Dead Record Stores *

25 Comments

1. 

   michael karo

   February 8, 2018 at 11:45 am

   dennis, this is great! i started going to rather ripped in berkeley probably around ’72 (age 15) when we started making the 5 hour trip to SF for concerts. they had the best english singles and just so many amazing imports we just didn’t see up here. i remember i made some sort of patti smith collage once and mailed it to them and the next time we were there it was on the wall! this is where i first heard “heart of glass” and said to myself, well, THAT’S gonna be huge. i remember they had a rack just of residents stuff, and i think they did a show there. i know patti did. one time i bought… a fripp/eno thing i think, and some 12 year old skater boys stopped us outside asking if we had heard it, was it good. they seemed to have excellent taste.

   there was a small place in SF at polk and post called the record house that had fairly new albums, but cut-outs (remember cut-outs?) for like 99 cents and i know i got the first two sparks albums there… and both versions of the first one. they had tons of that bob marley album that was like a giant cigarette lighter that opened and god those would be worth money now.

   did you know joseph brooks at vinyl fetish in L.A.? he worked up here at the cool record store for a while, i’d say pre-1980. he still had longish hair but with a white stripe on the side that he would change to turquoise or pink and he had a little gun in his pierced ear and oh boy, that was pretty exotic up here at that time. these days he’s doing some beautiful jewelry.

   in other news, my most recent online album is going to be re-released by a european netlabel that has put out a lot of stuff from the glory days of the 80’s cassette underground and also new stuff. maybe i can post a link when that’s all set up?

   glad you liked the czechhunter pic 🙂

   xoMK

   Reply
2. 

   David Ehrenstein

   February 8, 2018 at 3:56 pm

   Oh How I Miss the many record stores that used to be all over L.A. ! Now all we’ve got is Amoeba — which ain’t nothin’ but it’s a sad situation.

   Reply
3. 

   David Ehrenstein

   February 8, 2018 at 4:13 pm

   Van Dyke Parks called yesterday to thank Bill for sending him a copy of the Clarence Muse Book “Way Down South” that Bill republished las year. Van Dyke’s in fine fettle.

   Reply
4. 

   David Ehrenstein

   February 8, 2018 at 4:16 pm

   Here’show to get a copy for yourself.

   Reply
5. 

   Bill

   February 8, 2018 at 5:24 pm

   Sad and glorious day, Dennis. Good to see this revived.

   Rasputin’s is still in Berkeley. Wowsville has moved to Berlin:
   https://www.facebook.com/wowsville.bar/

   The record shop is in the back. Last time I was there, they had old Controlled Bleeding vinyl on the wall. Wow indeed.

   Work has been consuming, sigh. Will try to pop back over the weekend.

   Bill

   Reply
6. 

   Larry-bob Roberts

   February 8, 2018 at 6:02 pm

   Several of these I hung out in or visited. Like Oarfolkjokeopus, where I consigned issues of Homocore I bought in discount sets of 10, and also issues of Holy Titclamps. The successor store in the spot, owned by the guy who managed Oarfolk, Treehouse Records, just closed in December 2017, so it sort of died twice. Kristen Pfaff of Janitor Joe, and later, tragically, Hole, worked there.

   I’m not sure if the Northern Lights photo is actually of the Saint Paul location or the Minneapolis one. The Saint Paul one was where I bought the Cocteau Twins’ Tiny Dynamine (named after the Latin name for a butterfly species.) They got a lot of great imports. The Minneapolis location was on the same block as former bus depot First Avenue, and often a band would do an in-store appearance and even play a short set before playing at the 7th Street Entry (the smaller side room of First Avenue) or the mainroom.

   I used to see Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü hanging out at Garage D’Or. One of the owners was Dü soundguy Terry Katzman.

   You have the words in the name flipped for Village Music in Mill Valley, which was a place I often shopped at lunchtime when I first moved to California and worked in Marin County. They had a little room of unsorted singles. Also a room with shrink-wrapped old music magazines. When they closed, I bought a photo by Michael P. Smith of James Booker shaking hands with his piano student, a kid who grew up to be Harry Connick Jr. It’s hung on my living room wall now.

   One that I think is prematurely named dead is Rasputin – while their downtown San Francisco branch closed, their flagship Telegraph Avenue store in Berkeley is still open.

   Then there were the places that were destinations on trips, like the amazing Other Music in New York, the sort of store you’d find records you’d never find anywhere else. And they had amazing section names like La Decadence Magnifique. It appears there is some sort of merchandise afterlife on their website.

