Friday, November 14, 2008

Dolly Parton Does Australia

Salvation Army Thrift Stores rock. Or as they'd say in Australian, "Salvos" rocks.

Around 1993, I got my first dining room table at the ginormous Salvation Army store on Colonial Drive in Orlando, Florida. It was a very heavy, beautiful oak table with six ornate matching chairs. I think I paid about $175 for it. It was so gorgeous, I loved it.

Then, somewhere around 1996 before co-habitating with my then boyfriend, aka CruiseBoy, (now he's my husband, aka SugarDaddy) he bought a dining room table set that we found together at the Salvation Army; strangely enough it was nearly identical to the dining room set I grew up with, a modern teak scandesign type table with six chairs. Years later, I sold the set on ebay for about $550 (and the people paid $500 to have it moved from Texas to California). Yes, I am an ebay maniac.

PIC00009 by you.
This was the second Salvation Army table in our old house in 1999 or 2000.
I'm very impressed with myself for pulling this old photo out of my ass.

And yet another of my favorite Salvation Army purchases was this yellow velvet chair (back left corner). I still have it.
P1010115 by you.


Needless to say, I'm all about "Salvos", so when Mindy mentioned today that there was one near my house, I was all over that.

When we got there, I poked around, found a funky bakelite necklace for my sister ($5), and then stumbled across a big box of records, ya know, as in vinyl.

My sister just bought a record player so I thought maybe I could find her some stuff she'd like and bring it back to the U.S. with me. Well, once I started going through the box and taking out each record I realized they were in amazing condition, and found out from the Salvos dude that they were all from one person. It was such a great collection that I couldn't pick which to buy.


A sampling:

Dean Martin Album by you.

  by you.

  by you.

       by you.

  by you.

And as I'm inquiring about how much it would be for the whole motherload, this guy comes up and starts picking through my new record collection. He asks if I'm buying it, I break the news to him that it's mine, so step away from the vinyl my friend... but he continues perousing the goods. Mindy and I glance at each other wondering if we're going to have to go all ninja on him, or start really getting our obnoxious American groove on, and finally after the deal's been sealed with a quick cash transaction he backs off, but it was clear that he wasn't happy about it.

So I bought the whole box, about 130 records!

Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Phil Collins, Eagles, Van Morrison, The Police, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Liberace and a seemingly endless list of more. It's just an amazing collection.

I paid $75 Australian, as of today that's about $50US.
Oh yeah, who's yer mummy?

Maybe my resident music expert can assist on what in the world I should do with this???



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26 comments:

Gypsy said...

What a find! I loooove going to the Salvation Army and Goodwill.

Rassles said...

Look at you, bargain shopping. For some reason, I feel like I've always called Salvation Army "Salvo." But maybe I got it from my friend from Australia.

Hmmmm....

Anonymous said...

That is a seriously funkified collection of vinyl!! You always did get the best SA finds - I was a very, very lucky girl to get to Salvo shop with you. Let's do it again soon : ) You didn't happen to find a recording of "Groove is in the Heart", did you? Deee-Lite will always have such a special place in my heart - Love you madly - Speak with you soon

Marvin said...

Holy crap, Timex Social Club! That's worth an Ebay listing by itself. ;-) I have heard "Rumors" a million times, but never saw the album cover. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I love me a good thrift store find! I bought my awesome coffee table at one called Value Village two weeks ago! It's a big, square, solid wood one that is perfect for my space. I got it for $50 as well!

PamelaRose said...

Congrats on your find! Did you or your sister know that I have G.R.'s turntable, equalizer and such from the prehistoric days of music??

Anonymous said...

I have a friend for whom english is a second language and he calls the store "The Starvation Army" store.

I recently bought this gadget that plays the vinyl record and translates to digital for loading on my computer for my iPod. cool.

Congrats on your fabulous finds.

Laura said...

Gypsy- I know, it's the best!

Rassles- You have an Australian friend? I never heard Salvos until yesterday!

Nina Bellina- Did you know Carol is coming here on Monday to hang for a week then fly to the US with me???

Marvin- Glad I was able to expand your visual on that song.

JustJessie- I've bought countless tables at the SA-- I think I'm a table addict-- is there a 12 step program for that?

