If the "60s" means anything to you, it might be because you're pushing 60, and also grew up in the "1960s." We have just databased dozens of Boys' Life magazines from 1960 through 1966, now offered in our store. If you'd likely to quickly cruise through some examples of the table of contents of this magazine, here are links to 1966 and 1964-65. Many other TOCs are provided in text form with the listings for the individual issues. Boys' Life Magazine was a repository for both some of the most famous and most obscure contributors that people admire. Now, when you search Norman Rockwell on our site, you will see not only Life and Saturday Evening Post covers but also Boys' Life magazine covers. When you search Isaac Asimov, Pearl S. Buck, Margaret Mead, you will now see some of their Boys' Life Magazine contributions in the search results on moneyblows.com.

Science fiction, prehistoric fiction, cartoons, photo features, and how-tos all intermingled with essential Boy Scout propaganda messages, such as wearing your uniform as often as possible, owning as many accessories as possible, and working your way up the ranks so you will be ready for athletic or military society, or even higher education, as fate will have it.

In the time frame of these issues, the table of contents page changed its layout around three times. The back cover soft drink ads morphed from 1950s activity scenarios to 1960s image advertising (show a huge bottle). There was nary a hint of impropriety or rebellion within its pages, and pleasing authority was considered more important than pleasing a girl. The magazine contains hidden gems for those willing to look, such as multi-part adventure stories and interviews with luminaries such as Yogi Berra and Willie Mays, and photo features by Ansel Adams and Philippe Halsman. Many collectors have gotten hooked on Boys' Life Magazine; one has even indexed all the "Think and Grin" and "Daffynition" entries that refer to the Beatles ("What do you call longhair music? Anything by the Beatles.")

Having added this Boys' Life Magazine selection to our store, we feel the sense of ennui that accompanies the fatigue of having worked very hard on something profoundly useless. Reason enough for a new merit badge.

"Listening to a gramophone used to be an irksome business. Nowadays, however, it is possible to be altogether as absorbed in a fine piece of music.... as one would be in the concert hall."
Frank Swinnerton wrote the above in 1923.
"At last an orchestra really sounds like an orchestra; we get.... what we rarely had before-- the physical delight of passionate music in the concert room or opera house."
Ernest Newman wrote the above, about the advent of electrical recording, in 1926.
"Of greatest significance is the replacement of a conventional stylus with a laser beam that scans the record, thus eliminating not only end-of-side distortion but also the friction that generates record wear."
Mortimer H. Frank wrote the above in 1983, about the advent of CD playback.
Since the early 1980s, other things have also changed. Broadcast radio. Music in popular culture. What the eye sees when it hears music. Sheet music. Big hole records. LP records, tapes, CDs. The recipes for making the music: playing an instrument....turning on a radio....spinning a record......popping in a CD. The recipes for care of the artifact.... keep it clean.... put it back in its container..... etc. etc.
Now, similar to when the music industry once deemed the CD would replace the vinyl record, and with popular demand for live music performances less than ever, computerized music is flourishing in its newly miniaturized form, as bits and bytes on inter-networked computers and computer-like appliances. Freed from the irrelevant fetish you hold in your hand-- that record album, that digital storage disc-- music can just be its wonderful invisible self and show off its variety, its border-crossings, its moods, glow,the genius of its practitioners-- and never mind the business model that required garish advertising packages to attract the attention of store buyers. Internet radio in particular provides listeners with amazing tools for understanding and organizing their music listening.
A steady stream of new stuff can pour into the consciousness of anyone whether they are traipsing to a subway stop, sitting in a corporate cubicle, killing an infidel enemy or sending ringtones to friends. Music lovers can travel light while they behold the heaviest sounds.
In this light, alas, a collection of vinyl represents a time past, imbued with the values that attach to your sense of nostalgia (or not.) Lately in the store we have been adding dozens of sheet music songsheets and folios ranging from the late 1800s to around 1950. The often garish covers of these piano/vocal scores might promote the song, or feature the show the song appeared in; maybe even the stars of a film or musical theatre production. The illustration styles reflect the times. People had pianos not iPods. 78 rpm players, not hi-fi's. Radios, not televisions.
We've also put up a few Mosaic Records brochures. These lovely magazines from the 1980s and 1990s were the periodic catalogs of the company run by Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie. The lovingly and discerningly packaged jazz reissues on the Mosaic label incorporated both respect for the originals and the added value of care and significance. The brochure catalogs contain helpful discography information and intelligent articles about the featured artists.
Both examples of ephemera in our store-- songsheets from the early 20th century and reissue catalogs from the late 20th century-- reflect a certain place and time in the dissemination of popular music. Although we do link to amazon mp3 catalogs in our online store, we will always specialize in the older, advertising/artifact encumbered music media. You had to be somewhere to play it on the piano or spin it on a turntable. You couldn't just be anywhere to select your own music, as is possible today. The transistor radio (1960s) provided a glimpse at what we now can experience as exactly the music we want, anytime we want it. Still, I don't know when I'll stop reading the back of an album cover, probably never!

