What's In My Bag?

Records I've Recently Scored

I go digging. I don’t spend hours and hours in the stacks because I’m not producing music, but I AM an enormous fan. As such, I keep my weather eye open and my Spidey Sense on full. I’m drawn to places through intuition, happenstance, and sheer coincidence. This also happens to describe my mother’s sense of religion. Shit! I guess crate digging is my religion. This is about records I’ve found recently that I needed for my stacks.

1. Cannonball Adderley - Somethin’ Else, 1958, mono, first pressing

   

   I’m a big game hunter, and this is BIG GAME. I’ve been looking for this for a looooong time, and it was worth it. In 1957, Cannonball Adderley ditched leading his own band to join Miles Davis’ legendary lineup with John Coltrane — a move that led to some of jazz’s greatest milestones (Kind of Blue, anyone?). But in March 1958, Davis flipped the script, playing sideman for Adderley's Somethin' Else, a Blue Note session that’s exactly what the title promises.

2. Minor Threat - Minor Threat, 1984, original 12” comp version, w/poster and insert

   

   Minor Threat’s self-titled debut didn’t just drop—it detonated, defining hardcore for generations to come. Released on Ian MacKaye’s scrappy Dischord label, the album distilled punk into pure velocity, with MacKaye’s incendiary lyrics and explosive delivery leading the charge. Alongside D.C. legends Bad Brains, Minor Threat shaped the underground music scene of the '80s and '90s, inadvertently creating the straight-edge ethos that became a global movement.

3. Bob Dylan - Another side of Bob Dylan, 1964, white label promo, mono, with radio station timing strip

   

   This isn’t simply Dylan expanding his sound; it’s him rewriting the rules. The album blends love songs and protest tunes with a whimsy and depth that transcend the folk label entirely. It’s a window into an artist discovering he can do anything.

4. Elvis Presley - At 706 Union Ave: The Sun Singles 1954-55, 2024, Third Man Records package #59, 7x7 singles on yellow and black marble vinyl, complete, w/ postcards, patch, and 45 rpm adapter

   

   The ignition point of rock 'n' roll as a cultural revolution. Recorded in a Memphis studio that felt like a glorified garage, these tracks — That’s All Right, Mystery Train, Blue Moon of Kentucky — are weirdly timeless. They blurred the lines between country, blues, and gospel, making Elvis the first true pop star of the rock era. This was a seismic cultural shift. With characteristic Jack White affection, this box gets the full Third Man treatment. Glorious.

5. Blind Melon - No Rain, 1993, 45 rpm, jukebox

   

   Blind Melon’s No Rain is forever tied to its sunny vibe and iconic bee-girl video, but the song’s roots are darker. Written by bassist Brad Smith — not Shannon Hoon — it’s about a former girlfriend struggling with depression, though Smith realized it was just as much about himself. It remains one of the single greatest snapshots of an era of guitar-pop bands that just doesn’t exist anymore.