My Odds & Ends: AMENDMENT #2!!!

[BrandonDaCollector]

Now here is a local store that has been gone about a decade already. It was one of My favorites to go to. Whenever Me & My Grandma were out and about to go to her bank on Hampton and grocery shopping at Schnucks[b]. Sometimes I'd what to go to Target but I also I wanted to go to check out ALMOST EVERYTHING. Back in the times when I was a youngster and even these days of later times, Hampton Avenue was so fun, I have showcased Hampton Village before within this topic when I showcased Johnny Brock's. We were quite thrilled that a new store was opening up there in the early/mid 2000s and when Almost Everything was ready to open We weren't a bit disappointed. They were mostly a sports store. They really focused on our beloved St. Louis Cardinals of MLB, the St. Louis Blues of NHL and of course the St. Louis Rams when they were here (shows you how long it's been). It was always pleasant there. They had an odd entry way, you entered the store from the back door Yep but actually I liked that way because it was different. There wasn't many sports stores around in Our area believe it or not. There was one further down on Hampton but it was hardly open so We never gave it chance. Sadly Almost Everything has been defunct at least a decade now

Almost Everything & Louie's Pizza Co.

Here is the building they were in and shared it with Louie's Pizza Co. Both are unfortunately out of business. I will talk about Louie's in a moment. They were the second door on the left of Elite Title, Almost Everything, the third door on the left/middle from Elite Title which is still there on the corner/first door.



So here is the back entrance I was talking about in the prolog. It was really convenient to do this because it was a really large parking lot plus it was very easy to access when Me & My Grandma MiMi was doing our banking as the bank is right next door on the other side of the lot. It was really cool seeing Louie's Pizza Dudes coming out of the back getting their orders ready to deliver



So as a special bonus, here is Louie's Pizza Co. I thought show them too since they were also major part of My life for a long while. They were really good. They had some issues along the way like oh we have to discontinue our Hot Dogs, burger & Chicken Wraps when We always ordered them from Louie's but according to their explanations it did no good and just didn't sell enough. As foolish as they seemed they had such great food items. They specialized in Chicago Pizza but also St. Louis Style Pizza as well. If you never had St. Louis Style Pizza, its very thin crust and arguably the best type. I loved their taste. I loved to dip their Calzones, Strombolis & Mozzarella Cheese Sticks in Marinara & Garlic Butter Sauce. I absolutely loved their Fries, they arguably had the absolute best Fries, I would order at least two cartons each time We'd order from Louie's. They had some great Chicken Tenders & Breast as well. I really liked to get their 32 oz soft drinks. The 2 usual delivery dudes for a very long time was a somewhat moody but nice Caucasian guy who always wore a Mizzou cap and a the other was a crippled up Black guy. I always felt sorry for him and he was very nice too. In Louie's final years and of course their last days before the p!@Demic a younger guy, teenage-like was extremely charming and always thanked Me for the business. He'd always go back right away if an item was missing and be back ASAP with it. Even though they no longer exist, today the company has been totally taken over a new company & management and their new name is Salvage Yard Bar and Grill. When the TPTB slowed down the p!@Demic this happened and I was really bummed about it. I have no idea how their food is nor if their doing good business or not. No matter how good they are they will never replace the original Louie's. So here is Louie's logo. I loved how they depicted St. Louis & Chicago together. It was such a very creative box graphic on their part. I mean back in the day the most greatest rivalries was the Yankees & Red Sox and then their was the St. Louis Cardinals & the Chicago Cubs and Louie's brought that mental aspect every time you ordered from them



No here is special that I made of Louie's & Almost Everything back to restoration the way it was back in the day



So now going back to focus on Almost Everything. the owner of the great shop was Chip Bartz. He has small eBay store still but like anything that is digital and has a digital location, its absolutely nothing compared to the physical item and/or physical area. I mean in this androgynous day & age where this generation is obsessed with digitality, VR, Meta and streaming has no clue how it was going to old fashion stores regardless of what kind they were nor do they care. Its so pathetic, it irks Me a lot. TPTB has conditioned this limbolic society so much, its beyond deplorable I mean the thrill of going to places like this was fun So many times when We went to Almost Everything the nice lady that I do not recall her name was usually there and sometimes Chip Bartz was too and he was a decent fellow. He gave Me his business card. It's quite fancy with puffy raised lettering. I have kept it in pristine shape and HERE IT IS



