I'm Back
 

Hello everyone,

It seems like about 18 months since I last posted here...actually it would be easy to figure out since I stopped posting when the board went to the new format. It took me about 18 months to figure out how to register but I did and I'm back. I don't recognize a lot of the names that are posting now--could there really be that much turnover in posters?

To reintroduce myself, I am a collector of vintage graded cards--defining vintage as 1887-1969. My collection is not just baseball cards but football, basketball, hockey, golf, boxing, bowling and non-sports cards. I have approximately 27,000 psa 8 or better cards and I am a graded set collector. For those who read the cu boards, you may know I have 105 graded sets with each card psa 8 or better. For baseball, football and basketball, I try to collect every set made 1948-1969 where in hockey, golf and non-sports I am more selective. In prewar baseball cards I am actively trying to finish 8 sets in psa 8 or better(2 are done) and have a number partially done. I have most 1970-91 sets raw.

I love prewar baseball. I am passionate about prewar baseball cards but I would not collect them if they were not graded and I collect pretty much only in psa 8 or better. I agree with Leon that any kind of collecting is okay--this is how I like to do it.

As many of you know I was vocal about my concern of the alteration of vintage cards and tried to drum up interest in an organization among collectors who would set standards for auction houses and dealers among other things. It never really got off the ground and one can fault me for lack of follow through, but I never got a tremendous amount of support and if nothing else I think I raised awareness of the issues.

I don't plan on getting in any political debates and I don't plan on getting in any hobby board skirmishes but I am who I am.

While I have been off the Net54 board, I started a blog.

http://musicandsportscard.blogspot.com

I would urge everyone to check it out. In it, I display pictures of many of my graded sportscards and sometimes comment on issues of interest regarding graded sportscards or on my collection. I also am a music lover and on the blog I am counting down my top 1230 songs of all time. Now it is in groups of 25. I just posted 1075-1100 so the fun has just begun.

Best wishes and happy new year to all.

Jim

Welcome back Mr. Crandall.
HNY to you as well.

Hi Jim- welcome back! I always said it was just as easy to post here as the old board. No more political skirmishes, and it's much tamer than in the old days. You could always count on a good fight back then; now people actually talk about baseball cards. Nice to see you back, and hope you are doing well.

regards,
Barry

Jim- I just glanced at your music list and noticed you have Hey Jude at #1082. FYI, Q104.3, the classic rock station in NYC, and from what I understand the most widely listened to classic rock station in the country, does a yearly countdown, and Hey Jude was actually their #2 for the decade (Stairway to Heaven is #1). That's quite a disparity between your list and theirs. I vote on Q104.3 every year and my #1 is Light My Fire.

How is "96 Tears" by ? & the Mysterians not #1 on everyone's list??? :)

All kidding aside, I love that song. Another song of theirs, "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" is great as well and it was covered some years back by Smashmouth.

Welcome back Jim. After time you will realize this Board is just as easy to use as the older one.

welcome back Jim.

Jim, What!?! no Ride The Lightning by Metallica on that list!!!:D

Seriously, welcome back!
-Rhett

How about Enter the Sandman? That's a cool song.

Barry,

It's a great song but far from their best effort, IMO.

I'm not really that well versed in Metallica. I'd love to hear some of their other great songs.

Jim,

It was a truly a pleasure meeting you at the luncheon in Baltimore. Hope to see you at the National in Chicago.

Best Always,
Alan

I wouldn't even put Hey Jude in The Beatles top 1200 songs, but to each his own. Light My Fire would have to be top 10 easily.
Welcome back Jim!

Welcome back Jim,
As a fellow past employee of Lehman Bros. (1971-72) and collector of 50's - 70's 45 rpm vinyl I'm glad you figured out the new forum. I always was amazed at your collection of cards and the pics you posted of your card room.


dh

Welcome back Jim!

I should have posted this earlier.....


<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QVS3WNt7yRU" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Welcome back, Jim.

I'm also fond of Oldies. But, We Five belongs much higher.:) As ballads go, the best has to be Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (Shirelles). I had the good fortune of seeing Shirley Alston-Reeves sing it at Wolf Trap last summer. As to rock, I'm a southern rock fan, so best is Can't You See by the Marshall Tucker Band.

Mark

Glad you're back, Jim, but how could ANYTHING by Roy Orbison NOT be 1 thru 10, w/ "Ooby Dooby" being #1!:)

Jim
 

WB Sir. Dad showed me the double name Carrigan that you sent him today. He still talks about it and displays it.

I agree Anthony. I like Hey Jude but it is not among my top either. When I vote in the yearly countdown my top Beatles song is A Day in the Life.

