One of my first great record store experiences was at Shake records in
Ottawa, I heard Big Drill Car doing 'Surrender' on college radio and
went in to see if they had the '45 - one of the two owners (he's an
owner in FAB distribution in Canada now - or was ten years ago) - saw me
lookng through the singles and proceeded to make me a stack of stuff I
'had to have!' - one was the re-issue of The Plimsouls 'Million Miles
Away' '45 and another was The Mono Men 'Booze' EP.  Two of the lynchpins
of my musical taste to this day.  The store is closed now, but the other
owner started a resturant in the market called The Black Tomatoe, and he
still has one rack of new releases by the cash register.  Great beer
list as well.

After I moved back to Regina in '92, Peter from Shake would mail me a
box of stuff every month to listen to, I could take what I wanted and
send the rest back.  Never charged a penny for shipping.  Of course he
always claimed they just used me to clear out crap nobody else wanted -
he was joking (I think), but he stuck to the story for so many years I
started to wonder.

Lee Elliott
www.anotherplanet.ca