Re: [ARSCLIST] Other memorable record stores

[Peter Hirsch <punto@xxxxxxxx>]

Apologies to Larry.

I didn't post the original link to Franz's obit, but I think I was 
responsible for pushing the discussion over the brink when it might 
otherwise have fizzled out before it got rolling, so I guess I am 
somewhat to blame. I am not a totally evil person (IMHO) but I suppose 
in some sense I did want to share my own personal funk with some 
sympathetic colleagues when I pushed this discussion onward. Anyhow, it 
has been bittersweet to hear Dayton, Music Masters, Ludus Tonalis (and 
others that I never got to) talked of once again and I almost felt that 
they were real part of my present world. I get the point raised by Jeff 
Kane about the online angle and I have recently used elaborate search 
engine strategies to locate and purchase some treasures in vinyl and 
shellac via eBay, Amazon and independent sellers to add to my oddball 
collection horn-related pop and jazz (Alec Wilder's 4 horn, harpsichord 
and percussion "Horn Belt Boogie", Julius Watkins' "French Horns for my 
Lady", "Mitch Miller with Horns and Chorus" and so on). I'm thrilled to 
own them finally, but the experience of browsing the thing itself and in 
a congenial public setting is what is lamentably rare at this point. A 
trip to The Princeton Record Exchange a year or so is a case in point. 
They still do LPs, all second hand at this point for obvious reasons, 
but they are presented as if they would be better off sold by the pound. 
The prices are good, mainly because they are not essentially 
"collector's items" and because you have to wander aimlessly through 
bins and boxes on the floor, which is not really the same thing as 
browsing. Of course, there was no point in seeking any assistance, there 
was no Franz or Will or Julian anywhere. I grabbed a few mildly 
interesting platters and maybe a used CD or two and left, feeling 
somewhat less than fulfilled and not at all eager to return.

As a coda; I searched a bit in the NY Times back files, one of the perks 
of my employment at a major library is access to some pretty decent 
online resources that I once in a while use for my own research (please, 
don't anyone tell my boss), and came up with a few articles that might 
interest those participating in this thread. One was on the closing of 
Music Masters, one was about the advent of Tower in NYC (1984) and its 
impact on the existing record shops (could one ever really think of 
Tower as a "shop") and a series of articles about a block on 8th Avenue 
in Chelsea the impact (in the mid-1980s) of  rising rents. One of the 
businesses on this block was Max Draisner's 8th Avenue Records (it DID 
have and name after all!) and there is a great picture of the place with 
Max holding court. Even if you never were part of this specific scene, 
you were definitely in a place exactly the same at some point. Anyhow, 
I'd be happy to send the PDFs of these articles (and also Franz's photo 
from the Times) to anyone who writes to me off the list.

Nostalgically,

Peter Hirsch (no relation, alas, to Harry or Alice)

Larry Friedman wrote:

> The result of this thread (maybe its intention, I don't know; I joined it
> late) is that I have sunk into a profound funk. I keep saying to myself, "So
> many shops - all gone now". When I got to New York City in 1963 to go to
> college (yes, I was 3, of course), I fell across 8th Street and felt as I
> had died and gone to heaven. Here were three - count 'em! - record shops on
> this one block. There was Discophile, of course, the king of them all, but
> there was also the Village Music Shop a bit farther west, then, on the north
> side of the street was another store whose name I have forgotten. Then, on
> the corner of 42nd Street and 5th Avenue were both Record Hunter and Record
> Center. Of course, all up and down 4th Avenue were the used book (and
> record) shops, where one could go and disappear for hours without a trace.
> Between Will Lerner, Franz Jolowicz and Julian Moses, there was an entire
> education to be had just walking in to their establishments.
>
> So, tell me, are we better off now with our huge record emporia?
>
> -Larry
>