Welcome back. I truly missed your opinions and seeing scans of your cards.

Jim C.
 

Good to see you have re-joined the club.


TED Z

Thanks for the welcome
 

Thank you guys.

On the songs, no Metallica, Marshall Tucker, Shirelles, Roy Orbison.

Hey Jude good song but ranks 10th of 12 Beatles songs on my top 1230.
A Day in the Life is one of my highest as well.

Light My Fire is just outside te top 1000--only 2 Doors songs included.

Rob--you are a heck of a 60s musicfan if you remember Can't Get Enough of You Baby by ? and the Mysterians--tha song peaked at #56.

Jim

I question any list without at least It's Over and Runnin' Scared.

Never liked Hey Jude all that much. Best Beatles songs: I Want to Hold Your Hand, A Day in the Life, Eleanor Rigby, I've Just Seen a Face, Run for Your Life, For Noone, Love Me Do, Help.

Random songs that belong near the top of the list.
My Girl Temptations
Walking in the Rain Ronettes
Wonderful World Sam Cooke
Learning the Game Buddy Holly
Cold Cold Heart Hank Williams
I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry Hank Williams
It was a Very Good Year Sinatra

Music
 

60's - Pictures of Matchstick Men (Status Quo)

Welcome Back Jim
 

Welcome back Jim. Its actually generally more civil than it used to be. Which is a good thing in my mind.
My 5 favorite Beatles Songs
1) Tomorrow Never Knows
2) Strawberry Fields Forever
3) A Day In The Life
4) In My Life
5) Hey Jude

Welcome back, Jim
 

Glad to see you here as well. Very excited to see you sharing some scans, too. The hobby is so great to share as well as read/learn from others. And your collection is certainly expansive!

Any thoughts on completing any pre-war sets in something less than NM/MT?

Be nice to have lunch with you sometime -- Happy New Year to you and your family.

m

The PSA King
 

Welcome back Jim. It was a thrill seeing you accept the award for completing all of those sets at the PSA luncheon in Baltimore!

Hey Jim,

I used to work in an "oldies" themed record shop for a few years. When my father was alive that is all he played growing up. My favorite musicians of that era besides Beatles, Stones and Beach Boys are:

Grass Roots, Del Shannon, Tommy Roe and the Dave Clark Five among lots of others. I've seen many concerts and have met guys like Peter Noone, Tommy Roe and Christopher Cross (even though his music is a couple decades later). But I like classic rock almost the same (Tom Petty is prob my all time fav).

Hello Jim


Frank

Glyn- I like your top five. Tomorrow Never Knows is a landmark song. There are some lesser ones that are my favorites too, such as Things We Said Today. That is a really beautiful song.

One Hit Wonders
 

I agree with Jim that the term is almost universally mis-used.

the true one-hit wonders is someone like Zager and Evans who did In the year 2525 in 1969 and never charted again. Their follow-up Mr. Turnkey is an absolute stiff (and yes I have heard that song) and they were never to be heard from again.

The "modern" description of one-hit wonder has now evolved to being the only song that someone remembers of the artist. With most "oldie/classic hit" radio stations tightening their playlists to as few as 300 songs -- there are many people who are now only remembered for one song -- although other songs by them have charted (and at time even higher) than the song we now remember.

A good example of that is Sugarloaf who hit #3 in 1970 with Green Eyed Lady but actually would hit the top 10 again 1in 1974 with Don't Call Us, We'll Call You. Now tell me the last time you heard THAT song on the radio.

Regards
Rich

Jim......looks like your technical skills have grown by many hundred percent! Good to see you here as well as the non sport side. Also great to see some scans from that collection of yours......

Marc,

Probably only 1940
Play Ball would I attempt as a psa 7/8 combination.Too many 7s to upgrade from raw partial set I submitted.
Would possibly buy 7s in sets where I am missing just a few in psa 8 such as 39 Play Ball, 34 Goudey or 34-36 Diamond Kings.
Would enjoy lunch sometime-let me know.

Rob,

I am fans of all those singers or bands. I have also seen Peter Noone live. Favorite hermans hermits song is No Milk Today. Love Christopher Cross and DC5.

Rich,

I rember Don't Call Us We'll Call You well but I don't think I have heard the song since 1974.

Jim

Welcome back Jim. i like the idea of your blog, well done.

p.s. any Depeche Mode on your list? :cool:

Have to chuckle that a song about ego death/enligtened states (read LSD dose) was brought forth by Jim's posting on his triumphant return.

good stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTMOSCh7aJU

Gotta run...cause... Here Comes The Sun

Jim- how do you keep track of all thousand songs in your list? What happens if you get all the way to number one and then realize, Oh my god, I forgot Red Rubber Ball by Cyrkle? Do you have to start the list all over again?

