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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | jchasin@nyc.rr.com |
| Subject | Re: Record Stores |
| Date | Tue, 22 Aug 2006 11:21:55 -0400 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: jchasin@nyc.rr.com
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 11:19 am
Subject: Record Stores
To: audities@smoe.org
> I think of record stores the way I think of the radio or 45 RPM
> records-- through a haze of nostalgia, as something I used to
> associate with music consumption in an earlier time. I haven't
> really
> listened to the radio (outside of looking for weather and traffic
> news) since circa 1990. And at this point I have no use for
> record
> stores. I used to love browsing in a good one as much as the next
> fella; every time I was in San Franicisco i'd make a point o
> hitting
> the Tower there on Bay Street. But the Internet has rendered
> record
> retail wholly redundant in my opinion. It is easy to see how
> online
> merchants have changed the game-- if I want the new (and import
> only)
> Silos record, or the Michael Carpenter SOOP 2, It would be silly
> to go
> trawling the bins at Virgin when I can place an order at Not Lame
> from
> the comfort of my home (and know they'll have the titles in
> stock.)
> But too, the availability of news about music that the Internet
> has
> wrought has totally changed my purcha
> se dynamic. I discover more new records on this list in a month,
> for
> example, than I would browsing physical stores in a year. Once,
> record stores were a place where I discovered things; but now, the
> free and abundant flow of information onnline has totally negated
> the
> value of the record store as a place of discovery. By the time I
> stumble over a release at a retailer, I've already read about it
> here,
> or received an email from Notlame, or had it recommended by
> Amazon.
> The magic of discovery that was so much a part of record shopping
> is
> totally gone for me.
>
> In the first half of the 90s, I was on a Willie Dixon binge; I
> bought
> every record I could find that he was on (his own, Chuck Berry,
> Muddy
> Waters, Bo Doddley, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, and on and on...)
> I
> remember findin obscure releases in stores-- a recording of
> session
> work, at the aforementioned Tower in San Fran; a vinyl copy of
> Willie
> in the studio with some of his obscure old cronies, at Second
> Coming
> in the Village. But now, having exhausted Google, Amazon, eBay
> etc.
> in looking for his discography, I am confident that there are no
> surprises lurking out there for me in the bins.
>
> So while I still wander into, say, the Tower on West 4th Street,
> or
> the Borders at 57th and Park, more often than not I leave with a
> couple of magazines and no new music. But hey, if I read about
> anything good in my new copy of Paste or Magnet or Harp, I can
> always
> go online and order it.
>
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