Summer

8-17-09 Summer

It’s summer – mid-summer, in fact. Time for vacations, running around etc. This year, I had a major record collector binge on 7” 45’s, as triggered by a British 45 by A Certain Ratio that my GF spotted in a record store. Later on, I found an SACD of “Blonde On Blonde” by Bob Dylan for under $10 – and that got me started on SACD’s! So, when I look back on 2009, for me it will be the year of 45’s and SACD’s.

I went to San Francisco a short while ago and was astonished by the sheer diversity available in bay area record (and book) stores. L.A. doesn’t really have any used book stores, unfortunately. We lost Wilshire Books a while back, and there really hasn’t been anything open to take it’s place. It was the only place in L.A. where one could find “review copies” (“used”, and for a good price). Dutton’s in Brentwood “lost their lease”, and Diesel – A Bookstore opened. Alas, no ‘used’ books. For our new book thrills, our favorites in L.A. are Vroman’s in Pasadena and Book Soup in West Hollywood.

And, of course, the only book that I really want is only on amazon.co.uk – the Island Records 50^th Anniversary coffee table book. Mark M sent me the BBC4 documentary about Island Records’ 50^th Anniversary – which was great! I thought that – maybe – I could find the Island book in San Francisco – but no such luck.

It was so groovy to troll around the bay area Amoebas and Rasputins! What wonderful, eclectic record stores! Immense numbers of used CD’s! San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose! I also went to the KUSF record collector swap meet – which was mainly vinyl. I did, however, score a Pink Floyd “DSOTM – 30^th Anniversary” SACD for $6 at the swap meet!

Must get to Phoenix one day soon – there’s all those Zia Records stores (x 6) waiting for me! New inventories of used CD’s for me to look at! Not to mention the 2 x Zia Records in Las Vegas, NV. Can’t wait to get back to Everyday Music in Portland, OR – 3 more big inventories of CD’s to check out! Is there anything as awesome as Everyday Music in Seattle?

So, where else should I go to look at big inventories of used CD’s? L.A.’s got Amoeba, Record Surplus, CD Trader, Second Spin (x 3), Freakbeat, Poobah’s, Rockaway… but it seems to me like I over-do all of those stores. Is there a big inventory of used CD’s in San Diego, besides Lou’s in Encinitas? Oh, and Salzer’s in Ventura. Cheap Thrills and Boo Boo in San Luis Obispo.

The rule of thumb is to “follow the population” – they’re who have all the used LP’s, 45’s & CD’s! This is the ‘rule’ that makes San Jose such an awesome place to look for ‘used music’. Where should I go next? Phoenix? Chicago? Texas? Toronto? Tokyo?