   Reply
   • 

     Armando

     February 9, 2018 at 1:31 am

     @Larry-bob Roberts,

     Hi,

     Poor Kristen Pfaff. Such a sadness the end she met/what was done to her. Such a talented, intelligent, sweet, nice, beautiful person… Rest In Peace. Gone, but not forgotten.

     All the best,

     Armando.

     Reply
7. 

   Tosh Berman

   February 8, 2018 at 6:21 pm

   Normally this post of old record stores would have me crying, but to be honest, at this very moment, record (vinyl) buying is better than ever for me. Where I live, I’m within at least ten vinyl record stores, and the shopping for music is better than ever. And we’re talking about real stores in locations. Also, sites like Discogs is pretty fantastic.

   The one store that shocked me to the core, when it closed was “Wave” music shop in Roppongi Tokyo. It was six – stories of pure bliss. The store was humming widely during the great CD reissue boom. It was like a world supermarket of foreign and domestic (Japanese pop/rock) music in one location. And a great art bookstore on top of that. Their high point was the years 1989/1990 and I think they were owned by a huge Department store. But when the economic bubble popped, Wave died in its place. Not only that, but when I went there during a return trip to Tokyo, I was shocked that not only the store closed, but the entire six-story building was destroyed. It was like a double-death. It took me awhile to recover, but thanks to Amoeba, Mono Records, Mount Analogue, Rockaway Records, etc – I’m a very happy man in a very happy time.

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8. 

   Sypha

   February 8, 2018 at 6:43 pm

   Dennis, yeah, Amphetamine Sulphate just released a new book recently, by New Juche. I got my copy in the mail yesterday but have not had a chance to read it yet.

   Kind of depressed about all of the mudslinging being directed at Quentin Tarantino now, though it doesn’t surprise me… what does shock me is that it just took so long to start up, considering his close friendship with Weinstein. I can understand why Uma Thurman would have a beef with him, but he regretted what happened, he apologized, and she forgave him, which is good enough for me. But some of these other things, like the Roman Polanski comments he made way back in 2003… where was all this outrage back then?

   Reply
9. 

   Dóra Grőber

   February 8, 2018 at 6:57 pm

   Hi!

   Yes, I’m hoping for the best!
   Oh no. Slush time is no fun at all. It’s been raining here since morning so I have first-hand experience…
   The painting portrayed a hunting dog, two extremely deformed ducks, half of a pear, a broken watch, a green vase with flowers in it, a letter, a ring and a butterfly. Just like this, without any connection or understandable concept. Haha. Jesus.

   How was your meeting with the producer? I kept my fingers very crossed!!
   I finally have a day all for myself so I just read and write and watch series and laze around. It’s pretty fantastic.
   How was your today? I hope you’re full of good news about Permanent Green Light’s future!

   Reply
10. 

    Jamie

    February 8, 2018 at 7:45 pm

    Hello Dennis!
    So many dead record stores. Made me quite nostalgic for the record stores of my youth. Today’s prize has to go to Sam the Record Man for that extremely special frontage, with honourable mentions to Rebel Rebel, for its glorious clutter that looks like it’d be a joy to be amongst, and Stackhouse Records for its shack-ness.
    Ta for the cheerleading and confidence restoring wisdom. It worked. I got some proper progress made this morning, just having characters chat and seeing where it went. It’s all stuff that might end up being ditched but it brought things to life and was overall illuminating. How was your scripting? Did you find the zone? When I saw Eileen Myles last year she said a thing that really stuck with me about being in the mood for writing or finding it a chore; that whenever she went back to pieces written in either mood she usually found them of the same quality. That’s made me write more.
    You got plans for Friday? Two of my favourite people in the world are very suddenly getting married and we’re going out in the evening to celebrate. It’s cool.
    I feel that I shouldn’t invoke the power of Abba again, but I can’t resist. May your writing today contain even a fragment of the beauty of Agnetha’s fragile and inconsolable ‘but you see’ just before the last chorus of Winner Takes it All. And of course I watched the Under Attack video just to see that part you wrote of. Sigh.
    Love that’s like love with the love removed and replaced by love,
    Jamie

    Reply
11. 

    Statictick

    February 8, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    Hi, D!

