Push The Pause Button

…time to give your wallet a well deserved rest…

…send those weary crate digging fingers on a spa weekend…

…and more importantly, rebuild those relationships that mattered to you most before you became a record buying fiend…

…in short…

…there will be no fresh crates at Restore this week…

…I have that stinking cold that has been ravaging Dunedin over the last couple of weeks and am unable to stand in the donors garage and sort vinyl (let alone carry full crates) for the 8 hours required to provide 10 fresh crates for tomorrow morning…

…so lets all just take a step back, take a deep breath and steel ourselves for a return to the new “normal” next week…

…or you could go down tomorrow and take the opportunity to make sure you didn’t miss anything in the previous three weeks…

…(you know you did)….

What Is A Boy To Do

…..that’s it….less than a crate of stock left…three items still to be collected….the large radio station record unit (that’s still in the pictures) has gone to it’s new forever home….

…the record shop is finally closed….(apart for some tax stuff)…

…now I can have my hallway back….

…and my free time?….

…I’ll be dealing with these….

…75 or so “donor” paintings, just waiting to be “Otcopied”, that have amassed whilst I’ve been busy….

…(has anyone seen my paint brushes?)….

…(and why does there seem to be rather of a lot of wooden items accumulating ’round the house?…are they possibly associated with “Toneware”)….

….(hmmm, I’m going to be busy, aren’t I?).

Inovation Inovation Inovation

…there are no more lps to put in the recent arrivals bin….

…everything is now filed in the “General Alphabetical” or its respective “Genre” bins……so I’ve invented this……Ladies & Gentlemen I give you the “Recent Removals” bin…stock buried in the stacks…passed over (& over) for the last 18 months or so… destined to be thrown to the Trade Me wolves…but maybe worth one more flick thru…

…de-digit your sphincters….

…only 6 more Too Tone days until the end of reality as I know it.

Yesterday

…wax in….

…wax out….

…hurry while stocks last.

 

 

…busy, busy…but not THAT busy…photos flipped to create retail frenzy…

….(sorry kids, your folks are spending your pressies money elsewhere this year).

From The Office Of The President Of The Vinyl Filled State Of Tootonekstan

….after 7 years of 6 day weeks, no holidays (apart from longish w/ends in Kokonga), no sick leave (except for one and a half days where I could barley stand),  whilst celebrating the the fourth anniversary of the cut off date for employing a part timer and this being the third summer that I have clasped my hands together and batted my eyelashes towards the heavens while intoning the mantra “maybe this summer there’ll be enough money saved to get new glasses”, I’ve decided to call time on Too Tone Records….

…nope, that’s it… no discussion will be entered into, no business advice will be taken, no cajoling will be succumbed to… I’m off to find a nice mindless shit-job and save up for being able to see clearly again….(and maybe buy some new underpants)….

…all the stock from the back room is groomed and ready to be presented in three weekly doses of 3-400 new arrivals avalanches…everything will be offered for sale to my loyal locals and any “foreign-devils” lucky enough to be in the area before it is packed away to be sold, over time, on Trade Me….

…last day of shop trade will be January 15th 2017….hurry whilst stocks last.

…a huge shout out and my undying gratitude to all my regulars, from here, from there, from overseas….. without your dedication to hunting for black plastic discs I wouldn’t have been able to do the biz for as long as I have,  sorry if I haven’t been able to tell you all about shutting shop personally, but time and circumstances can’t facilitate that….to all the naysayers and over precious obsessives…fuck you – go bother someone else… : )

…to my suppliers, come and have a yarn and we’ll stock take…

…huge props to the Feastock team, you are legendary…Feastock tickets?…the committee are on to it and will inform you in good time as to the whereabouts of  their new ticket outlet….(see you all up there)….

…an especially huge thank you to my good friend Dee whose support & loyalty to the Too Tone brand has got me thru some rough patches…

Tone Out

 

 

… (truth be told…. I couldn’t bring myself to continue running a small business without John Key at the helm of Godzone…thank you John for all the support, tax breaks, mentoring and custom over the years…it’s been real….).

School Holiday Programme

…this school holidays we have been running a programme for fathers (it’s always the fathers) who appear to be running out of ways to entertain the kids and turn up here, at Too Tone Records…

…here is a father taking part in our “how-to-get-the-rest-of-the-family-to ignore-you-all-holidays-and-possibly-have-you-put-somewhere-quite-&-padded” camouflage course….….he’s our star pupil.

 

…(hey!…Arthur & Eddie!…your Dad’s on the interweb!).

…(seriously though, love it when folks visit with the kids….because the kids, more often than not, are better behaved than most of my regular customers).

The Moaning Is Over

…for years I’d felt aggrieved after reading an article about a New York secondhand  record dealer, who claimed to regularly find money, joints & tabs (nay, sheets!!) of acid slipped into Lp covers, that I had NEVER found a single “buyer’s bonus”….

…until yesterday….…the drought is over…

…these were stuffed down the side of an apple box worth of 7″ 45s….

…(one is even Too Tone “branded”)….…not joints or acid or cash, I’ll admit, but Dunedin is the Edinburgh of the South.

…(oh… and the moaning?….it isn’t really over).

Record Buying 101

…when you see the original gig poster for the gig…… the one that spawned a controversial and non-sanctioned live album by the headlining band…the poster that’s casually tucked into the sleeve of said album…… don’t enthuse about how you were at the gig and how you’ve never laid eyes on  a copy of the poster since….

….because THAT is the last time you’ll ever see that poster.

…(sooooo close……)…..

I Only Joined Trademe

…so that I could take this screenshot.

The Southern Most Second Hand Record Shop

…a road trip to Invercargill would be incomplete without a visit to Rock ‘n’ Rolla records at 86 Spey Street….

…a small but interesting selection of second hand lps….as well as 7″, Cds & DVDs….

…proprietor, Jay, is a top bloke….

…gotta love a record shop that has it’s sound system running off a car battery…

…with a hand cranked back up in the window….

…Jay laughs at your dependence on electrickery…..

….visit there TODAY…er…

…(facebook.com/RocknRollaNZ  ….check for opening times, they can be a bit fluid!).