Junq Tour 2012: Altona

I forgot to take a picture of the Thrift Store while I was there because I was so tickled pink with breast cancer awareness from my finds. They're actually quite unique this time, and there's not a bad singer (or any singer) to be found anywhere. Let's look at this stuff:


Borderland School Div 2x30


I was really, really hoping that this was a recording of school children singing like seagulls being put through a meat grinder. Turns out it's actually two radio commercials urging you to put your children into the Borderland school division, where your children will get the essential education required to live in Altona (including courses on tractor driving and safe sex with your cousins)

I'm mostly putting it here because nobody else will own this shit, and someone somewhere may find it interesting. Other than historical value, it's pretty boring stuff.

Listen to them here



Laughing sfx


Ever wonder what people in the Christian Wheat Belt sound like when they're laughing at me for buying this junk? Well, look no further than this fun-filled cassette full (not really full) of the most fucked up laughing you'll ever hear in your life! Using only their laugh, see if you can guess the furry creature crawling around inside the ass of each person. It's a fun game for the whole family!

I really don't need to say any more about this tape. It speaks for itself...

Listen to Laughing



Computer Tape



Computer tapes like this one can be such a frustrating find. Many computers in the 1980s used cassettes as a storage medium, so with a generically labelled one like this, you have no clue what system it's going to work on.

I gave it a listen to see what kind of noise was on it. Luckily, Side B sounded like a Commodore noise, so I dug out my old datasette and hooked it up to my Commodore 128 to see what I could find. Unfortunately, the program gives a "Load Error" and crashes when I run it. There could be a number of reasons  for this: My datasette needs a new belt, this program won't work in Commodore 64 mode on a Commodore 128 (which is what I was using, and I don't feel like digging around my garage for a real, live working Commodore 64), or the program is corrupted on the cassette.

Luckily, I found the program on the internet. It's a slightly different version, but it seems to be the same. The program (although a slightly different version) is available here if you desire to run it in a Commodore emulator.

Side A is a little more puzzling. The audio sounds like it was made by a TRS-80, but what model is beyond me (there's lots of them). I tried to load it on my CoCo but had no results. So unfortunately, this one remains a mystery. (Did I ever mention the desire I have to review my entire collection of classic computers?)

Speaking of classic computers...


Amstrad PPC640 Computer





I'm such a sucker for old computers. I picked up this beauty for five bucks. It's an MS-DOS compatible machine that is almost as portable as your iphone, except you'll have a bitch of a time sliding this into your pocket.

This monster of a "laptop" can be powered by the AC adapter, 10 C-Cell batteries, or the cigarette lighter in your car (might wanna leave the engine running while using it). It sports a nice (HAHAHAHAHAHA) monochrome LCD screen which you can't see unless you angle it at the perfect direction facing the sun. Included are two nice (HAHAHAHAHAHA) 3 1/2" floppy drives, because we all like loading our precious data from those unreliable pieces of junk. This computer also sports a speedy (HAHAHAHAHAHA) 2400 baud modem, so you can get kicked off the internet on the go.

As a side note, there was nothing interesting on the floppies that were included.

It's an interesting design for a computer and if the damned LCD was easier to read, it could actually be useful. However, if you want to use the correct date, you'll have to wait until the year 2080 because this computer is NOT Y2K compliant. Imagine the destruction this machine could cause in the year 2100!


And that's all for the Junq Tour of 2012. I'm currently preparing to appear on Kent Davies' "Amateur Hour" either this coming Wednesday, or next Wednesday, and we're going to go over the best of the Junq Tour (or the worst if you're a mean person making fun of these hard-working musicians). Apologies for the short notice, but I'll update this space in the next day or two, letting you know when I'm appearing.

EDIT: I'll be on this Wednesday at 5:00pm. That station again is 95.9 FM - Winnipeg. Be there!