So during the early days of Almost Everything's, I appreciate the great sports stuff but he had a special section where he had toys which was mostly adult collectibles. He had some McFarlane action figures. I had some of'em but then I noticed he had he the movie figures from the 2000 movie Little Nicky. I wasn't absolutely crazy about the film but gosh I had to have the figures because not only are they McFarlane but he had the entire collection and get this...they were only about $2.99 a piece His stuff was very cheap and arguably the most affordable place of the whole region. So it was a no brainer that I had to get everyone he had The good guy's comic shop down the street on Hampton was great too (I have spoken about him before, more on him in a later showcase) but charged a lot more for his McFarlane figures however I miss his little comic a lot too I had previously and briefly showcased My Little Nicky figures in My overlooked ginormous Halloween topic that I posted last year along with so many other great spooky stuff in My collection



So that wasn't all that I got from his wonderfully fun shop, I got a lot of other things but here is 2 major...MAJOR PRIZED items that I got from Almost Everything and these two were the Headliners XL MARK MCGWIRE and the We Shocked The World: 2006 St. Louis Cardinal Win the World Series Book!




As I spoke just a moment ago about how cheap My Little Nickyfigures were, well check the lovely price stickers here My Headliners XL Mark McGwire was only a $1.99 My special Cardinals Book was only $4.99 Now where in the world could you get this terrific MLB merchandise at for these insanely low prices...huh.. you tell Me Now see, this was way before this era we're stuck in now where prices keep on soaring to ridicules heights on just about everything especially action figures & collectibles alike. Things were much, much cheaper then but Almost Everything was really the cheapest around which to this very moment I have never understood why his great shop went under...one of the reasons I know is because of people of course



So here they are in more detail...you didn't think I'd skip this did ya Since when do I skip visual details in a major showcase If you thought that then you haven't been paying attention to My style and Methods much at all So here we go with My Mark McGwire XL Headliner. Now this is going to be a bit different because I have NEVER took him out of the package, I have kept him the way I got him. When I saw this great looking figurine of him at Almost Everything, I immediately had to get him. If you recall Me talking about him & Baseball in the wrestling topics, this is when I revealed how much I loved him and how he became a new hero of Mine, even as late at 17 in 98 However, I just wasn't into Mark and was for Our beloved St. Louis Cardinals but I became a major Baseball fan and I loved it as much as wrestling. I just didn't watch the Cardinals games on a regular basis but I also watched many other teams' games as well, I kept up with all 30 teams (99 was My first full years a big fan, it was so thrilling to be one), collected 3 major sets of Baseball Cards and so much more. This was IMO the best time of the game when it seemed special, when there was tons of records being made and being broken, tons of great personalities that you could love or hate, stuff to root for unlike today's conditioned status. I was one of the biggest fans of MLB you could meet from 98 to 2007 but now, well, it's just not the same anymore...just compare the classic wrestling stuff to today's...this should gave you a good idea of what I'm trying to tell you. Oh and you never listened to a ball game on the radio until you heard a Cardinals ball game being called by Jack Buck & Mike Shannon, that was so fun back in the day So My McGwire Headliner is made by Equity. They specialized in sports items especially in big head figurines like this. I'm not an absolute fan of this type of figure but if it looks good, cheap and is what I like then I'll take it, I'm not that picky like most others. The sculpting is just tremendous. This is the second best "Big Mac" figure I have, the first is My McFarlane Big League Challenge figure, that one there is one of the greatest pieces EVER MADE regardless of series and/or genre which I will showcase in time in My Various Modern Action figure Topic. This Headliner is quite accurate with his big arms, gloves and left elbow pad & shin guard as that was always his trademark look. However, he has brown eyes, he actually has green eyes as he is a red head. I got the "away" version" as his uniform is in gray. I have always loved the look of the Cardinals when they were visiting the other teams. The box looks ok but it isn't detailed much at all which is a bit of a bummer as it just says what the series is about, who's in it and so forth but there is a good Copyright there however on the bottom. The date is 1998, he looks absolutely superb for this time as the McFarlane figure didn't come out till 2000 Maybe one day I'll open him up. If I do, I'll showcase him and continue this section's subject of the topic whenever the time calls for it





