Kattail Grass 45 Eastern ERS-523 Bowman Body Theme/Devil's Dream V+ Condition

$

61

Greetings everyone! Thank you very much for stopping by another of my ebay record listings. I appreciate that you took the time out of your busy schedule to click on my listing and have a look at what I have to offer!  Normally, all records that I list on ebay are my own property.  However, the record business that I work for, and have for the past 19+ years, has requested me to take some of the recent stock that has come through and list it here on ebay.  Please don't worry, everything is on the up and up, the business knows, and I have the approval to do so.  Mainly because the part of the business I work in is online only, not their walk-in retail store.  Problem is, my part of the business recently moved, and is still without internet access. So, to generate some income, I have been going through some stock that has not been added to the store's inventory-I will NOT "cross sell" between Ebay and other sites, you have my promise! But to (hopefully) garner some revenue, The items I am listing are ones that I believe are scarce and/or would be excellent additions to any serious collector's selection. The prices are higher than ones I use for my own auction listings, but they are for the most part more valuable and scarce than some of the records I list for myself (Though if you'd like to have a look at my own records I have listed, I wouldn't mind!).  All proceeds of listings I do for the business will go to the business, minus the selling fees that Ebay takes. I hope that I/the store will have something you would like for your very own.  Let's see what's available this time!

This time up, We have a 1973 7” 45rpm release on the Eastern Records label, label # ERS 523, by Kattail Grass. This is the single of “Bowman Body ‘Theme’” b/w “Devil’s Dream”. Okay, unless you were living in the central VA area in the 70’s-or you are a fanatic of local late night “horror movie” television shows, this 45 won’t mean much to you. I actually had a listing for a commercial “bumper” tune from this same show up on ebay recently under my own listings. But this-this is the 45 that I’ve had offers for numerous times-though my copy is not for sale. Since I came across this last week though, I’ve been itching for the chance to get it listed. Kattail Grass is basically a VA bluegrass band, and this is the only release I’ve ever seen by them. The Bowman Body Theme is a song dedicated to our late night horror show host of “Shock Theater”, Bill Bowman (my hero!), a.k.a. “The Bowman Body”. He’s host the show wearing a powdered white face, the ubiquitous bandaid on his head, blackened eyes and lips, black suit, white shirt, and cape, and would always come out of his coffin to start the show. The movies were generally pretty weak, the kind that MST3K would have made fun of, but what really made the show was Bowman himself. His humor was corny, it was very self-deprecating, and it was always hilarious. I not only watched regularly, I would even keep my portable cassette player close to the TV so I could tape Bowman’s skits. I think I may still have many of those cassettes lying around. When I was doing radio, I basically modeled my on-air personality using a lot of Bowman Body’s style of humor-which is probably why I’m not in broadcasting anymore! Oh well! The “Bowman Body ‘Theme’” was played pretty much every show, and has the same kind of humor Bowman had, only this time it’s sung with a bluegrass melody playing, very heavy on the mandolin. The flip side, “Devil’s Dream” is a bluegrass instrumental, that despite it’s title is actually quite melodic and downright pretty to listen to! The playing surface does show wear though, with storage wear, scuffs, needle marks, and scratches of various shapes and sizes. Still, even with all this wear, it did play through without the needle ever getting stuck or skipping around, and the crackling in the background wasn’t bad at all, especially after I gave it a decent cleaning. But I don’t want to risk being called out for over-grading, so I am only giving this my less than average V+, just due to the visible wear. My grading is considered non-standard, so if you are considering placing a bid, please read the paragraph below, as it contains my gradings and their respective descriptions. The labels have some storage wear, and it appears that Bowman Body has autographed the “Theme” side’s label, though there’s no COA, nor a picture to prove it, but trust me-after being such a fan, and seeing him in person numerous times-Bowman never shied away from giving an autograph, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this were authentic. I just cannot say that as a statement of absolute fact. The text on both sides is still clean, clear, and easy to read. If you have any questions or comments, please send them along to me, and you will receive a response. If you need more pictures or description, I can and will be happy to provide.

My Grading is as follows: M (Mint)-ONLY for Still Factory Sealed Records ONLY! No 45 nor 78 will ever get this grading. E+, minimal wear, perhaps only needs cleaning. E, a few light marks, maybe some minor background crackle and/or hiss. E-, light marks, crackling (nothing major), scuffs, etc.. Not great, but still quite playable. V+, More marks, scuffs, needle marks, scratches-but nothing that would make the needle skip. Will have background noise that even with a cleaning will still be around. V. Worn. Scuffs, scratches, can be noisy, but still (probably) won’t cause the needle to skip nor get stuck. V-, Noisy? You bet! Worn? Oh yeah. Playable? Sure, but don’t expect it to sound all peachy keen. P. Bleah! Playable perhaps, but do so at your own risk. Don’t trash a new needle on it. Only used on records considered rare enough for “fill in” purposes to a collector-or to those who do digital restoration.  

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IMPORTANT NOTE FOR NON-U.S. BUYERS!!!!
All items I sell will be sent with postage printed up from eBay. This way, the prices are automatically listed for customs purposes and cannot be altered. Yes, this does mean that the customs people will know the value, but since I get a bit of a price break on postage, I can keep the prices low for you-the buyer.  I will not "mark item as a gift", just so you can evade import rules.  The people at my post office know me, and they will check overseas packages for inspection.  I hope you will understand my position about this, my apologies if you are not able to comply.
Also, international bidders, the price listed for postage on my listings are for domestic mailing.  I wish I could send overseas for that price, but reality speaks different.  I place a fair price on all international postage.  Watch for the invoice if you win.

ALSO-I need to let international bidders know of a certain problem that doesn't always happen, but will arise from time to time.  All International mail sent from this region has to go through the U.S. Postal Service sorting center in Sandston Virginia, by our local airport.  This sorting center has been named the least efficient sorting center in the entire U.S. Postal Service.  They prove this from time to time by mis-routing packages.  If this happens-and I will monitor the delivery-usually it will add at least an extra week for it to arrive.  If there are any problems, please contact me first, and I will do what I must to make sure you are satisfied with the order.
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All items that are sent to a U.S. address will have delivery confirmation (at my cost) attached, as I have found that it helps...a lot!....to ensure that packages are truly en route to the customer.  This is for both of our sakes.  I will be using USPS "Media Mail" as my primary shipping method, however, if needed, and for an extra charge, I can ship with "Priority Mail", and if i can get away with it for the price, I really like 1st Class, but that's weight-dependent.

Oh yes, if you are the winning bidder, and you are in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I'm afraid you are going to have to include the 5.3% Virginia State Sales Tax.

Paypal is my preferred method of payment, if you need another way, please contact me before bidding.  Or, if you have any other questions about this listing, or any of my listings, please feel free to contact me.  I will answer any & all questions as quickly and concisely as possible.

Also, I do have other listings available as well, and if you would be interested in more than one item, I have no problem with holding onto wins in case you would like to combine wins to save some money instead of multiple p&h costs.