Re: [ARSCLIST] Other memorable record stores

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Somewhat pertinent to this discussion -- there is an ebay seller,
cashcowcorp, who seems to have bought out a rack-jobber or huge lot of LP
cutouts. I have bought several piles of records from them and they sell what
they say they're selling. A lot of Pablo titles, still shrink-wrapped but
with a corner cut (ie cut-out). Beware the Verve titles because they're
mostly that awful late-60's discounted reissue series. Also non-jazz titles.
No LP I've bought from them has been damaged to badly warped, but your
mileage may vary. There was another guy who had bought out an estate of a
record shop owner but I think he's finished selling.

I must say that it's pretty exciting to get a shrink-wrapped LP, give it a
light cleaning and play a pristine surface. It makes me wonder how many
warehouse shelves or basements are still crammed with unsold relics of the
past era. It's telling that you 78 guys had no problems finding records up
into the 70s.

-- Tom Fine


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Hirsch" <punto@xxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 2:39 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Other memorable record stores


> 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
> >
> >