Rich Bird
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inkstainedrich.bsky.social
Rich Bird
@inkstainedrich.bsky.social
“Mitte advocatos, arma et pecuniary.” ~ W. Zevon

Cartoon pig in a past life. Lapsed piper, recovering journo, card-carrying non-conformist. Trying to be a better dad. Marilyn name drops me in "Some Like It Hot."

I spin/post vinyl, DH right & vote blue. 💙
The Pogues “Rum, Sodomy & the Lash”

My day tomorrow is about a funeral, and we’re driving to another state to be there. This isn’t the Pogues’ best funeral album, but respect “Dirty Old Town,” as a love song and a dirge. The guy that wrote it: Kirsty McCall’s Da.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
December 6, 2025 at 5:23 AM
The Clash “Sandinista!” 1980 CBS

Just watched a great AppleTV+ Beastie Boys live/doc, and the surviving members credited The Clash as their muse for genre blending/shifting.

I get it. 👍🏻

Also, binging this before the next season of “Our Next Dumb War.”

#NowSpinning #VinylSky ##Vinyl
December 4, 2025 at 4:29 AM
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (original motion picture soundtrack) 2025 Rhino

This was a Record Store Day pick by my awesome wife. Clear vinyl, finally matches my crystal ball. John Williams nailed this mood, setting the table for the next seven movies.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
December 3, 2025 at 5:15 AM
John Prine “Common Sense” 1975 Atlantic

Feels like the right album for that weird Friday after Thanksgiving. Your sleep schedule is jet lagged, and the leftovers are narcoleptic carb bombs.

But Handsome Johnny is your Sherpa back to Monday basecamp. Follow the rope.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 29, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Simon & Garfunkel “Greatest Hits” 1972 CBS Records

For y’all who’re homeward bound for T-Day - please remember Paul and Art’s advice from their episode of “Delicious Dish”: Yeah, we f’d it up. Go w/Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Parsley is weak sauce. Ditch it).

🍗🦃🍗

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 26, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Shel approves, and clued me in: no real deep cuts here, just tunes you’ve been fed since high school.

This library copy belong to somebody who played it and loved it a lot.
November 25, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Boston (eponymous) 1976 Epic/CBS

I know the hits from classic rock radio and the cover from every Columbia House records and tapes club ad ever.

Never actually heard the LP.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl #LibrariesRock
November 25, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Bohemian Rhapsody (The Original Soundtrack) 2018 Hollywood Records

Library loan. I’ve had Queen’s greatest hits on CDs since high school. I drew a cartoon about Freddy/Queen in college, This may be the first time I’ve ever heard clean on vinyl. 🧵

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl #Queen
November 24, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Big Audio Dynamite “This Is Big Audio Dynamite” 1985 CBS

I need to sit with this album longer. The printed lyrics are insanely hard to read. On a couple of tunes they don’t lead to where the verses and chorus are. 🧵

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 23, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Steve Goodman “Artistic Hair” 1983 Red Pajamas Records.

Got a haircut today. Don’t get a haircut anywhere where I don’t close my eyes and hear “East St. Louis Tweedle-Dee.” 🧵

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 21, 2025 at 5:15 AM
November 20, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Dead Kennedys “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” 1980 Cherry Red/IRS

This is a fairly new pressing on the Manifesto label. 45 years later, the track list reads the same as some new teen punk band’s set list. Except “California UA” would be a Newsome campaign theme.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 18, 2025 at 3:45 AM
The Dead Poets are curious about their first Christmas. Gwendolyn, Seamus and Shel are going to put the “Holy $@&%!” in the holidays.
November 16, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Plastics “Welcome Back” 1981 Island Records

Influential Japanese new wave band. They were signed and released in the states, championed by David Byrne of Talking Heads, as well as the B-52s.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 14, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Anyway, these guys killed at that show, so I bought the record. I talk a lot about the Chicago scene, but ZBs were churning out crisp, top-shelf hard core punk in the heart of Indiana in the early ‘80s.
November 13, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Lead singer of The Crombies, Mike Park, also plays the bagpipes and we were both in the Chicago Stockyard Kilty Band for a while. I got there early to see Mike’s set, and he found me later and gave me his backstage pass.
November 13, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Zero Boys “History Of” 2009 Secretly Canadian

🧵 I had never heard of these guys, but they were one of the openers for Naked Raygun during a two-night stand to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Metro in Chicago. The other opener was The Crombies …

#NowSpinning #vinylsky #Vinyl #punk #ZeroBoys
November 13, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Maybe I posted this before and forgot, but it didn’t occur to me that Warren Zevon and R.E.M. were listening to The Georgia Satellites who were all over MTV a few years before they recorded this album.

Celebrities, they’re just like us.
November 12, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Hindu Love Gods (eponymous) 1990 Giant/Reprise.

Back on my $hit: Zevon edition. This is one of the first albums I identify with college because a friend introduced it to me, and it was “new” music from artists I’d heard, but not together, and these were covers.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 12, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Warren Zevon “Excitable Boy” 1978 Elektra/Asylum

Missed the Rock and Roll HOF last night, but I caught a short clip of Letterman’s induction speech for WZ. Do find it if you’re of a mind. Touching, funny words.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 10, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Beat Happening “Dreamy” 1991 SubPop

Dreamy, somewhat creepy anti pop.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 7, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Various “Paranoia You Can Dance To” 1986 Weird System

This is a West German compilation of the best of the American vinyl fanzine Flipside.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 7, 2025 at 1:56 AM
“Rankers Chant” on side 2 sounds like low-intensity Strummer strumming reggae, railing on class warfare. British accents and the music style doesn’t exactly scream Chicago’s NW ‘burbs but, fight the fight in front of you, right? Pic is the band at Graceland. 🎼🎼
November 6, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Bonemen of Barumba - eponymous - 1981 Barumba Stereo (Bone 001)

This is a weird 10” 33-RPM EP of protopunk, goth punk & goth reggae?!?

“Government Money” is a protest song: “Give us money, give us food, give us things we need.”

Sound familiar?

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 6, 2025 at 4:22 AM
“Something’s Gone Wrong Again: The Buzzcocks Covers Compilation” 1992 C/Z Records

Fun tribute to the Manchester punks by early’90s punks bands like the Didjits, Coffin Break, the Accüsed and Naked Raygun.

#NowSpinning #VinylSky #Vinyl
November 5, 2025 at 1:37 AM