Pamela Rose- I guess you should have told Jill that before she got a turntable-- I know she'd like to have those albums.

David- that is so awesome, I've got to tell my sister about that.

Anonymous said...

I wish I knew you had such an affinity for vinyl; I could have gifted you with a boatload of tunes. We basically gave away our entire collection at our super massive garage sale before coming here. I carted those things around for close to thirty years; the only one that really pained me to let go was my Stones Sticky Fingers album; complete with working Andy Warhol inspired zipper. I can only hope that the guy that carted away the entire box appreciated the collection, and wrote a blog entry as cool as yours about his amazing find.

Anonymous said...

You could make bank on Ebay with some of those.
Also, I like you more every time you post. Today, it's because you chose to pull the Timex Social Club album for a photo.
... in a camisole she's six feet tall she'll knock you to your knees..
:)

Laura said...

Ana- I totally don't have an affinity for the vinyl, but my sister does so I was going to buy a few for her-- until I started looking thru them and realized I had to buy them all. Looking forward to coming over to the new pad tomorrow!

Opinioneater- Thanks!

A Free Man said...

What a haul! Keep them. They'll just get to be worth more and more. I love old records and really regret jettisoning my collection in anticipation of one of my moves. Well done!

I love that Timex Social Club one! Never heard of it, very 80's!

Laura said...

Free Man- You were supposed to be my go to person to find out what all this music is-- when I catalog it all, I'm sending you the list for commentary.

Bluestreak said...

I sooooo miss bargain shopping. Funny, I was just talking the other day with an aussie friend that´s living here about how we miss thrift stores. None of that kind of thing here. What do people do with all their old shit, I wonder?

Ali Dahmash said...

I like that nice furniture, I love all those oldies records

Laura said...

Bluestreak- I just got off the phone making plans to hit Ross Dress for Less and Marshalls-- ah, cheap clothes, purses, and shoes.

Ali- Yeah, the Salvation Army has good stuff!

Rassles said...

Yeah, he's from Melbourne. But he lives here now. And we used to dominate Salvo whenever we had to wear a costume, which was like, all the time. Goddamn theme parties.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to help. I have more lyrics stuck in my head than most people can imagine. If you're up to listing each artist with the album name, I can definitely compare it to my collection.
As an aside...I love Timex Social Club..."In a camisole, she's six feet tall, she'll knock you to your knees!"

Anonymous said...

You think the Salvos are good? Wait until you hit Vinnies! The best one used to be in Paddington, but Charing Cross is hot now.

When you come back from your visit to the states we should hook up for coffee. nursemyra is the bargain queen... how do you think I amassed my corset collection?

Laura said...

Christine- since you're the 2nd person to write the camisole line, should I assume it's part of a song, or just some tall crazy woman?

NurseMyra- Haven't heard of Vinnie's yet-- I'm so down with the bargain shopping with you.

Anonymous said...

So glad that you've found the bargain goods in Australia - Like Bluestreak mentioned, people have to do something with their stuff once they're through with it - It's only right! Also, so glad to hear that Carol will be visiting and traveling with you - Hope that all goes well - Call me when you get here

Anonymous said...

Vinnies is the abbreviated version of the shops run by St Vincent de Paul. I beleive there's quite a good one in Mosman too. you're living on the north shore aren't you?

Anonymous said...

i love charity/ thrift stores. and ebay. way to go!

traceyleigh said...

The other Aussie icon..bargain find place is at a Garage Sale. Ohhh there are bargains to be had at those beauties! Pick the right area though. Great way to spend a Saturday morning :-)

Love a good op shop bargain. That table is gorgeous!

Corrina said...

Timex Social Club??? SHUT UP! I think the last vinyl record I own is Pink Floyd's Darkside of the Moon. I am kinda jealous right now missy.

Congrats on the find... And not having to get American Psycho on the lurker of your records! lol

Laura said...

Nina- I will call you and hope to see you.

NurseMyra- I'm in the eastern suburbs? where do I go?

SSG- I'm the ebay queen.

TraceyLeigh- Weird, I never see garage sales here-- or do you mean a store called that?

Corrina- Totally-- he doesn't even know how lucky it was that he backed off! haha.