Couple of quick notes on the store's newest LP additions:
King Henry and the Showmen spawned a tradition of tight Pocono-area bands, from Pennsylvania where jazz and polka have deep roots. A Walt Solek album, Hanky Panky, has a great version of I Had But Fifty Cents, which Robert Crumb could have heard in his childhood, since it ended up on his Cheap Suit Serenaders album from the 1970s.
You can act against George Raft in "They Drive By Night" thanks to this record which lets you do various scenes opposite Raft.
Has there ever been another country concept album like The Game of Triangles? In this curious package, Bobby Bare, Norma Jean, and Liz Anderson look at love life from three sides now.
We're very excited about spicing up the collection with latin styles. Trombone Jazz Samba by Bob Brookmeyer, and The Best of Los Paraguayos, are just hints of more Latin to come.
Russian culture gets a nod with The Don Cossacks and Balalaika Favorites; the latter was an early state of the art Mercury Living Presence disc recorded live in Moscow with American gear and technology. Speaking of those pesky Russians, you ought to hear Stars for Defense, one of the Office of Civil Defense propaganda recordings from the Cold War. And speaking of the Cold War, Slim Pickens was great in Dr. Strangelove and he's also great on this eponymous album.
Like to polka? Type in Jimmy Sturr in our search box. Or Eddie Blazonczyk, or Walt Solek.
Jazz item of the week is Red Norvo Trio / Cal Tjader Quartet on respective sides of this Jazztone release, Delightfully Light

The latest group of additions to our store reminds me of something a friend said once, "I think of you guys as a flea market." Not a high compliment, but the term once signalled no lack of variety, in the sense of "5 & 10"or "general store" and indeed.... moneyblows supplies a general store of music from the 1950s through the 1980s, the same stuff that was available then, only older.
They say you can't be a storekeeper and a collector at the same time, and being a storekeeper is first with us. But we secretly hope many will be buried in our grave with us like the treasures of the great Egyptian Pharaohs (don't need a pyramid, just a record turntable and a decent stylus).Knocky Parker, King Henry and the Showmen, Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, Slim Pickens, Judy Holliday, Red Norvo, Pinto Colvig and Susannah Young.
Why do we thrive on the minutiae of pop music variety from the 1950s and 1960s, when the world seems to falling apart? Judging by our customer base and the world map posted in our mailroom, the variety of music is exceeded only by the variety of enthusiasts. From our Texas roots to our New England fullfillment center, which opens onto a hay field covered with snow, we like to keep the memories moving!

