What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

Daily writing prompt

Let’s see now… there is only one thing that fits the spirit of this question fully that comes to mind. When I was a kid I had a paper route. One day while walking up Nelson Ave in Tewksbury I found a cassette tape on the ground. It was a C120 which you didn’t see too often. That means the tape was 60 minutes long on each side. You didn’t see them because in order to fit that much tape into the cassette they had to make the tape extra thin. Too thin, as it turned out. They used to wear out quickly and break easily. Anyway, I took this cassette home with me and gave it a spin. It had AC/DC’s Back in Black album on one side and Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil on the other. The Crue record didn’t do anything for me, but Back in Black absolutely lived up to the hype. I kept that tape just as it was and played the shit out of the AC/DC side.

I just Googled the release dates of those two records. Back in Black came out in 1980 and Shout at the Devil came out in 1983. That means at the time I was at least 12 years old. That’s about what I remembered. The Crue record must have been very new when it was dubbed onto the tape.

That’s probably the most interesting thing I’ve ever found and kept. I can think of two more things that I found and bought. Both were at used record stores near Harvard Square. First, I found a cassette for sale that had a bootleg of a Big Dipper show that was originally broadcast by MIT’s radio station, WMBR. The station simulcast a show that they played on campus for some reason. That was awesome, but the bonus that made it extra memorable was a few demos that were tacked onto the end. Two members of Big Dipper had previously been members of The Volcano Suns. They never released anything officially, but this demo was definitely that Volcano Suns line up. It even include a song that Big Dipper would record themselves a few years later. It was like finding a little piece of gold.

At a different used record store near Harvard Square I found a copy of The Blake Babies’ self released first record, Nicely Nicely. At that point the record had never been reissued anywhere, so it was the real deal. I had to pay too much for it, but the price I paid was still less than what you pay for an album on vinyl today. I still have it. It’s upstairs in the living room with the rest of my vinyl collection.

So there you have it. One thing I found and kept and two things I found and bought. Nothing really interesting, but they were the first things that popped into my head when I read the prompt so there you go.