We Shocked The World: 2006 St. Louis Cardinal Win the World Series Book is a special by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Surely you are familiar this great publication. If you are then you'll know how much stuff this paper covers. I loved looking at it for the show times, the comics (My Grandma MiMi mostly loved the Garfield ones) and of course Baseball! Sometimes they would make some great specials but I just loved their books. I love Baseball books like this. I love to feel them and just getting into that moment of what happen and when your talkin' now...how it was back then. Now for years the St. Louis Cardinals were coming close to winning the pennant. 2000 was excellent but they just weren't good enough. I was especially thrilled in 2005 when we got "The Cardinal Killer" Larry Walker & Mark Grudzielanek, we even acquired Reggie Sanders and we still had the unbelievable Jim Edmonds & Scott Rolen. This team was one of the best baseball teams ever put together, it was baseball fantasy lovers dream true but unfortunately they didn't win Then came 2006, the team changed a bit, Grudz & Reggie was gone and Walker had to retire...if they would've stayed ya know what They would have been champs cause the Cards WON I kept on saying around the house for months that these guys are the comeback kids...THE COMEBACK KIDZ because they had a surreal record, they started terrible, later in the season beat most of everybody and won the whole darn thing...it was so dang incredible, something like this rarely happens and if you missed it then you missed one heck of a season If only Reggie & Walker would have stayed they could have had that moment and what a moment it was. I saw it all from beginning to end, I have watched many world series' for many years but none of them comes close to this, not even Joe Torre's first win as the Yankees in 96 and keep in mind, always keep in mind that this is coming from a major baseball fan that just doesn't root for his home team but is mostly unbiased and loves watching the other teams too

NOTE: As much as I loved the Cards winning, it has always been kinda bittersweet for Me because I liked the 2005 team more oh and "The Machine" Albert Pujols was still with the Cards, a few years later he showed his TRUE COLORS making it known he didn't the love the game nor it's beautiful cities, he became money hungry, joined The Los Angeles Angels and from then on his career went down hill...he had one of the most unbelievable records & stats in ever seen in baseball with the Cards and had only 1 year in AAA...now look him

So here is the front cover, the contents, the publisher's info, the Cards' Manager Tony LaRussa finally getting the WIN after all those years of hard work and the team celebrating.



Here is some great moments including Yadier Molina and Ivan" Pudge" Rodriquez together and Scott Spiezio as a Cardinal and winning it. I was quite thrilled he was with us



More great moments including Scott Rolen & David Eckstein joyfully drenched. Oh here is a moment. Cardinals Pitching Coach Dave Duncan is celebrating with his son Chris. A few more years later Chris would shockingly pass away



Here is the conclusion to the great book, Here is some of the fans of the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa with the General Manger Walt Jocketty and then the back cover of the book.



So as I have said in the past, I have a very large collection of Baseball items. Some doesn't really fit in My action figure topics like My 3 huge Baseball Cards Sets, 2 that really goes together which is by Upper Deck & Victory that I have really fondness of and it took so much for Me to complete'em and the other is by Topps which is one of the largest sets ever produced as each team set has every player on that roster of that year. I have'em all including the chase cards I have many other special sets & books as well. If I decide to present and/or I get demand for it and instead of making a whole new topic I will showcase them here cause I think' this is the place to do it

That's it for this special and I hope you liked it If your just now seeing this then you totally missed My showcase of Almost Everything and the cool Cardinals stuff + more and a little unique presentation on Louie's Pizza. This topic keeps on getting better & better with pure nostalgia and surprises and so much more. Another great showcase is coming soon, until then I'll see you around

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here we are again with National, the super grocery store I recently showcased in My great Vintage Action Figure Topic when I showcased My special Cowboys vs. Indians. It was My favorite grocery store to go to. If you missed it then go there, its one My most in-depth and emotional ones yet with all the history

So when Me and My Grandma MiMi were going to National during the good ol'days of the late 80s, she used to get Safari Coffee. As such a youngster it wasn't time for Me to drink stuff like this yet but boy I loved those cans. They tin & metal and were special editions with many different kinds of exotic wildlife. I knew animals very well with the teachings of My Parents and a bit of school, I was in 1st Grade possibly into 2nd Grade at this juncture, I knew tons of animals because of Zoo Books and the like. Believe it or not, I was actually teaching My friends about animals. Timmy next door whom is My age didn't even know what a Jaguar was, I had to teach him that among other stuff, We were only about 8 or 9 years of age So MiMi would get these special cans and when she was done she'd give'em to Me as a special souvenir. All together she got Me three of'em. These cans were only available at our National in South Town on Chippewa & Kingshighway but it is possible they were at other locations as well. These were such cool times and I remember it like it was last week. This was during a time when companies were more creative at things and you get stuff that actually meant something. The artwork is so wonderful, to this day it's some of the best ever seen IMO and here they are





Aren't they beautiful, if this doesn't bring a bit of joy to you then I can't help ya Here is the names of all of these fantastic animals of Africa among other countries




Here is the lid of one'em, I still have one intact



Here is My favorite 3 I put together



Now I usually put figures and accessories and stuff like that in there, always did since day one. So that's it, I hope you liked this and were a bit surprised here with this great little collection of My Safari Coffee Cans from National. Like I said, if your unfamiliar with them then go to page 23 in My great Vintage Action Figure Topic when I showcased My special Cowboys vs. Indians, it will a be a journey you'll be glad you went too Next up will be a very special showcase, until then I'll see you around

