The Big Catch-up : Records, Beers, ER Visits And Cats Oh My!

Hey ho.

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve done a check in here. Not that I haven’t been posting, as I have been listening to and reviewing quite a few albums as of late. I just haven’t sat down to catch you all up on what’s going on in my world. Well buckle in, we’re about head into the Complex Distractions funhouse.

So two weekends ago I met a work pal on a Saturday at Welcome Back Records in Fort Wayne for a little vinyl deep diving. My work pal had quite a collection of vinyl “back in the day”, but it has since dwindled over the years to about 50 to 60 records. He’s been wanting to get back into the game and grab some select slabs of wax that he’s missed, as well as bump up his jazz collection. I want to be there for it.

Welcome Back Records is a relatively new brick n mortar that’s run by a guy named Morrison. Now Morrison owned and ran Neat Neat Neat Records in Fort Wayne for close to a decade and it was my go-to spot whenever I was in the Fort. He sold the building and name to another record shop in Fort Wayne and decided he wanted to get into more hi fi audio, both selling and installing. But much like Michael Corleone, he got pulled back in. Which is a good thing for vinyl heads like myself as Morrison is extremely knowledgeable. He knows his records, and suffers no fools.

I hadn’t yet been to the new store and neither had my co-worker, so a couple months ago he’d mentioned about going there on some Saturday and then maybe getting a beer at one of the local breweries afterwards. How could I say no to that? Plus, the shop had gotten in a MASSIVE vinyl collection that they were still going through. Best time to hit a shop, if you ask me.

Welcome Back Records is located in a now closed liquor store called Wildwood Liquors, which my buddy informed me was a pretty shady spot. It was the only liquor store in town that stayed open super late, so the ruffians liked to butt heads there. Apparently there was more than one fatal shooting in the store, too. So it’s being used in a better way now(the shop is also a vintage clothing store and they have a vintage Wildwood Liquors t-shirt on the wall that says “Shoot into Wildwood Liquors”…).

The place is packed, with records in racks and records in boxes on the floor. A lot of it isn’t even priced, so you take it up to the counter and they price them on the spot. We heard a great story from one of the guys that works there about them buying a collection from a woman who was just trying to get rid of her deceased brother’s collection. He’d passed and the house was lost to the bank because he did a reverse mortgage on it. He was also a hoarder, with probably 1,500 records that weren’t even opened. He was also a jazz fan, and they found enough first pressings of Prestige, Blue Note, and Impulse records to cover what they paid her 10 times over. I think they sold one on Discogs for $1,500. Just one.

So what did I buy? I found a Terry Riley album I’d never heard of. It was score to some weird European movie called ‘Happy Ending’. Two album side pieces that lock into his drone-y, new age-y goodness. I also snagged a Wolfmen of Mars album. These guys are all about creepy, psychedelic vibes. The kind of stuff maybe Herman Munster or the kid from Salem’s Lot would have been into. Crazy thing is that these guys are an East Coast band, and I’ve got some of their stuff digitally but have never seen a vinyl out in the wild. And for it to be in Fort Wayne, IN is even weirder. But cool weird for me.

Last, but probably the coolest, is an original pressing of Steve Vai’s Flex-Able. Not the Relativity Records release, but the self-released version that Vai had pressed himself back in 1984. It even still has the insert that has Vai saying he might do a fan mail thing and to write to his PO box and let him know if you’re interested. And also, you could send him $7.50 and he’d send a 7 inch to you called Leftovers with some extra tracks.

The 14-year old budding guitarist in me was fanboying big time finding that one. And it sounds incredible, too! For being 40-years old it sounds hot off the presses.

After we found our records and paid(my buddy found a copy of Jorge Santana’s self-titled debut in a box on the floor. He bought it for the sexy album cover, but then we found out it was Carlos’ younger brother. Pretty cool.

Afterwards we hit up Fortlandia Brewing and had a couple beers. I had a hazy IPA which was really good, as well as their stout which was excellent. The bartender gave me 3 samples of some of their other beers, so I think technically I had 3 beers. My buddy had 3 as well. Great conversations were had, and someone brought their basset hound in with them and I got to pet a dog. So really, kind of a perfect afternoon spent digging through wax and enjoying some homegrown brews.

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Last Thursday I was walking out to my car to leave work when my 21-year old daughter called me. She was supposed to be at work so my Spidey senses began tingling. She called to tell me that she was leaving work because her stomach was cramping severely and that she’d been dry heaving most of her day. So she was going to come to our house and lay down for a bit to see if it would get better before making the 30 minute drive to home. We arrived at the same time. She was walking up to the house and I noticed her face was red and flush. I checked her forehead and she was cold and clammy. We got in and she went to lay down in our bed for a bit. I gave her the family puke bucket(everyone has that one bowl that is assigned as the puke bowl, ours is an old Tupperware 8-cup mixing bowl with a handle.)

