June 2012
2 posts
Blues Vinyl List #2
Here is the second list of blues beauties let out into the wilds of retail. They are being snapped up by secret masters, so don’t dawdle in cracking open the duct tape wallets! Still a few boxes to go……..also available is the monstrous green three volume concordance of blues lyrics put together by Michael Taft, the gent we scored this vinyl from. All three volumes together...
May 2012
17 posts
On The Street, Pops! Plus a Shiny New Review...
Oh it keeps coming, yes it does. So you should keep coming in, yes you should.
Giorgio Agamben - Infancy and History: On the Destruction of Experience. As new Verso paperback, $7.
J.G. Ballard - Kingdom Come. Brand new first US printing of the speculative fiction master’s final book. As new, $15.
James Barr - A Line in the Sand. “The Anglo-French Struggle for the Middle...
Borges, Early McEwan, Hey Cabbie!, 9 Jim Thompson...
Aye, the Baltimore tea kettle is boiling over, so it must be Memorial Day weekend! Dear God of antiquated machinery, let our three air conditioners continue puttering along long enough for us to get to Home Depot for some new shoddily made product that will break down in a year. Insh’allah!
But life is good here in the Normal’s Mothership. Still processing the hundreds of classic...
Patton to Bukka and All Points Between - New Blues...
Well, as Charlie Manson said the other day pushing the rat’s head down into the cell toilet with the gnawed wooden end of a toilet plunger: “Some days are better than others.” And yesterday was one for the record books. I not only got to meet Bluesologist and folklorist Michael Taft, but I got to pillage his vinyl blues collection and get treated to a wonderful lunch by his...
4 Readers/1 Red Room @ Normal's - Thursday, May...
Please come out for a night of reading, excitement & general hoo-hah in Baltimore! Fortin / Rivers Hattrup / Hoevenaar / Pritts @ 425 E. 31ST STREET BALTIMORE, MD. 21218, USA Red Room is a laboratory for experimental cultural endeavors. More info here :: http://www.redroom.org/
Normals Bookstore isn’t your usual anything. More info here :: http://www.normals.com/
// THE...
Bernhard, Canetti, Carver, Handke, Camus! We...
It’s still a wonderful treat to walk in half blind on a housebuy and to stumble not only on book treasures, but some of your very own favorite books. Today’s buy was such an instance. Below is only part 1 of what’s out on the shelves. Please come in and snap up some of these treasures so we can afford to buy lots more!
Russell Banks - Trailerpark. Fine first edition...
New Pulp!
Those Pensive Walkers, Patron Saint of MysticSoul...
Right before Maryland Film Fest weekend I got a call from my pal Michael of Psychotronic in the paradise of Chincoteague that the island dream was over and that they were pulling up stakes and moving to a bigger city (not hard) further down South. So after catching the refreshingly smalltown Scranton celluloid miserablism of “Wanda” at the Film Fest with Pastor Waters doing the...
Back Alley, Swamp Fire, Lady Cop, Forbidden - Pulp...
Beautiful fresh crop of classic pulp just in! The covers are good enough for framing, but you’ll want to preserve these minty gems as you gently read the lurid breathtaking writing inside them. Many serious writers got their start cranking out pulp for the news stands and bus stations - and like the B-movie noir of the ’30s and ’40s a lot of compulsive intensity and lasting...
Top Shelf Tomes Including 18 Bukowskis!
You don’t see a big ol’ pile of Buke in at one time much, but here it be. Plus four of them are very nice hardbacks which will impress your seedy visitors who crawl over to your crib at 3am after you get kicked out of the Ottobar. Plus some heady tomes in as well to mull over the next morning when your head is a pulsing clump of mudcarp.
Reinaldo Arenas - Hallucinations: Being An...
April 2012
1 post
Misfits, Melvins (Buttload), Monks and More Just...
Einsturzende Neubauten - 1991-2001.
Einsturzende Neubauten - Silence Is Sexy.
Today there is a break from vinyl for a deluge of good books and a good friend and customer’s “E” through “M” of his CD collection. Here are some highlights. These gems are going to fly………
Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets.
Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain.
Eno/Wobble -...
March 2012
9 posts
New Batch of 2012 Review Copy Books, Plus Mark...
Greetings! This batch of sweet mainly hardback 2012 review copy books just in. Plus, mark your calendars for a big show here Saturday, April 14th, curated by Jason of Her Fantastic Cats. It will feature Omoo Omoo, Her Fantastic Cats, Billy Mack Collector and Bobby E. Lee and the Sympathizers. Just ironing out some details, time-wise.
The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient...
Orion Reborn Atop a Honeyhole of Vinyl!
The flash of ORion’s red plastic cape and the whipping sound of his bells led me to the coveted basement honeyhole of record collections! Still digging, still pricing, but here are some of the latest platters……
Albert Ayler - Witches & Devils. Near mint in very good + jacket that has cutout notch at bottom right, $12.00.
Le Beat Bespoke: 18 Tailor Made Cuts,...
Sing If You're Glad to Be Devo! New Vinyl.
I have worn my palsied fingers down to nubbins and dried out my saliva ducts the last few days! Hit a surprise motherlode of vinyl yesterday in an eldritch tucked away basement in an eldritch tucked away neighborhood. Sadly, the old gent who had gathered these gems is no longer with us, but going through his records and talking with his nice wife I felt like I’d discovered a new bud.
...
Great new batch of Blues & Old Time Music CDs...
