01/06/05 It's A Shit Day!

Well it pissed rain all day today. A tad disappointing after Tuesday's glorious weather.
I went down to the Gramophone Emporium in Stockbridge. This is a curious shop. It's only open 2 days a week. Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays. It's a tiny little shop with thousands of old 78s, vinyl LPs and gramophone players. There's only really enough room for 2 people in the shop at any one time, and one of these has to be the owner. The owner is very helpful and will happily have an extended chinwag on any area of old recordings. I believe he works at Edinburgh University and just runs the shop as a part-time hobby.
I was on the lookout for "laughing records". These are odd old 78s which were very popular in the 1920s. One such record involves a man singing the Toreador song from Ravel's "Bolero". However, he repeatedly fails to hit a high note and his voice cracks. This prompts a woman to burst out laughing. This process is repeated several times, with the laughter getting more and more intense. It's practically impossible to listen to it without bursting out laughing.
These records used to be played as ice breakers at little parties to get everyone relaxed and cheery. Basically, the audio equivalent of a big spliff being passed around the cocktail party.
We used to have this record, but it has gone AWOL. The gramophone man needed me to provide more information, (I didn't know who recorded this), so I'll have to do a bit more research.
I was talking to my big brother on the phone tonight. Coincidentally, he is a big fan of Big Brother, and will happily talk about it till the cows come home.
This is dangerous. He was beginning to get me interested, and I ended up watching last night's highlights.
I know people say this every year...but they really do seem to have surpassed themselves in selecting 13 of the biggest tossers Britain currently has to offer. 100 grand isn't enough to persuade me to spend 11 weeks in a house with that lot.