I started to do some cleaning as I didn’t want to leave to workout with her feeling lousy. I thought maybe she’d fallen asleep but then I heard the unmistakable sound of “Hoooooaaaahhhh!!!” several times as she dry-heaved in our bedroom bathroom. I went to check on her and she just looked miserable. Could barely get a one-word answer out between heaves and being short of breath. I imagine three hours of dry-heaving would be the equivalent of doing abdominal crunches for an entire afternoon straight. I got her back to the bed, but she couldn’t get comfortable her stomach hurt so bad. If she curled up the cramps were better, but then she would want to just throw up. If she sat up the cramps returned and she’d dry heave.

A lose/lose situation.

In April of 2023 a very similar situation happened. She’d called us on a Sunday afternoon and said she felt terrible, with the exact same symptoms she was dealing with this past Thursday. Her shit for brains ex wasn’t home, as his cousin came and picked him up in the morning for an apparent all day stoner sesh playing video games and being the incels that they were. She tried calling and texting him all day but no answer. He was probably too stoned and stupid to know how to use a phone. So she called her mom and I. We finally got her to admit that she wanted to go the ER, so we headed over and helped her to the car as she could barely walk, or look up to see where she was going. After 4 hours, two bags of IV, and some drugs of some sort she was fine. No CT Scan, just come back if it happens again.

So all of this was looking pretty familiar to me. I texted my wife to come home because our daughter was in pretty bad shape, much like last year. She got home and we took her to the ER in town. They started her on fluids and gave her an anti-nausea med. The first doc we saw asked her if she wanted a painkiller, which she said no(she thought they would give her a pill, to which she thought it would just come back in a dry heave.)

They had also said they were going to do a CT Scan to check her stomach for any issues. While we waited her cramps kept persisting, so we finally paged the nurse back and asked if she could have something for the pain. He checked with the doc and came back with some Dilaudid. Within seconds of that hitting her system she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Soon after they took her back for the CT Scan. When she came back it was like a complete 180 degrees. Pain was gone and she was feeling normal again.

About 30 minutes later the doc came back and said that the scan showed she had some inflammation in her lower GI tract. They gave her a prescription of Augmentin and told her to drink only clear liquids for 24 hours, then do the B.R.A.T. diet for another 24 hours. The diagnosis was Colitis, which is what I think she had last year.

We took her to the grocery store and picked up some bananas, loaf of bread, and some soup. She headed home, as did we.

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Sunday the wife and I drove down to Indianapolis to see our oldest. I hadn’t been down to their apartment since last March, so I was due for visit. Besides, we needed to meet her Siamese cat Gaea. I’ve seen lots of photos, but we’ve never shook paws.

Gaea was as cute as the pictures promised, but she doesn’t give away affection to just anybody. She was a little distant to the wife and I, but still a cutie. We left the apartment and went to Traxx BBQ in McCordsville for lunch. Amazing barbecue and sides all around. I had a brisket sandwich, my wife a black bean burger, and our oldest got a brisket lunch with hush puppies and smashed brussels sprouts with garlic aioli.

After lunch we wandered over to Scarlet Lane Brewing that’s connected to the bbq place and looked at some of the Halloween decorations they’ve already put up. Scarlet Lane is all about two things : beer and Halloween. So you can imagine it’s a pretty magical place.

We went back to our oldest’s apartment and hung out for a few minutes. Long enough to see Gaea get jiggy with some catnip. We said our goodbyes and hit the road.

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So besides those things, everything else is pretty much the same. I’m off Thursday through next Tuesday this week. Going to work on some art and music Thursday, then Friday night the wife and I are heading Goshen Brewing Company for drinks by the fire pit and some Caprese salad. And Saturday we head to Cuyahoga Falls, OH to the Blossom Music Center for some much needed live music therapy. We’re seeing Lucius, The War On Drugs, and The National. Will be fun.

While we’re down that way we’re heading 30 minutes south to Canton, OH as they’re pretty big on stained glass. My wife used to do stained glass almost 30 years ago, back when we first moved into our house. She still has all of her equipment, as well as a box full of colored glass. When kids arrived the glass went by the wayside. Now that they’re all grown she wants to get back into, which I think is great. So we’re heading down to check out some of the shops to see if she can find some glass for future projects.

Okay, now you’re all caught up. Sorry for the delay. I do really like doing these weekly, so I’ll keep up on it from here on out.

Have a great day.