[packerbacker180]

Those are pretty striking.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Indeed they are PB, thanks for your reply

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here is a showcase that is quite long over due. If you recall Me talking about Peaches & Sound Warehouse in the music video, movie trailer & movie score topics among other topics then you may or may not know what I was talking about. Nobody acknowledges much to Me anymore especially the things I think they will so I have no way of knowing if they know or have experienced this great history or not These times were actually some special moments in My early life from the mid 80s to the mid 90s. In fact they were as good the all stores such as Venture, Target, K-Mart, Grandpa Pidgeons, Ben Franklin's, Woolworths, the Cherokee Street shops, TRU, K-B and other ones I have been too. If you have been following My topics, actually reading them and seeing My great visuals of many different eras then you'll know I'm into many things and I got involved with a lot when I was a youngster. In the other topics I have expressed My love for music. A lot of people just stop at 1 or 2 genres but not Me, I like most of it including rock & heavy metal but most of all movies scores. In fact this is the first type of music I ever known. Over time throughout the years I have tried to get people to get into it but nobody had the passion, this goes around the globe as well, I never understood, nobody says much or anything at all, it's always been a very disappointing aspect I have with people. With very great thanks to My Grandpa PoPo I am an Ooak and proud of it



So Peaches was a record score that started in the mid 70s in LA, California. They grew having many locations in the country of the USA. After a lot of success they they suddenly went bankrupted in the early 80s due to competition of Tower Records among others. Then in the mid 80s they became Sound Warehouse. They then were taken over by Blockbuster Video in around 1992 and every location of Sound Warehouse was converted into Blockbuster Music. Then in the 2000s when Netflix & Redbox came out of nowhere and then with the emergence of peer-to-peer-file-sharing applications such as Napster, WinMX & BearShare, which were the precursors of the coming of today's digital age, Blockbuster Video & Music was forced to got of business, it was the same for Hollywood Video and even lesser known local rental outlets as well. It was bad enough how DVD was the thing and made VHS obsolete then we had this Today's generation has no clue how these times of fun & bitter-sweetness was. Is all they know is how it is now If their parents teach them all of this like they should then I give them big, big kudos of giving them a very crucial point of our history If I had kids this is exactly what I would be doing I was there for the beginning of this age when Napster and the like came about (remember the huge Metallica debacle?) and while it was cool while these years was going on, however, after I kept on seeing things changing, places I really liked were going out of business left and right, everything was becoming digital and by 2010 every movie at the show was too. One instance I saw for years was our usual local Blockbuster (that drove Star Video out unfortunately) We always went to for at least a decade. Across the street on our usual Walgreens lot is a Redbox. People one right after the other kept on going to it and Blockbuster was becoming more empty as time went on. Before you knew it they were gone I never understood how a little video Kiosk was better then a huge video store that had so much more...years later in 2014 a great Marco's Pizza along with Family Video moved in the said Blockbuster Video building where you could order your Pizza, Sandwiches & more and rent movies and the Pizza Dude/Dudette would BRING YOU YOUR RENTALS as well, how can you go wrong with that Apparently you could because a few of years ago Marco's went out due to all of the Pizza joints around town and just very recently with the help of the P!3Demic and of course good'ol Redbox, Family Video went out of business. I mean they looked great, really impressive, it was the past meets the future, this day & age just doesn't allow the cool things to happen whether their from the past or not because TPTB and the conditioned plebeians just won't have it and it makes Me sick

So with all of that history being known here is a great look at the early days of Peaches when people were really enthused about music and going to stores. I mean look at all the people here waiting to get their favorite singer, groups, artist & composer's record & cassette tape



Here is another look of sometime later at Peaches with a nice looking gal picking out what she wanted. Look at all them records, gosh don't you miss them days



Here is an ad of Peaches that says "they are now" Sound Warehouse. They had some really good deals here.



Here is another ad but it's for the Holidays. Look at that Steak 'n Shake one of My favorite burger joints, tons of moments there for decades. Oh look, a coupon for ShowBiz Pizza Place. You can tell what great times this ad is from. By the way, check out My showcases I made about ShowBiz Pizza Place, I showed them in all their glory within this topic as well as My Vintage Action figure Topic that you don't want to miss



Now here we go with My Peaches/Sound Warehouse/Blockbuster Video & Music. Now the pictures you are about to see is from Instant Street View, the only tool available for Me to present locations of the past into whether they are still there are not. These pics were quite hard to come by because the building has been torn down. If you go across the street and clip into the building kinda like an old school FPS game cheat I lucked into this and actually saw the old building there as I remembered it and was very thrilled about it cause there is no pictures of the original store of that was once Peaches/Sound Warehouse/Blockbuster Video/Music which is such a shame that nobody from My area in St. Louis, MO took any pics of this marvelous structure on Hampton or if they did nobody is posting this on good'ol social media in the pathetic limbolic day & age