    I fondly remember Repeat the Beat, Off the Record, and Peaches in my kid-hood. They were first record hang outs for many in my ‘growing-up’ suburb of Dearborn, MI. I’m sure Peaches was a chain, or something like it (I got the Sex Pistols’ record and the Stones’ Some Girls there, under Dusty’s direction). The other two seemed to change places, maybe names as well. There was a great one in Midtown that I forget the name of. It burned down with the Forest Arms apt. bldg,. and has resurrected. There’s one on Carpenter, the street I currently live on, but won’t much longer. Haven’t gone in. I gave two ceiling-high stacks of vinyl to my bud Masher (Aaron, if you recall). I saved only some clear and colored vinyl by the Butthole Surfers and Killing Joke to commemorate Hebb’s and my roles in trying to make Detroit love them.

    And thanks for your nice acknowledgment of Jim Roll. You may like him. It has been some time for that twaaannnngggy stuff around here.

    Anyway, I gotta go back and delve into the last several posts (as usual). But here’s a wonky explanation of my new (and hopefully last) pad in Hamtramck – ripped from fbk:

    Ok, typical me, I know… I make a happy move from a soon-to-be overpriced place in Midtown to Hamtramck. (Please stay around for the Febreze punchline.) I was invited by a good friend to live with her and her boyfriend (platonic arrangement). I went, needing to escape the rent for a place that was a dump I’d been in for 7 years. Spent a few thousand storing stuff and blah blah blah. So, the place in Hamtramck was great for a few days. Then, their relationship withered and one left. About a month later, the other bolted w/o mention. Now no phone, no wheels. I thank god for SpaceMeister for company. I’m thankful for friends I’m hoping can just help me go downtown again (I’m thinking Riverfront or close). There are like five boxes and some bags of clothes, and a small stack of un-hung art here. The rest is already in expensive storage. Just trying to wrap my head around this occurrence. In the meantime, with this weather, I am afraid to attempt a slip-slide-fall (repeat), to go downstairs to wash my few items of laundry. I found a bottle of Febreze for Fabric, which I’ll be spraying on my socks and, uh, such items as I suss this out. I have to contact and meet, etc. with some people downtown with rental places. If anyone can help with rides, I’ll be quick and provide gas/lunch/whatever. Gotta get a working phone first, but that can’t afford to be many days past the supposed storm.

    Hamtramck used to be great in the 90s. At that time, Hal Soper ran a place called Planet Ant as a wee theater space (Keegan Michael Key came out of that…). Then I guess the city (or subcity) became either the armpit or buttcrack of Detroit. I really don’t need crack sold on my front lawn. (Oddly, I heard fewer guns fire nightly in the two months I’ve been heared downtown at all.) But…

    Be well, all.
    Njr

    Reply
12. 

    Steve Erickson

    February 8, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    I wrote a lengthy post this morning in response to this. Your blog’s server ate it. I have just returned from a trip to Rough Trade, where I picked up the Fall’s singles box set on CD and way too much other stuff (the new albums by Steve Reich, Nils Frahm and Open Mike Eagle, Funkadelic’s LET’S TAKE IT TO STAGE, a reissue by the all-black punk/dub band Basement 5, the second album by the Undisputed Truth, which is produced and largely written by Norman Whitfield, who guided Motown into its psychedelic era.) It is seriously painful to look at those dead NYC record stores. I remember that the space occupied by Hospital was originally an all-reggae store called Jammyland. After I asked the owner of Hospital for recommendations and he suggested the Polish black metal band Graveland, whom I later found out are neo-Nazis, I never went back to that store. I have no objection to him selling bands with that ideology, but if he is going to tout their music to customers, he should let them know about it.

    SLACK BAY is the only Dumont film I hate, and in fact I wrote a very positive piece on LIL’ QUINQUIN for Fandor. So I definitely want to see his new film and think I stand a good chance of liking it.

    Reply
13. 

    alex rose

    February 8, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    hi dennis, sorry for not dropping in here sooner, uugh, anyway, the show opens tmr

    i dont know if this link will work as im arse over tit with computers

    https://www.facebook.com/Feature.Hudson.Foundation/?fref=ts

    ooh oh, that line you wrote ” your work is the tongue for its LSD ”

    ooh dennis, love you, alex

    Reply
14. 

