Pictured here is Tokyo Record Style repeater, and encyclopedically knowledgeable music homie, Tatsuo Fukutomi, AKA “bemsha” who is one of the main impetuses of Tokyo Record Style Day.
Bemsha and I got on like a house on fire when we first met a number of years back and found out that we are both big music heads. Initially, we traded jabs with Beatle or Stones trivia or excerpts from Bob Marley biographies or obscure Dylan references, but it quickly became evident that bemsha is far, faaar, more adept at retaining musical knowledge than me, on all genres and all manners of topics. And far more well-read than me too. I’d have to keep up with him by coloring the conversations with embellished tales of random brushings with rock-n-rollers, or half-remembered fragments of stories-of-stories from my sneak-in-the-back-door days of the Boulder Theatre. Anyway, as he began a now ~7-year stint as PechaKucha’s resident DJ, and from our many conversations in the DJ booth, not to mention our shared co-hosting of Top 5 Records, to Photohomie-dom, so began our regular record store runs, usually followed by burgers or coffees. And whenever we’d walk into a record shop, we’d pass that threshold, see the edge-to-edge panoramic horizon of crate-digging that awaited both of us, then look at each other, honorably salute, “Good Luck, May the Record Gods, shine upon you” and off we’d dig, passing and checking-in along the way, then to reconvene after some natural conclusion to see what the other had scored. Anybody who has had a record-shopping pal knows this routine.
So I was at a record store a while back, digging alone, when a young cute couple, presumably both record collectors, walked in and surveyed the room then gave a cutie-version of the aforementioned salute, “itterasshai” (Bye, honey, see you when you get back) and off they went digging, and I chuckled to myself. The store clerk heard my chuckle, and said “Pretty cute, huh?” understanding exactly what I was thinking. I thought to myself at that moment “This would be more fun if bemsha and my other record-loving homies were digging in these 45s with me, hence Tokyo Record Style Day.
Killer scores, bemsha. More TRS to come!
Free – All Right Now (Long Version) / Wishing Well / My Brother Jake
Label: Island Records – IEP 6
Format: Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM, EP, 4 Prong Push Out Centre
Country: UK
Released: 1978
Genre: Rock
Style: Classic Rock
https://www.discogs.com/release/778270-Free-All-Right-Now-Long-Version-Wishing-Well-My-Brother-Jake
Carlton And His Shoes – Give Me Little More
Label: Quality Records – none
Format: Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM
Country: Jamaica
Released: 1980
Genre: Reggae
https://www.discogs.com/release/24767201-Carlton-And-The-Shoes-Give-Me-Little-More
T.レックス* = T. Rex – 20・センチュリー・ボーイ = 20th Century Boy
Label: T. Rex – EOR-10320, Odeon – EOR-10320
Format: Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM, Single, Stereo
Country: Japan
Released: 1973
Genre: Rock
Style: Glam
https://www.discogs.com/release/4868289-T%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9-T-Rex-20%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%81%E3%83%A5%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BC%E3%82%A4-20th-Century-Boy
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