Early part of the winter here has been occupied with our store digesting an interesting record collection from an estate.
Among the bargain classicals about to be offered are a Turnabout disc of Carl Nielsen's Flute Concerto and Clarinet Concerto, Joseph Deak and Paul Pazmandi, with the Philharmonia Hungarica.
Swingle II, love songs for madrigals and madriguys, by the creative arranger from the 1960s, Ward Swingle,including electric piano, harpsichord, and ARP synthesizer.
Music minus one piano accompaniments for solo violin-- great for practicing to composers from Schumann to Schubert to Faure to Grieg. Music Minus One Violin, Joseph Seiger, piano.
Boston Pops and Arthur Fiedler Concert in the Park, a wonderfully parklike 1963 set.
Rare album by Zino Francescatti, consisting of encores on early Columbia Masterworks with Artur Balsam, piano.
Used Jazz LPs are best picked up for a tenner or so at garage sales, but if you're looking for the occasional rare item, or heavy hitters playing together, these are from our new under-$20 batch: Dark of Light by Norman Connors, Giants with Dizzy Gillespie and Bobby Hackett, from 1971; Loud Jazz by John Scofield, Portrait of Thelonious by Bud Powell, David Chesky Band and others. I highly recommend both Sergio Mendes on The Swinger from Rio, and The Songs of Percy Faith played by the Lansdowne Jazz Group.
In the same price range we have some freshly collected Sinatra Capitol medallions: Come Dance With Me!, Come Swing with Me!, Sings the Select Cole Porter, and the Reprise issues Strangers in the Night and That's Life. That gets you Sinatra backings by Billy May, Ernie Freeman, Nelson Riddle and the Ray Charles knock-off sound of Ol' Blue Eyes' "That's Life." Just type "Frank Sinatra" in the search at our store.
What a pleasure it is to offer a selection of American polka records from the 1960s and beyond. You'll recognize some artist names: Dick Rodgers, Walt Solek, Larry Chesky, Dick Pillar, Lil Wally, Eddie Blazoncyk, Joe Twarog, Jimmy Sturr (got lots of his!), Ray Henry and many others. Just type "polka" in the search at our store.
This record never lasts long in our store: One Stormy Night by the Mystic Moods Orchestra. The best sounding thunder and rainstorm ever on vinyl, brilliantly set to music.
Finally, a mostly NM batch of Disneyland Records and a few Buena Vistas: Best of Disney Volume 1 and 2; Merriest Songs, Merry Christmas Songs, Mickey, Goofy, It's a Small World, Larry Groce, and many more. All nice copies from the 1960s and 1970s and each under $20. For these and much more used copies of Disney records, articles and books about Disney, etc. , just type "Disney" in the search at our store.
It is with deep regret that we bid farewell to our white label Vee Jay Beatles 45 rpm promo, which is the biggest Beatles item we've sold since the holidays, when rare Beatles were being bought as gifts. Thank you forever John Paul George Ringo.
Also thank you Santa for the 1916 windup Columbia Graphophone. Any advice on needles?

Twelve inch vinyl LP records, with their album lengths, their generous graphic packages, extensive credits, historic value, and great playability provide a wonderful window on the eras when they dominated music sales.

From the days when television was emerging on the scene and fighting for the hearts and minds of children, there were live animal dogs in Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, animated dogs in Huckleberry Hound. There were the amazingly hidden musical talents of Bonanza TV’s original cast. There was the famous bird Woody Woodpecker.

If that weren’t enough animals you could find more in the Stories of Uncle Remus. Music just came naturally to the Guest stars of the Hee-Haw Show. Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland holds a special place with many fans of the 1950s and 1960s, when it sold many color TVs.

You may wonder why vocalist Artie Wayne puts a picture of Anita Ekberg on his album cover. Wonder again at Ronnie Deauville Smoke Dreams and Reid King, Tommy Andre, New Wave.

Back to the 1960s, who remembers the 1967 Boston Red Sox Impossible Dream? And Songs that made Johnny Cash famous, on the original Sun label.

Moneyblows’ extensive jazz holdings are graced by the additions of Mezz Mezzrow, Frankie Newton, and Rebecca Parris.

Collectors of gospel and r&b will appreciate the Dixie Hummingbirds on Peacock; , the extremely rare Clyde McPhatter Live at the Apollo. Also Maxine Brown’s Greatest Hits.

It will soon be 20 years since F. Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, led Wall Street out of the October 1987 crash into what was then the largest leveraged buyout (LBO) in U.S. history. Black Monday 1987 had harmed many stock values, and highly publicized tobacco liability litigation was also hurting RJR Nabisco.
Johnson, nicknamed "The Pope," made a $75 million sweetheart deal with his directors, according to the then-bestseller, Barbarians at the Gate, by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar.
Everyone on Wall Street looked for a way into the deal. First, investment bankers who saw the huge cash flow from the company's tobacco arm. They and many others would reap huge fees associated with the restructuring of the company. The prize, such as it was, would go to Kohlberg, Kravis,Roberts, and the money that blew around the eye of the storm amounted to about $20 billion.
It seems like a long time ago now, and some of the characters in the story (which was made into a Hollywood movie) are still around. The bestselling book is a reminder that business history can provide some swashbuckling reading, and our store has an interesting section specializing in business history.