So here it is after Blockbuster video folded and and a new record store called F.Y.E. - For Your Entertainment! moved but thanks to the P!aDemic they went under but more on that in a bit. The building that F.Y.E. occupied was only "slightly" modified to fit them, otherwise it looks just about the same as it was with the previous occupants. This is on Hampton, the huge street and area that I have talked about many times here and in fact just rather recently with My great Almost Everything Sports Store & Louie's Pizza showcase with My St. Louis Cardinal merchandise, its such a great area on Hampton and I had such great times there over the years!



As I have noted, I have had many great times & memories here in the mid 80s up until the early 2000s. As I have said before, My Grandparents since the 70s drove all over to get their music on record whether it was albums of legends like Elvis & Roy Orbison and/or get movie soundtracks & scores by historic composers such as Erich Wolfgang Korngold & John Williams, they were there to find it, even if it meant getting bootlegs! There was many shops they went in Missouri and out of state when they'd travel cause back in the day they were a happy couple, did motorcycles runs, won tons of trophies and traveled all over especially down in Georgia One of them in MO was Peaches. They were one of the biggest retailers of records & tapes that you could go to. As seen with the pics above, it was stylized as a recommended adult store, not really for kids and maybe even teenagers. I remember very vaguely how My first trip to the store started. Since I really knew movie scores before I knew rock songs and such thanks to My Grandparents teaching Me, I believe I first went to Peaches in around 1986. I supposed it could have been 87, it had to be sometime around that point of time. They had novelties and little toys there to entice My other side since after all I was a youngster because even though there was tons of records and all that, I wasn't interested in all of it so it was pretty cool that they had other stuff as well.



Then when I was maturing slightly after My beginnings to know this store at such a young age, Peaches then became Sound Warehouse. It was mostly the same, merchandise and all of was like nothing happen all except the logo, even the same people worked there.



Now see the windows, Peaches/Sound Warehouse did that too. Sometimes they'd have posters up there of something I wanted, even when they were Blockbuster Music when that happen it was really cool



Unfortunately major things happen and My Grandpa never got to experience Blockbuster Music However back in the day. However, with Peaches/Sound Warehouse he enjoyed it very much when he stepped thru the door, every second of his stay but a lot of times never wanted to leave and I got that way too. It was amazing in 1989 when We were so excited to get the Batman score by Danny Elfman as I have expressed this excitement in other topics. He liked the one with Prince but that really wasn't what he was anticipating. I remember in 1990 when I saw the cassette tapes over there for Total Recall & Dick Tracy. It was really cool to experience this time. I got a lot there over there throughout the years. However, soon I would be getting into rock & heavy metal and and other genres too oh and of course WWF Albums which was another level of fun

Oh but holy cow I got Ugly Kid Joe's America's Least Wanted album there since I loved their funny "Neighbor" song. Here is My CD from over 30 years ago



Peaches/Sound Warehouse would have some radio stations play on their speakers. One they usually played was K-SHE 95: REAL Classic Rock Radio that is stationed in Crestwood whom is having their 55th Anniversary of being on the air. Just very recently I was listening to the station and they played Pearl Jam's "Alive" song, so good! They have a great announcer, he's done movies and stuff before too. Believe Me when I say you never heard a classic rock radio station until you heard K-SHE 95



Here is the entry way to the store, I loved going under the roof. Notice the large parking lot and the nice St. Louis area & alley, so good, I have always loved the looks of My town in most areas




So Sound Warehouse would change it's colors too but why and boy doesn't that look like another familiar logo



Indeed it does and it should because it looks like Blockbuster Video It has the same colors, design, the whole nine and that's because Blockbuster acquired Sound Warehouse in 1992 of all years which is 30 years ago this year....the 30th Anniversary of when Blockbuster tookover Peaches/Sound Warehouse



