins and a smattering of other types of music. My friends and I would make regular pilgrimages there, armed with little lists of must haves, coming home with bagloads of vinyl to obsess on for the coming weeks.
One trip I saw this amazingly cool Grandmaster Flash compilation album with this incredible graffiti cover, a French import which carried the hefty price tag of $10ish. I had never seen any hip hop records of any kind at that point. Hip Hop was still basically in its infant stages, although I heard jams like “New York, New York”, “White Lines” and “The Message” fairly often on what was then called “College Radio”. Rap appealed to me with its vastly different delivery than the rock groups I was raised on. The vocals and lyrics were front and center with tales spun of gritty urban life that was fascinating to me.
Needless to say, I bought the record and it quickly became one of my cherished possessions. Back in school, we would compare notes (not literally, but practically) and geek out on the shit we bought the weekend before. One of my friends, Rich Turner (not his real name) didn’t go with us that last trip, but had gone with us in the past. When I mentioned that I got that Grandmaster Flash record, he begged me to lend it to him so he could tape it. I wasn’t really into lending people stuff for all the obvious reasons. But he was a friend and I saw him every day at school so how bad could it be? So I carried it to school the next day and lent it to him.
Time passed.
And passed.
And passed.
At a certain point, I was like, “Hey Rich, uhhhh, can I get my Grandmaster Flash record back?” (Being all nice). He’s like, “Oh yeah, sorry, I’ll bring it tomorrow”.
That happened about 100 times.
I started getting annoyed, like, “Rich, bring me my record back…”, etc. etc.
Still nothing.
Literally, months later, Rich brings it back.
The cover was all beat to shit and the record itself was horribly scratched. I confronted him saying, “What the fuck did you do to this thing? It’s destroyed!!!!” He just kinda sheepishly apologized, but really had nothing to offer in terms of excuse or payment. He was a big stoner so I think he just trashed it when he was high. Him replacing it was pretty much out of the question because I only saw the record once at Rough Trade then never saw it again. …and it wasn’t really about the money, I wanted the record!!!! Pissed, I never lent Rich anything ever again.
So now, I’m left with a fairly rare (at the time) destroyed Grandmaster Flash record.
Fast forward many years to Amsterdam, Holland, on April 30th, a holiday known as Queen’s Day, where the whole country wears orange, parties, throws concerts, flea markets, events for kids, etc. I was there visiting my friend, local resident Rene Harks. We had been out drinking (which means maybe 1-2 max for me) and we were walking home in the dead of night. One of the coolest things about Queensday is, in Amsterdam, that there’s basically a citywide flea market/garage sale which starts the night before Queensday and people sell all types of stuff all night. So, as we are stumbling back to his place, there’s one person selling crates and crates of records. Smart Rene brought two flashlights with us in case we wanted to shop on the way home. I was exhausted and kinda didn’t care about flipping through a bunch of Dutch Records with some kids in lederhosen on the front cover at like 3:00 AM, but Rene wanted to and we’re here, so here we go. I’m groggily flipping through boxes half heartedly when really all I want to do is go to sleep.
Until….
There it is!!!!
My coveted Grandmaster Flash record, with the awesome graffiti cover, in all it’s glory!!! For basically 3 euros, which at the time was about $3.I bought it (and nothing else, I think) and got it back to America in one piece, where it now resides in my collection.
The moral of the story is: Don’t lend your records to stoners.