    Count Reeshard

    February 8, 2018 at 9:58 pm

    Back in the day, several of these stores represented true ‘destination shopping.’ Detroit’s (or, properly, Hazel Park’s) Harmony House — pictured here in its earliest incarnation with founder Carl Thom standing in the doorway — was one such. Pasadena’s Poo-Bah (still extant) and Mill Valley’s Village Music were also stores that attracted record hunters willing to safari to other cities. But the root character of the two latter stores changed with the introduction of CD’s, as I’m sure was true for several lp hotspots in the mid-to-late-’80s. The owners obviously disapproved of the new format, never figured out how to properly display or rack them and soon enough their stores became museums, dusty ones at that. Ry Cooder traveled to Mill Valley to perform in support of Village Music in its lengthy period of decline, but it had entered suspended animation long before its capacious storefront was shuttered. This post invokes ultra-nostalgia within me, as doubtless it does for many of your readers. The Toronto, Buffalo (was Home Of The Hits formerly Play It Again Sam on Elmwood? – the latter an amazing resource during the late ’70s), NYC, Los Angeles and Bay Area stores were all familiar haunts. There is no overestimating the importance of these places in our lives and respective esthetic educations during the time before Foodie culture took over, when recorded music was pop culture’s mainspring. You got me misty with this one, Mr. Cooper, but thank you all the same. R.

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15. 

    Steve Erickson

    February 8, 2018 at 10:15 pm

    Here’s my review of Clint Eastwood’s THE 15:17 TO PARIS: https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts-culture/film/article/20991755/the-1517-to-paris-is-a-benign-ode-to-male-bonding. I had nothing to do with writing the headline, which puts a more positive spin on the film than I’d like.

    Reply
16. 

    _Black_Acrylic

    February 9, 2018 at 12:13 am

    Record shops are intrinsically fascinating places, and the dead ones here have an extra layer of melancholy on top too. Still, they’re all cool. Dundee has a couple of new ones opened on the Perth Road, This Way Up and Le Freak. Here’s hoping they can stick around a good while longer.

    Happy to report that Yuck ‘n Yum had a great response to our Seattle callout thus far, including interest from DLs of this ‘ere blog. Deadline’s not til the 25th but I’ve got a good feeling about this one.

    Reply
17. 

    Armando

    February 9, 2018 at 1:46 am

    Hey,

    How are you doing???!!! Good, I hope. Plans for today?

    Great post. Thank you so very much for it! However, where’s Times Square’s Virgin Megastore, man???!!!

    Anyway, like I said, I really really really LOVED The Semigoddess ULLMANN’s ‘Miss Julie’. A Masterpiece. Definitely in *my* list of the 25 Greatest Films Of The XXI Century So Far. Can’t believe it took me *FOUR* fucking years to see it… Such a fucking idiot… Specially considering how incredibly much I LOVE and ADORE and ADMIRE and WORSHIP MS. ULLMANN. (The Greatest female performance *IN HISTORY* is, *in my opinion*, hers). No surprise the movie was derided by “critics”… No surprise at all…

    So, you haven’t read ‘War And Peace’ or ‘Les Misérables’?

    Now it’s the turn of movies. Longest movie you’ve ever seen? Mine would be Reitz’s ‘Heimat 2’. One of the Greatest Films Of All Time and also one of my favorites Of All Time.

    I assume your favorite DIDION non-fiction book is ‘The White Album’?

    What’s the very latest poetry book you’ve read and what did you think of it?

    Take very good care, please,

    Good day; good luck,

    Love and hugs,

    Your friend,

    a.

    Reply
18. 

    Chris Dankland

    February 9, 2018 at 3:18 am

    hey Dennis !!

    hmm — for some reason this post doesn’t show up on the main page, so i hope this message gets to u. if it doesn’t, i’ll just repost it another day.

    how are u? what are u working on lately? i saw the trailer for Permanent Green Light and I’m so excited about it! do u know when i might get a chance to watch it?

    i’m sorry i’ve been so distant lately — about a week ago i moved to Dublin Pennsylvania (a small town about an hour north of Philiadelphia) to be with Jennifer, and everything has had me super distracted and quiet online. but now that i’m settled, i want to make the blog a regular part of my days again, i miss it and i miss u. later on i’m gonna play catch up with the blog and read what i’ve missed.

    today’s blog post made me think about bookstores…maybe they’ll go the way of music stores eventually, if that hasn’t already started to happen. in any case, i enjoyed scrolling through the pictures of buildings and daydreaming about the stories their walls could tell. i stole the last two pictures to use as picture stories, i liked them a lot. why does the turtle on the Turtle’s saving stamps look so sad? maybe he’s supposed to look stoned.

    everything is amazing with me. to be completely honest, this is the happiest time of my life. i’ve never been this in love with anyone, and my life is beyond even the highest expectations i ever had about how good it could be. Jennifer is perfect for me and we belong together in so many ways.