Jim,

I had to do a double take, there for second I thought you said you liked MC5.

Tnk
 

Barry-Thanks, Ive always said I know more about the Beatles, Baseball Cards, and the Grateful Dead, than I know about everything else put together.

Murcerfan- That was a cool link thanks.

Jeff- Yeah I think I would've been shocked too if he had said he liked MC5.

Jim- Awesome blog my friend.

Jim: No Milk Today is my fav HH song as well along with There's a Kind of Hush

Barry: I love Red Rubber Ball, and The Cyrkle had another great song called "Turn Down Day".

Who remembers the Easybeats?

"Monday I had Friday on my Mind."

Covered by Bowie on Pin-Ups as well. Great tune.

Rob- I remember Turn Down Day- good song.

Quick trivia: who was the leader singer of Spanky and Our Gang (Sunday Will Never Be the Same). And you can't look it up.

And my favorite HH was Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter

Best HH -- Something Tells Me I'm into Something Good.

Who wrote Red Rubber Ball?

Paul Simon?

Yeah, he cowrote it, I think with someone from the Seekers but I forget.

Who wrote HH's I'm Into Something Good?

UGH!! Is her name Elaine McFarland or something like that?? I am probably off a little. I know she replaced Mama Cass in a later version of the Mamas and the Papas. They were a pretty good group, I like Lazy Day....

Rob- I'm not looking it up either, but wasn't it Linda Ronstadt?

Oops, Linda Ronstadt was in Stone Poneys. I screwed up my own trivia question. Skip the whole thing.

I am positive that Linda Ronstadt was not the lead singer of Spanky and Our Gang.

EDITED TO ADD: Saw your edit Barry, no worries!! Different Drum!!

You're right Rob, I just edited my post.:(

Barry, You're No Good. It's been a Long Long Time since you had a decent trivia question.

Peter- I'll make up for it with a good baseball trivia question (and I caught the song titles in your post):

Name two ballplayers who combined for 18 RBI's in a single major league game? I know that seems almost impossible but it actually happened.

Barry,

This is my fifth edition of my top 1230 songs of all time. When I started, I was forgetting songs but by the time I got to the fourth edition there were not songs I had forgotten. I have gone through every song that ever hit the billboard hot 100, all my albums, cds, 8 tracks and cassettes and have gotten reular feedback from my son and two kids.
Now I would certainly not forget Red Rubber Ball or their follow up Turn Down Day-both on my list.Dissapointingly
Paul Simon who wrote Red Rubber Ball considers it one of his weakest songwriting efforts.

MVSNYC,

I have gotten into Depeche Mode recently and their are a large number of claasic alternative bands from the 80s on my countdown such as New Order, When in Rome, Pet Shop Boys, Human League etc.enjoy the Silence and People are People are both on my list.

Tob,

Friday on My Mind is in my top 150 songs of all time.

Over and Over, Glad All Over and Catch Us if You can favorite DC5 songs. Big fan of Mike Smith who died tragically aout 3 yrs ago-wish Dave would have consented to touring past the 60s.

I LOVE 80's music. Just saw Tears for Fears concert recently.

Jim when you mentioned
 

The Don't Call us, We'll Call you story -- that was exactly what I meant :)

My favorite Spanky and Our Gang song is Give a Damn ---

Rich

I saw Mike Smith perform at BB Kings in New York about 2 years or so before he passed away. He still sounded pretty darn good.

A Magical Musical Tour
 

Hi Jim,

Here's a little random, somewhat eclectic, musical mix from YouTube to welcome you back. Just click on the links, turn up the speakers, and enjoy the vidz! :)

Early Beach Boys

Best Group Name Ever? (Sorry, Poor Video Quality)

Remember This One?

All-Time Fav from Burt Sugarman's The Midnight Special

The Only Hard Rock Song with Pipes and a Cowbell?

80's Hottest Babe Band!

Get Back (Live from Apple Studios Roof!)

Ouga Ouga Ouga Chaka!

Glam Rocker Suzi Covering a DC5 Classic

This Performance Is Just Awesome!

One of the Few Good 90's Songs

Super Drum Solo Cover of a Classic

Best Regards,
Craig

Alan,

I am a bit Tears for Fears fan--did not know they were touring again.

Rob,

I believe the bandleader from leaderman was a huge Mike Smith fan. Also remember Peter Noone being a leading fundraiser for Mike following his debilitating injury.

Craig,

Tx-will listen when I get the chance.

Jim