Now during the times of when I was maturing and was used to Peaches transitioning into Sound Warehouse, they also would soon have an area within the big shop to rent movies. I loved to go to video rental places. As you know I have had a ton of experience with places such as Rainbow Video, Verna's Mr. T's, Movie Mogul, Movie King and more during this point of time (look for a very special showcase featuring this and much more soon!). That video retail section WAS CALLED "Blockbuster Video" However, in about 1988 We weren't at all familiar with them as they were just moving in Our area. My Mom & her Boyfriend Jasper actually went to this section before Us and recommended it to Us because they liked how classy it was. Oh it was a superb section of Peaches/Sound Warehouse. I remember seeing a lot of [b]Wrestling & Kaiju movies there as well as new big films. Our first film We ever rented there was 1988's The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad I was briefly aware of the short series so I knew what to expect about it. Ever since this day in 1988 The Naked Gun franchise has become one of My favorites. Little did We know that Blockbuster's partnership actually turned out to be a way to sneak into an acquisition Blockbuster would also further insult to injury by making a sub-division store called Blockbuster Music. Like Hasbro ditching Kenner and WWF/WWE would basically throw away WCW, they would have the same getup as Sound Warehouse and their name was gone and forgotten by many unless their like Me and actually liked and cared for the store and all of the fun times. People like Me will not let stuff like this fall into bleak oblivion



I'll give big kudos to Blockbuster however because they had a new concept for the customers. You could actually get a CD and the employee would play it for you and let you test it out as long as you like via headphones This concept was actually trending, back in the heyday when Borders was still around, I did this a lot over there in Crestwood. I remember testing out Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1997, 25 years ago this year I especially did this at a particular Blockbuster Music location in South County (been gone for about 2 decades now) where I first tested out Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by Joel McNeely where I was completely astounded and couldn't believe how epic this was in 1996...it was truly a great time to experience the reemergence of Star Wars and the wonders of new stuff of the 90s that was such a blast to behold




So with everything I have said about Peaches/Sound Warehouse, Blockbuster Video & Blockbuster Music and of course F.Y.E. and that I said previously that they tore down the building...well why and what took that great structure's place Why it was a Chick-fil-A of course The whole area is gone and is nearly unrecognizable to say the least. Now don't get Me wrong, I love chicken as much as the next guy but there is plenty of fast food joints and restaurants on Hampton which there is too many to name, I ate from most of'em over the decades. Did we need this commercial food property here and wipe away all of the history that this are was known for I guess it's like so many other places I have covered in this topic as well as My Vintage among others is that this generation has no clue how it was back then in 80s & 90s. It really irks Me about this. Of course the money hungry scoundrels that is responsible for clearing the land and removing it all to ruble doesn't care and that arguably irkes Me even more I hope there's some others out there in My area that has had similar experiences and teaching their kids these crucial regional lessons of history because if their not then it's all going to fall into a state of disregarded anonymity and I am so trying to prevent this



So as I surprisingly stuck in My Ugly Kid Joe CD in the middle of the topic, this presentation wouldn't be complete if I didn't show a bit more what I got from Peaches/Sound Warehouse but this only is only a brief sample mind you but it's some great stuff and come of My most cherished and prized items in My collections

Now this wasn't originally Mine, it was My Grandparent's Cassette Tape Crate before the Sound Warehouse days when Peaches WAS STILL Peaches I have adopted this fine piece of history and it's still in pristine condition




Now here is the Cassette Tape Crate with My Batman Returns score CD when Sound Warehouse was being acquired by Blockbuster. If you have read My topics which kudos if you have then you'll know the origins of this but I will explain this again. One day in the Summer of 1992, I was still in awe of the Batman Returns movie that I had just saw twice at the Kingsland Theater (one day I plan on showcasing this great show RIGHT HERE in My Odds & Ends) and I was getting the figures at Venture but gosh I wanted the score, I wanted Danny Elfman's music. So My Grandpa PoPo wanted to make Me happy and like always We went on his big Suzuki motorcycle (bikes was his life and We rode together a lot, it was was so fun...gosh I miss it) and We went to Sound Warehouse, looked through the movie soundtrack section and lo & behold there it was under the letter "B"...Batman Returns It was so cool to get this and this had always been a very memorable day for Me because My Grandpa PoPo did this for Me Here is a brief look at it and size comparison to the original Peaches Cassette Tape Crate



So as another very special bonus, here is some others that I got at Sound Warehouse from My Mom as well in around 1994 at different times in the soundtrack section. She likes movie music too but she's not as serious as I am or My Grandpa was but she has her fine tastes as well. Like Me, she loves Predator, Aliens, Terminator & Arnold. Well, its amazing that during these times Sound Warehouse had the score to Predator 2 by Alan Silvestri, Terminator 2: Judgement Day by Brad Fiedel and even a very special compilation CD of Arnold that had cues from T2, the Conan Films & Red Sonja, Total Recall and much more. I played these so much when I was a youngster/early teenager and even later. It's so fun popping these in the CD player and hearing that great music! I had watched the films many, many times beforehand and was already so familiar with the music so I knew exactly what I was getting...here they are