    Pennsylvania is cool — it’s cold, and i’m dealing with snow and ice on the roads for basically the first time in my life. i visited Philliadelphia the other day and had some fun walking around. we skipped the superbowl activities hardcore, which seems like a smart move since there was basically a riot in the city after the eagles won. i like it up here and i’m having fun exploring around, but i don’t think i’d like to live here for too long. i’m getting signed up to teach down here for a few months, and then when we have enough money we’re gonna move to Santa Fe and live there for a long stretch. but i’d be happy anywhere as long as i’m with Jennifer, she’s all i need. the rest of it is extra.

    Jennifer and i have started a lit mag (website) called X-R-A-Y. we’ve been working on that a lot. right now we’re putting the site together and soliciting writers we like, collecting stories. the site is looking really good, and we’ve got a good collection of writers so far. I’m really happy with how it’s going. then once we announce the magazine and go live, we’ll open it up to submissions.

    my life is been sort of uprooted and jumbled around the last few months, in the best possible way, and now things are getting settled again. so i’m excited to start hanging around here more often !!

    i went through your gig post yesterday and that Soho Rezanejad and great !! it’s cool you like that Porches album, I’ve been listening to that one too. i’m happy to pour through some of the other posts i’ve missed.

    anyway, i just wanted to drop a line and say hello. i hope everything is great with u.

    talk to u later !!

    Reply
    • 

      Chris Dankland

      February 9, 2018 at 3:20 am

      no wait, scratch what i said about the post not showing up. it’s there now.

      that was probably just some fluke of my computer, sorry

      Reply
19. 

    Misanthrope

    February 9, 2018 at 4:11 am

    Big D! Thank you. Yeah, I think I’ve rounded the corner on this toothy hell. What the fuck, right? I canceled the cleaning/de-scaling appointment on Monday. No way am I going through a bunch of bullshit again or letting those people near my choppers.

    So I think I told you I bought some OTC dry socket stuff. It’s just clove oil. An important lesson if you should ever use it (it’s excellent for toothaches): Be sure to watch your hands after you apply it and before you piss. Otherwise, you’ll burn the fuck out of your dick. Or so I’ve, um, heard…

    I’m going to see this shitty new movie “15:17 to Paris” tomorrow night. My friend LADY BIRD-ed me. She went with me to see that and now has used that as leverage to get me to go see this shitty movie with her. Fucker. What’s funny is that she never reads the news or watches it. She tells me, “It’s actually based on a TRUE STORY.” I’m like, “No shit, Sherlock, I remember when it happened and read about it.” Ugh. But I’ll go. (Same friend who wouldn’t see CMBYN with me…though I’m seeing it for a third time on Sunday with another friend, mwahahaha.)

    I’m such a fanboy. Soooooo…there’s this drawing thing. You donate $10 bucks and are entered into a drawing where, if you win, you’re flown out to LA for the Oscars and get to dine with Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, and Luca Guadagnino. I donated $25 (for more entries). The money goes to a couple gay charities. So yeah, I did that.

    I need to get back to my novel now. This tooth shit laid me so low. I didn’t even go to the gym for a week. Just was so lethargic and out of it. But now I’m back. I think. 😛

    Reply
20. 

    Kyler

    February 9, 2018 at 6:25 am

    Hi Dennis, I miss the dead record stores so much, especially Tower Records on B’way and 4th St…I used to hang out there all the time, especially in the classical section. And I believe I told you that mystical story of how I was “called” there once, just as they were playing Radiohead’s “No Surprises” right after Sarah Kane’s memorial, which ended with that song. But I miss a lot of things from old New York, like The Magickal Childe on 19th St…major places for me, both of them – where’s a guy to go these days? Well, I go to the library a lot, getting DVD’s for my new DVD player that works finally – and I’m in a reading mode, about to start The Loser, which I told you. Enjoyed your video with Zac, really looking forward to the film.

    Reply
    • 

      Kyler

      February 9, 2018 at 6:57 am

      http://vassifer.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341c18b253ef0120a9051700970b-pi

      Reply
21. 

    Keaton

    February 9, 2018 at 8:22 am

    Haunted House

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22. 

    Barley

    September 2, 2022 at 6:59 am

    Can you find any images of Let It Be Records on Nicollet in Minniapolis?

    Reply