Bob

The guys name is Barney and he's still about Edinburgh. May even have a new
shop somewhere near Haymarket from what I hear. I always found him a bit
grumpy but he was never downright rude to me.

I remember going to the record fairs at the SECC and running into him there
running a stall as well. I never bought anything though, I wasn't going to
go all that way just to buy stuff I could have bought down the road.

And yes he did write a book which I seem to remember got him a mention on
Jonathon Ross's Radio2 show a couple of years back.

At least his shop was better than the shop that's there now. I'm not sure
whose needs that's serving as it's not good for the more obvious stuff that
the office workers across the road may want in their lunch hour and it
doesn't have enough of a deep stock to attract the more demanding record
shopper.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: audities-owner@smoe.org [mailto:audities-owner@smoe.org]On Behalf
Of bob_hutton@standardlife.com
Sent: 02 June 2004 15:58
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: Record Stores


I used to frequent a shop called Hot Wax in Dalry Road, Edinburgh (tiny
shop but I think the guys did most of their business via mail order - they
used to advertise regularly in MOJO magazine).  Best think about the store
was the fact that they seemed to stock loads of 60's stuff + power-pop and
indie rock, all at very cheap prices.  They also had a decent import
section with lots of early Rhino CD reissues.

Downside was the guy who ran the place (can't remember his name but I think
he wrote a book about some UK indie record label) was the rudest man you
could ever imagine.  If you asked for anything currently or recently in the
charts, he'd sneer and say, "Sorry we don't stock rubbish like that".  I
remember buying a soundtrack CD for an old TV series, cos it had a lot of
old rock & roll, doo-wop and stuff, to find myself being accused of
necrophilia when making my purchase!  I also remember trying to exchange a
duff Beach Boys CD and getting a refund shoved brusquely in my hand with
the comment "Sorry, mate - you've had your chance!".  Oh yes, and trying to
buy Rhino's "Best of the Standells" CD - I had it in my hand and was
browsing for other stuff, when the guy came up, snatched it from me and
said "Sorry, I need that for a mail order".

You might ask why I bothered frequenting the place?  Well I found out
quickly that it was nothing personal, the proprietor was just as rude to
all the other customers.  Plus the rudeness was so legendary (think of
Basil Fawlty in the BBC series Fawlty Towers for the nearest example) that
it became part of the shopping experience.  One day I was quietly browsing
the racks when a customer who'd asked about something was treated with the
usual utter disdain only for the shop owner to suddenly realise that the
customer was (a) pretty drunk and (b)pretty irate and (c) fairly likely to
give him a good kicking.  You've never seen someone apologise to a customer
so quickly in your life!

B^)