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| A rave about my New Favorite Ann Arbor Record Store |
| 03.05.04 (4:11 pm) [edit] |
Today and tomorrow, the kids (i.e., Dan and Roz) are both away, so Megan and I kicked off our weekend alone in fine style today by doing one of my favorite things, something I haven't done in months: that's right, record shopping. Today was a really beautiful day, T-shirt weather for the first time since God knows when, and after a breezy walk back from Japanese I wanted to head back outside while this warmness lasts. I thought a nice excuse for a walk would be to go to Encore Records (probably the best used record store I've ever seen) and see if I could finally get my hands on a copy of [i]Fire of Love[/i] by the Gun Club. There was no Gun Club to be had there (this seems to be the norm), though I did find David Bowie's [i]Low[/i] and both [i]Around the World in a Day[/i] and [i]Purple Rain[/i] (with a bonus poster, no less!) by Prince on vinyl for $5 each. Somehow I managed to stop myself from buying these three records, possibly because I was torn between the two aforementioned Prince albums and a $10 bootleg copy of the [i]Black Album[/i] (Prince again, not Metallica), possibly (OK, most likely) because the needle for my turntable has been broken since December and $15 worth of vinyl, while a bargain, is not going to do me much good until I get it fixed. So I ended up walking out of Encore with nothing, though it was one of the most enjoyable 90 minutes I've spent in a while.
Then, though, I got a much better idea. Megan suggested we go to Wazoo Records to see if she could find Ko and the Knockouts' record; out of the blue, her suggestion reminded me of a couple months ago, when I ordered a White Stripes 7" from GEMM.com, only to discover (too late to save myself a $5 shipping charge in exchange for a 10-minute walk) that the seller, Underground Sounds, was in Ann Arbor. After that, Megan and I tried to go to the store, but it's located downstairs in a little mini-mall on Liberty Street and we couldn't find the entrance on that first attempt. I decided that today was the day I would get in Underground Sounds and see if it was really the heaven on Earth I'd been imagining.
Long story short: it was. I knew we'd made a good decision when I walked downstairs and heard the faint strains of Cannon by the White Stripes in the distance. It turns out that wasn't actually playing in the record store, but so what, it was an omen, and anyway the store was playing [i]New Values[/i] by Iggy Pop so I really can't complain. Once we stepped inside, I spontaneously discovered at long last the secret of the male multiple orgasm. The first thing I saw was a wall of vinyl. Not much, mind you: Encore is still the place to go if you want stacks upon stacks of old used records. But the thing is, practically every fucking record in the place was good. They had every album by the Gories. They had an entire section devoted to the Oblivians. They had Guitar Wolf up the proverbial wazoo. They filed Iggy Pop and the Stooges in two separate sections (I LOVE these people!). They didn't have Gun Club, but like I said, that's more the rule than the exception. Megan got her Ko and the Knockouts CD (which I'm excited to listen to), I was about to buy the Soledad Brothers' first record but then I stumbled across the Oblivians section and ended up walking away with [i]Soul Food[/i] (which I'm even more excited to listen to: I've already heard a few tracks, and it's one of the rawest, fuzziest, most stompin'-est rock and roll records ever recorded). I can't wait until I get my tax return money so I can go back. It's a tiny, tiny little shop. but the selection is just impeccable--not a Bachman Turner Overdrive record with the name of the previous owner Sharpied on the sleeve in sight--a little like Young Soul Rebels, only not nearly as cool. But hey, it's like a little slice of Young Soul Rebels right here at home. They even had a rack of cool homemade refridgerator magnets, which were horribly overpriced but gave Megan and me the idea to make some of our own for next semester when I have my own fridge at school. There was a T. Rex one there that I might be picking up for Callie for her locker before I come home again, though. Hell, I don't even care if that's just a flimsy excuse to go back and buy something for myself...Underground Sounds is my new favorite record store in Ann Arbor, right down to the surly Jack Black lookalike of a clerk.
I've got to get out of this computer lab so I can start listening to the Oblivians.
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