There’s a really sad piece in the New York Times about the current state of record stores in Manhattan (here meaning pretty much vinyl with cds as an afterthought, not so much the other way around)– it’s almost becoming an underground cult. I think I can remember every good– or even mediocre– indie store I ever went in, starting with the House of Blues and Pop Tunes in Memphis. There’s still a few left. Next time your in Memphis, New Orleans, or Jackson, buy something at Shangri La, Louisana Music Factory, or Bebop. The loss of these kinds of stores could really hurt what we get to hear.
Update: Link fixed
Sorry, too late for Bebop — I literally cannot go in there and find anything I’m looking for. It’s a catch-22 for them: they can’t afford to keep a large inventory on hand, and without a large inventory, they can’t make the sales.
Album Alley in Tupelo is still going strong as far as I can tell, as there are always people in there spending money whenever I stop in. BeBop owns it now.
The record store link goes to today’s John T. Edge story in the Times.
Little Big Store
Little Big Store (in an old train depot) was always one of my favorites. It’s about 10 mintes west of Jackson.
http://littlebigstore.com/order2.htm
Goner Records in Memphis is a great store. http://www.goner-records.com/
What Anderson said. I’ve been disappointed just about every time I’ve been in Be-Bop lately. They do have some good locally made incense, however. The patchouli and sandalwood are nice.
About two Christmas’ ago I tried to buy an automated electric CD rack that rotated with a push of a button. It was the last one left and was defective. The clerk told me that I didn’t need it since everything was now downloadable. Soon CDs will go the way of the LP. I still have about 20 LPs saved and regret donating the 300 plus cassette collection to the Church.
In DC: Red Onion Records & Books, 1901 18th Street SW. The owner was at Princeton Record Exchange before opening this amazing little jewel.
The loss of these kinds of stores could really hurt what we get to hear.
I don’t follow you. These kinds of stores have already gone the way of the dodo bird, have they not? Their existence is a rarity now, rather than the norm. So what is the “loss”? It seems … and this is merely anectodal … that just about all music ever recorded is available over the Internet. Am I wrong in thinking that? Sweetie Pie and I have a coupla cases of vinyl LPs from the 60′s, but we haven’t had a turntable since 1982 or so, when we bought our first CD player. Now we have a closetful of CDs, all of which I copied and saved as digital files on my computer and iPhone, together with the numerous musical pieces I have purchased from iTunes. I don’t understand your lament over the passing of record stores. They went the way of the polyester leisure suit industry and the buggy whip shops.
Maybe I’m being nostalgic, Ben, but the experience of finding and listening to music from outside my usual paths was hugely formed by indie record stores, and they still exist. Louisiana Music Factory in New Orleans, Shangri La and Goner in Memphis for two. I see and learn about and hear things in those stores that would not normally cross my path. I have no doubt that if you went to Louisiana Music Factory in New Orleans the next time you went there, you’d stand a great chance of coming away with some music you’d never have had a shot at elsewhere, that would stay with you.
Is everything available on the internet? No. There was a brief moment when it appeared everything was going to become available on CD, and the bottom sort of fell out. As late as 5-6 years ago I was still buying the occasional R&B or soul lp because it had not yet been reissued on CD. I have at least one jazz 78 recorded in the 40s that I know has never been reissued.
The thing that I considered when I was writing the post is that we are in a transition period that could present large creative opportunities– that’s exactly what happened after WWII, and opened up the way for independent labels: Chess, Sun, Modern, Specialty, etc. etc. Those labels started recording music the major labels wouldn’t touch, and really changed the musical landscape. It’s possible that the breakdown of the present distribution system might present a similar moment, and its just not clear yet what will emerge. What is clear is that something important has already to a great extent faded away– still hanging on, but almost gone– in the indie record stores. The people running those stores were (are, if they still exist) exposed to everything, were fundamentally fans, and in the great stores would help someone find new things.
At Home of the Blues, circa 1974, I got told I should try the Yazoo double LP of Charlie Patton. I’d heard of him, but never heard him. I bought it, spending what was then for a me a lot of money. I got a Willie McTell LP at that store, and if I thought about it, could name others.
At a similar store in Greenwich Village a couple of years later, I got a Folkways LP that had a recording of Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong playing “Cakewalking Babies From Home.” I still remember buying these things and the stores where I got them– taking a risk on a $16 import of a double LP of Fairport Convention about the same time (hadn’t heard a bit of it, but was told I should). Discovering the European blues reissues that were coming out in the mid-80s, in a dump of a store on Magazine in New Orleans.
I guess now you can hear bits on the internet any time now, and that’s wonderful, but I’m not sure it will be as dependable a way of being encouraged out of one’s regular ruts.
One of the unfortunate things about the exit of record stores is that they were crossroads, a place to see and chance into similarly-minded people. Both Uncle Buck’s and Hot Dog in Oxford served this purpose well.
Plus, you can’t have a store musical performance out front via the sidewalk on the Internet.
I’ve been buying vinyl from J.D. Martignon for at least 20 years. What a great dealer! So much great stuff coupled with his uncompromising French snottiness. “That P.F. Sloan bootleg? Yes, you may buy it if you must, but I cannot be responsible for any violence that may occur later!”
Thanks for posting this, NMC!