Blind Boy Fuller - Truckin’ My Blues Away. Yazoo.
Times Ain’t Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music. Classic Recordings of the 1920’s and 30’s, Vol. 5. Yazoo.
Black Banjo Songsters Of North Carolina and Virginia. Smithsonian.
Mississippi John Hurt - Today.
The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt.
Peetie Wheatstraw - 1930-1941. Story Blues.
Darby &...
Get Your Sweet Sunday Folk On! Live at Normal's...
Sometimes a sharp Sunday afternoon of wintry folk music can be just the thing to either continue to sail on Saturday night magic or get absorbed in a near sacred state. We’ve got a good one lined up for you next Sunday, 3/18. It starts at 3PM and features Sea Couch (Amanda of Sea Couch pictured above), MacGregor Burns (below with beard), Letitia Van Zant (below without beard) and our...
An Embarrassment of Can & Captain Riches: The "A"...
Great batch of punk and post punk cds in from a gent hightailing it to The Big Polished Apple. We profit from the spoils of bi-city love!!! Today he brought in A through D. Lotso Can, Birthday Party and Captain Beefheart.
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Can - Future Days
Can - Landed
Can - Soon Over Babluma
Can - Saw Delight
Can - Sacrilege
Can - Delay 1968
Can - Tago Mago
Can - Flow Motion
...
February 2012
5 posts
Like Young Nates Grappling A Bike Seat In This...
This weather is truly breathtaking! Even I, a lover of winter and a curmudgeon, have to say that I wish I was on a bike ride now. But what better biking destination (especially since it’s still a little chilly for swimming) than ye olde neighborhood book and record shoppe where we have placed on the shelves and in the bins many new treasures that we got from individuals doing their...
New Ben Marcus, New William Gass, Signed...
Lots of new books and records. Didn’t get enough time to type up the new used vinyl, but here is a selection of some of the new tomes in and the new new vinyl.
Last Man in Tower - Aravind Adiga. The new novel by the Booker Man Award winning author White Tiger. Knopf hardback review copy with review slip laid-in, $12.
Prisms - Theodor W. Adorno. Out-of-print MIT paperback, $10.
The...
January 2012
3 posts
Gil-Scott, Sioux Favorites, Fugs, Basho & A Feast...
Okay, it is actually finally cold out. And there is a quarter inch of icy snow mix on the ground, but surely you have watched enough episodes of Pee-Wee Herman and/or American Horror Story or Justified in your pj’s to be ready to venture out into what passes for the Arctic tundra these warm days.
We have just the vinyl haul to entice you! What Goldmine magazine calls “A Shorts...
December 2011
6 posts
New Store Sign!
The Normal’s Culture Mothership has been getting a lot of facelift and body work done this year. To go with the slick new Santa Fe facade Mistress of Visions Jen Kirby was brought in to whip up some wall candy.
On the scene shot of Professor Franklin implementing “The Bang Device”.
Sign creator Jen Kirby after many sleepless nights of feverish work.
In seems an...
New Vinyl!
Abe Vigoda - Reviver. On PPM, $6.
Abe Vigoda - Skeleton. On PPM, $8.
Aloha - Some Echoes. Polyvinyl, $6.
Devendra Banhart/Jana Hunter. Troubleman Unlimited split, $8.
Beach Boys - Rarities. Capitol, with inner sleeve, $8.
Black Sabbath - Greatest Hits. Ariston import, $8.
Cocteau Twins - Head Over Heels. 4AD, $6.
Girlschool - Hit & Run. Stiff, $6.
Iron & Wine - Our...
November 2011
8 posts
Vendredi Noir Sale at Normal's This Friday!
Cultural Warriors -
although the day after Thanksgiving should be officially named National Plasma TV Day, we here at Baltimore's oldest book and record style combine hold out hope that the things we hold most dear will not completely blink out of existence like the American Middle Class.
To help whet your appetite for fine literature and sublime vinyl we're having a 30% off sale on...
Taking The Love To Blaster Al In Austin
Oh how we miss Blaster here at Normal’s and in Baltimore in general. Now matter how crazy the world or things would get he’d always have a story about when it was far worse.
But we are very thankful that he is still in our life even if it’s in faraway groovy Austin. This week literary emissaries Francis Poole and Megan McShea went down and gave him some heat seeking noogies.
...
More Spoils of the South
Just back from a great trip down South visiting family and hitting all the book and record stores that my wallet and time would allow. A couple highlights: Books Again in Decatur, Georgia and Wuxtry Records in Atlanta. Sadly the much anticipated Low Yo Yo Stuff has moved back to Athens, so I now have to wait until Christmas to wander its vast collection.
Below are some of the treasures I...
tumblrbot asked: ROBOTS OR DINOSAURS?
Southern Book & Record Expedition
Good lord it felt good to be back on the road again. Not necessarily with a bulging wallet, but with perfect sunny fall weather, a fully functional vehicle and a partner with an equal love of books, records and funky road food.
Our first stop was a fairly middle of the road Antique Mall where they have hundreds of dealers with widely varying levels of expertise and pricing. The closest I got...
New Batch of Books, Most of Them 2011 Review...
Occupy Normal's Baltimore - in these continuingly stressed out economic times everyone is squeezing a buck to get by. Some just because they are pervs. Well, we have some hot new items in that are in new condition, but priced used. They would make for good early holiday shopping or just for your own edification and wallet relief. These just came in today from our journalistic source and...