Oh let Me tell ya, it was so fun going to a record store and getting soundtracks. Same thing with rock and genre albums too but soundtracks & movie scores has always been and will always be the funner and more special to obtain It was as fun as getting action figures. Here is the back covers of this awesome trio



So that is all for now, I hope you read all the history here about Peaches/Sound Warehouse, Blockbuster Video & Blockbuster Music. I'm gong to have another special showcase that is along the lines of coinciding with this one in a way, until then I'll see you around

[packerbacker180]

Interesting. Never heard of Sound Warehouse. Must've been regional. We had plenty of Blockbusters, and last I checked FYE was still in the mall. But in all honestly, I rarely go to the mall, so for all I know they're gone. I remember going into the music stores and sampling CDs with the headphones. I often did that on lunch when I worked at a JCPenney in the mall. In fact, I remember first hearing Evanescence in Daredevil, and then checking out the album at the store before buying. I don't think it was FYE yet. Might've been The Wall.

[BrandonDaCollector]

How about that. Well, like I had explained, Blockbuster took over Sound Warehouse and they were like the first to allow people to sample music like I said when I first did it in 1996 with Shadows of the Empire and others like Borders trended from it. Yeah, the mall scene is so sad Ah, Evanescence was pretty good. Daredevil was a great film, see why didn't they continue with that, no instead we got the MCU

Thanks for your reply PB, more great showcases coming soon here

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here is a very different location with only a handful of moments of mine but the moments are still with Me thus is why I'm going to showcase General Grant's Plaza & Farmers Market. They were once in Crestwood on Watson Road, part of Webster Groves & Sappington. I do not know their origins that much. My Mom mostly went to this store from time to time as they weren't My kind of store as they...well like their name says, it was all about Framers, getting fresh veggies and stuff you'd get at grocery stores however there was 2 trips to this store that were quite memorable for Me because I got two great gifts which 1 trip I will discuss here, the other in My Vintage Action Figure Topic in time. Before we get to what I got I want to present how this area was and how it is now. I have talked many times about Crestwood, it was the absolute place to be for out and about shopping outside of the South St. Louis Zone. For a long time, at least a couple decades of My life Crestwood Plaza was the premier spot for St. Louisians. Both My Mom & Grandpa PoPo worked in the plaza at Sears (she got him that job) which one day I plan on showcasing this location later on cause it was special too, i got a lot of moments from there as well. It was also tremendous area for tourists to see how great the region was. Well, in the 2000s it all went down hill, so many stores and the land owners went bankrupt and nearly the entire region went out of business, The huge plaza was completely torn down and it's been so pathetic ever since. Well, the same went for General Grant Plaza & Farmer's Market because they were just miles down the road. I always associated this with the great Crestwood area because it was so close and We'd stop by there on the same day. So here we go

The whole area is called General Grant's inspired by the man himself because of Ulysses S. Grant whom was our 18th President. He has so much history in Our great city of St. Louis and especially Missouri itself. He was a farmer...ever heard of Grant's Farm Well it's one of the best farms with so much wildlife here you could ever go too. I first went there on field-trips in school so I've known about this for quite sometime. You can check it all out for yourself on the web for yourself. The plaza is a nice sized one, nothing like Crestwood but it was dandy. Here is the Farmer's Statues that once greeted visitors with their logo & news of sales. There's their really cool Trucks that I liked looking at. There's their tent that customers would go to for special outside goods



So here is the main building of General Grant's, as you saw above with the logo, it's DEFINITELY Grant There's a Subway along with various stores. Also there's Tropical World Pets, Me & Mom stopped in there many times in the mid 90s when We were really into getting exotic fish as pets. There was also a really cool Comic Shop that I don't recall their name there as well, I only went there a handful of times if even that but I never got anything there for whatever reason. They had the original Kenner DC Superpowers there but they were quite expensive. Again this fine store has been lost to oblivion for a long time now too



So now Farmer's Market is closing...



it's becoming vacant and notice the SIGN where news of sales is, it simply says GOODBYE



I don't know what the plebeians thought when they saw this, that's if they were even paying attention



So while some stores were lucky enough to stay in business, some new ones joined the fray. See up the road, that is the entry to Crestwood, people of this generation that is going there now really has no clue how great it was back long ago but I am grateful that I do



There's the Webster Groves Lions Club.



They remodeled the whole building making it nearly unrecognizable. After many years of being empty, it was finally occupied by a Dollar Tree of all stores despite a Big Lots! right down the road that made it's comeback.



At least little Snow Cone Stands still exist



The General Grant Car Wash is still there however and in fact nothing major has changed that I'm aware of, it looks pretty much how it appeared way back in the day so at least they left their grimy hands off of that cause this car wash is one of the most historic ones in the country!





