30 Comments
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Dave Purcell's avatar

Fun interview, great photo! And that Ghost In The Machine picture disc behind you... 😍

Love the Damn The Torpedos bits. A friend is reading Mike Campbell's bio now and said it's great.

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Justin Steiner's avatar

I have it on my shelf, but haven't gotten to it yet.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you! It's my all time fave by them, and one of my all around favorites. It' a nice contrast to the, um, "well loved" regular copy that's just below it on the shellf behind me.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

"Top Secret" is underrated- but any other movie made by the team that made "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" movies is going to be, since that can't be topped. (RIP Val Kilmer).

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

True!

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David W. Friedman's avatar

"Please sign my non-alignment pact..."

"If the devil comes we shoot him with a gun..."

I always got compliments from record store clerks for my eclectic purchases. My desire is to find that Modern Lovers bootleg of their first demos with a rare version of "Roadrunner" with extended organ solo.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Oh man, that'd be a great find! Closest I ever came (and it wasn't close) was a copy of the debut record. Was priced too high for my taste, but I hope it found a good home.

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David W. Friedman's avatar

There were some great record stores in Portland, Eugene, and Seattle back in the '80s. The Eugene store used to rent LPs. I'd tape them and then return. I had a very cool Talking Heads live bootleg way before "Stop Making Sense" or even the Rome concert video tape. The track on Fear of Music called "Drugs" was titled "Electricity". So fucking great!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Oh man, that’s awesome! I wonder how an LP library would fare today?

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Aww, cheers, and thanks for the kind link to my Cuban piece, Kevin! I was reading your interview, drinking my coffee, and then scrolled down and thought "Wait, I know that piece!" 😎

Much appreciated.

And speaking of 2nd Ave Records in PDX, as of last week they officially moved out of the building on the corner of SW 2nd Ave and Stark (now named Harvey Milk). A sad day, for sure. However, they are still open and they even managed to find a new spot on 2nd Ave, just a few blocks north towards the Saturday Market!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Anytime! It was a great story. :)

As for 2nd Avenue, I'm happy to hear they're alive and well! One more very good reason to come home and visit!

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Kristin DeMarr's avatar

Willow was my favorite Val Kilmer role! I was so in love with Madmardigan! Real Genius and Top Secret are definitely the two runners up! Loved him in The Doors and Thunderheart too!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Real Genius is so underrated!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Kevin, I just dug out the Jawbreaker/Crimpshrine 7 inch from 93. I attached 2 pics on Notes!

https://substack.com/profile/97521723-andrew-smith/note/c-106242162 if anyone wants to go take a peek. This is a legit relic.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Holy shit! 😍

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thought you might appreciate that! I had Bivouact on tape, and probably got a dub of 24 Hour Revenge Therapy at some point. I think my other Jawbreaker stuff was all from comp records.

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Nolan Green's avatar

Looking good, boss!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you, Nolan! :)

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Christopher Manson's avatar

TOP SECRET!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Lol. YES! Neither my wife or I had seeen it some time, but were rfiling off quotes to one another all day.

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Glenn Cook's avatar

Thoroughly enjoyed the interview. I spent Thursday evening at a Substack listening party in NYC with Nick Hornby and others. Immediately thought how much you would enjoy it.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you, Glenn! It was a lot of fun to do. As for the listening party? I'd have been all over that!

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Andres's avatar

What a great interview. As a vinyl lover, this was way up my street. Like you, I also invariably head straight to the used records section. If I ever visit you in Madison, you're going to have to take me to Dirty Records, please! I'm not a "surprise bag" kinda guy (especially when travelling), but this one sounds so cool that I don't rule out participating 🤣 If I end up with something I don't like, the Alexander family will see their vinyl shelves just a teeny tiny bit fuller 🤪😂 Deal?

Happy weekend!

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you, Andy! I'll add it to the itinerary, and it's a deal! The grab bags are too fun to pass by (maybe that's just me?).

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Andres's avatar

Thanks! 100%: not my usual thing either, but this one sounds too good to resist! Plus, if their curation is as good as it sounds (which I’m sure it is), then it’s definitely worth getting the surprise bag!

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Bob Tooker's avatar

What a great interview. Although I'm a bit confused, because from the opening line I was expecting a Scotsman on a horse.

2nd Ave was and is a great shop. I also lived at Turntable Mary's just around the corner from 2nd Ave.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you! Every once in a while, I try and throw an easter egg in, hoping someone’ll catch it. :)

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Bob Tooker's avatar

I spent way to much time sneaking out to watch Monty Python on Saturday nights after my parents went to bed...😁

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Joel Daniel's avatar

Lovely interview

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Thank you, Joel!

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