Yes, I can be tight with a buck. I suppose I got that trait from my parents. They both lived through the depression and neither of their families had much. So they learned to be content with just a little. I remember they always did up Christmas in a big way for my sister and me. But we didn't enjoy regular trips to Dairy Queen or JC Penney's or any place like that. Every dollar was precious.
I have always loved to read and I got hooked on music the first time I heard the Beatles on the radio. So, to this day, I'm always looking for an interesting book or finding the sounds from my earlier days. The best source? For me it's Goodwill or Savers.
I've walked out of those stores a couple of times with over a $100 worth of books for less than $10. Books that I wanted to buy when released I finally purchased after being patient and continually checking the racks in the stores. A couple of my more interesting finds are:
"Death in Holy Orders" by P.D. James. She writes British Detective fiction and created an exciting series of books around Detective Adam Dalgliesh. Most of the stories are set in London but not all of them. For me, reading her books is like taking at trip to Great Britain and I am usually sad when I get to the last page of her books. I was in Savers when I spied "Death in Holy Orders" on a shelf. What caught my eye was that this particular book was from her British and not her American publisher. I took the book of the shelf and saw the little sticker on the front cover: "Signed by the Author." I quickly open the book to the title page and, sure enough, there was James' signature. I don't know if it makes the book more valuable; I just like having a signed copy of a book by a favorite author.
"Last Night in Hamburg" by The Beatles. This CD was also purchased at a Savers store. Anyone who has seriously followed the Beatles knows that it was in Hamburg, Germany that they really polished their chops as musicians. They made three trips to the German city to play in some of the seediest clubs you could ever imagine. But on their third visit the Beatles played in what was a proper theatre, The Star Club. As I understand it, a fellow musician by the name of King Size Taylor set up a tape recorder at the end of the stage and recorded the Beatles as they entertained one evening. After Beatlemania exploded all over the world, Taylor tried to release the concert but the Beatles continually objected and tried to keep the tapes from ever seeing the light of day, so to speak. I guess a few albums and CD got released and I couldn't believe I'd found one. Among the 28 songs are a number of selections that were never recorded properly by the Beatles so I'm pretty chuffed to have found this CD.
So anyway, now you know - I'm a cheapskate. I like a bargain. So, if you happen to be shopping at Goodwill or Savers you might run into me. I'm the guy saying, "You gonna buy that?"