So here is the little but "big" item I got as to why Farmers Market is still with Me to this very moment...

It is the King Kong Lives Cassette Tape Score by John Scott They had various things over there besides your vegetable, fruit and grocery needs.They had a special isle with other things such as house utensils, car stuff, toys but they also had other unique items like cassette tapes. One day I was with My Mom there and I saw this, I asked her if she could get it for Me and She did. See, this trip was like 1989/1990, I had already seen the film King Kong Lives (1986) years prior, so I was quite familiar with it, in fact I loved the film, I saw it many times. I adored the music, like any film, the music makes the movie whether people realize it or not. I played this on My Walkman & Boom Boxes (remember those from back in the day) countless times and had so many great moments listening to it. It's one of the all-time greatest musical scores of ever, of all-time

Here is the Front of the Cassette Tape with a close up of the totally awesome war picture of King Kong himself, I have always loved this picture



Here is the inside of the Cassette with Tape, Insert & Info



Here is a size comparison of My previously seen Vintage Imperial 1933 King Kong



If your not familiar with the film nor the music then you've missed some dandy spectacles. I couldn't find any single cues on YT because their all scenes which I don't suggest you see because King Kong Lives is the sequel to the violent 1976 version. KKL is even more gruesome but I could give a rat's @$$ about the people, it's Kong I cared about, My Grandma was the same way as you know from her experience with Phil as I talked about her Tribute. These movies are not like the current MonsterVerse nor classic Kaiju films as to they are seeming immortal to man's weapons. Kong can be hurt similar like the 1933 & 2005 depictions and it's quite emotional and sad, I can't fathom if anybody doesn't cry through it, I did every time. So here is the entire score on YT. I know today's society is always in a rush to get to social media and doesn't have time for anything else so you don't have to listen to the whole thing, just listen to the first track, it will give you the edge you need to know how spectacular this is. If you've never heard this you'll be wondering why didn't you sooner. If you love it continue listening, it's get's better and better, like I said it's one of the greatest musical scores ever composed



NOTE #1: Remember when Cassettes was going to the next big things when vinyl records was being discontinued? I thought it was great then CDs was getting the praise. All of this was so good. I still prefer to listen to music on the big stereo with big speakers and popping in the media rather it digitally and all that

NOTE #2: Here is a bit about John Scott. I will focus more on him in the composers topic but for now here is a quick bit to know about him. He's English, the president of the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra and is 91 years young right now and is still active. Other than King Kong Lives he composed other tremendous scores for the likes of The Final Countdown (1980), Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983), Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), Shoot to Kill (1988) and Lionheart (1990) plus more. All of theses are so great but arguably My favorite was Lionheart. I own a special King Kong Lives Promo CD with other cues from his films that My Mom also got Me as a gift back in the early 2000s. He is truly one of the most remarkable composers, I mean I loved him as much as Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, James Horner, Danny Elfman & Alan Silvestri. If you heard the music above and know these composers and didn't know John Scott then your gonna have a new favorite

So that concludes My special Farmers Market, General Grant & King Kong Lives Cassette Tape special showcase and I hope you enjoyed it. My Odds & Ends is now officially declared by Me as imperative as My Vintage Action Figure Topic and speaking of that, I am not done with Farmers Market because remember when I start this presentation I said had a couple items Well My King Kong Lives Cassette Tape wasn't the only thing I got from there because I also got a very special figure of one of My heroes and he's a huge figure that's over a foot tall, I will reveal him in time in My Vintage Action Figure Topic so just be wondering who he is and what he's from, you might really be surprised when the times arises More great stuff coming to My Odds & Ends, next will be a super special presentation that will be one of the most grandest ones of all, until then I'll see you around

[packerbacker180]

I would've thought a place called General Grant would've been a liquor store.



It's cool seeing all the old pictures of stores. There's a few lots around me that have finally started to be repurposed from old department store lots, many that were vacant for many years. It's weird driving by now and seeing a bunch of office buildings where my childhood Hills used to be. Progress, I guess. There's a Walmart now where a local Super Fleamrket used to be. At least that didn't change much, lol.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Oh it is a darn shame and sometimes it can be quite be quite depressing seeing where your fave stores was and now they are replaced by companies or whatever your not interested in and/or don't even know what it is as I have express deeply in My showcases. I cannot be too sure but it is possible that Farmer's Market did have liquor, I was young and didn't look for stuff like that then. OK, soon I am going to have a huge presentation like I said before that it's going to be a grand special and it will have a lot of locations that was dear Me. This will be one of the most crucial ones ever which completes part of my mission of the past. Until then and thanks for the reply PB